Evening star., 1924-05-18

i
still a great power despite the losses
in territory, population and wealth
incident to the world war.
The. Dawes committee quite skill
fully based it's terms upon the prin-
ciple that all nations which partici-
pated in the world war should pay
for 1t by equal tax contributions, thus
| avoiding any stigmatizing Of the Ger
| mans as war criminals or as re-
sponsible for the conflict. Once and
for all the German people have re-
pudiated this responsibility, and it
will never again be possible in any
international conference to put upon
them, with their submission, any such
sentence as is included in the treaty
of Versailles.
The single chance of settlement
now rests upon the fact that the Ger
mans perceive that they cannot re-
| cover without foreign loans and can
| not get foreign loans without giving
certain engagements. To be able to
return to normal prosperity and eco
nomic and financial balance Germany
has now to agree to make certain
payments to her conquerora For her
the one question is how much she can
afford to pay for what she desper-
ately needs. There are obviously
| fixed limits Ask her to pay too much,
make the conditions too onerous and
too humiliating and she will reject
| them
C4nnOt BE Coerced.
Moreover, Germany can still be
ruined, but she cannot now or ever
be coerced into payment. The French
and Belgians arc in the Ruhr at the
moment, but the French and the Bel
gians need money almost as badly as
the Germans; they need peace almost
as much, and, like the Germans, they
are totally unwilling to assume re-
sponsibility for defeating the pro-
posed adjustment.
If France and Germany were now
left to themselves to settle the whole
recent German election returns, seem
| a hopeless situation. If the ultimate
fact of these German elections Is the
triumph Of the Nationalists through
the formation of a cabinet committed
to reject the Dawes plan, then the
situation will be desperate. But, not
withstanding the French and German
states of mind, it seems to me that
it is still possible to indulge in meas
| urable optimism, because there Is q
Europe which demands settlement;
| there is a Britain with an able pre-
mier qualified to deal with both
French and German states Of mind
and to recognize what is final in the
situation of both
Germany believes France is work
| ing for her complete destruction. and
she is resolved not only to survive,
but to be, and to be treated as. a
great power again. The election re-
turns mean this unmistakably. France
| believes Germany is planning imme-
diate evasion of all reparations pay
ments and ultimately a new war of
| revenge. And France means to live,
| and to live free from any continuing
menace to her existence. Tho break
| between tho two nations is complete,
| tho differences for tho time being ir-
| reconcilable, and all hope Of compro-
mise is indiscoverahle, save outside of
| both countries.
| Germany and France arc now quite
unmistakably ready to fight rather
than to make certain compromises. to
risk ruin rather than to accept Ger
| tain conditions which seem to them
permanently intolerable. Mutual dis
trust and suspicion have reached a
| point where direct adjustment is to-
| tally impossible. Yet, through the
Dawes report a way Of settlement has
been proposed which has been in prin-
ciple accepted by both. and might,
after preliminary amendments and
following special agreements between
France and Britain, servo as a con-
tract of liquidation. and give Europe
a chance to let its passions cool and
its tears vanish
{Coryrfght, 1874, by the Mcclure Newspaper
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