Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-08-24
AID TO DAWES Plan
IN GERMAN NEEDS
Success of Preparations Pro.
gram Held Largely Due to
Lapse of "PostWaritis."
BY MACMILLAN HARDEN.

By Radio to The Star.
BERLIN, August 23.-who is the
victor of the London conference?
The ministers who are boasting
their successes would assuredly be
unpleasantly 'astonished if one should
declare that the victor was hitherto
unknown Mister Six Years. Never
theless, thanks for the success Of
conference are due this untitled man.
The individual, whose life does not
cover centuries, is by nature impa-
tient He wants to see the seed sown
before his eyes ripen into fruit. He
doesn't realize that in six years, a
period hardly visible in a nations
life, the mentality which sprang up
in the most formidable of all wars
is not yet entirely routed out. But
he must realize that 1t Is at least
weakened.
Brute Force in Digcard.
Apathy, turning from formal to
economic politics. disgust at the
provedly futile methods of brute
force. fear of the dangerous allure
ments of the vainglorious striving
for prestige-these products of six
years of postwaritis have begotten
a feeling which made the relatively
sensible London agreement possible.
mize Americas contribution to the con-
struction and carrying out of the
plans, from Secretary of State
Hughes New Haven speech down to
the midwifery help of Dawes, Young.
Kellogg and company.
Still, the ablest of men would not
be near the goal today IL Mr.. Six
Years had not smoothed the road.
Success Of the forty million-pound
loan, conclusion of rational CONNER
cial treaties, good will to disarma-
ment and arbitrationv-all this is still
uncertain, and it is most doubtful
whether Germany, under pressure of
the 26 per cent demand from exports
by England doubtless to fulfill the
moral duty" which Prime Minister
Macdonald so strongly proclaims, will
be able to raise the sum required for
reparationS.
Poison Removed From Atmosphere.
More important than all these de-
tails, however, is the unpoisoning of
the atmosphere. The French, Bel
gianS and Germans talked with each
other for days. not as prosecutor and
accused, but as gentlemen on equal
footing. This, despite all the gallery
successes attained by this side or
that, is the achievement of the con-
ference concerning which the world
can rejoice. 1t is easier for Ger
many than for other countries to
deny this, because Franco Belgian
troops may remain for another year
in the Ruhr. But the rabid eXagger-
alton, which does not hesitate to ac-
cuse the government of a wretchedly
cowardly attitude, can only eventu-
ally strengthen the vital force OF the
still weak German republic.
For the first time the German dele
cation has gone through an interna-
tional conference without making a
gross mistake. Its leader, the jurist-
chancellor Marx, through a digni-
fedly modest tone, and with all the
pacifist tactics learned from his Aus
trian colleague, Seipel, even won
much sympathy, and what he at
| tanned was not far below what was
attainable at this late hour.
Denied by Natfonnlists.
This is denied by the Nationalist,
| who lived on the military monarchy
and desire to restore it, and who see
no possibility of doing. this if the
atmosphere is not poisoned in Ger
many, which is growing stronger un-
der a republican form of government
Their leader, Ludendorff, who lost q
| war which he had prolonged to the
hour OF military impotence, dnC
| though since then has displayed
neither courage nor vision, reviews
the parades of the stalheim,. summons
people to write German with only
ca pital letters, calls for a war of re-
| venge, permits himself to be feted as
| Germany's greatest warrior and
presses the hand of the professor
| who 1924 years after Christ, dares tc
say that he hates to hear the word
freedom and longs for a man who
will restore order in Germany with
| q club"
A government which dealt with
such men would not be worthy to
exist. A government can prove its
right to existence only by readiness
to defend it's cause in parliament OF
! before electors. Any ambiguous com
promise would be criminal folly
Never has a great country been worse
ruled than Germany since 1918.
The situation would be different
despite the military defeat, If the
country had not bowed before the
nationalistic terror and If 1t had en-.
deavored, not via England, to reach
a direct understanding with France
1t can release itself from this net to-
| day only through firm decision.
A German republic of honest de-
mands can book the day of the Lon
| don pact as it's first peaceful victory