Evening star., 1924-06-29
GREATEST CRISIS SINCE
WAR NOW AT HAND
Germany Has 1t Within Power to Dictate
Progress or Chaos Through
He; Actions.


whether Germany, goaded into fury,
would strike while she was still weak
in an access of madness. or wait her
time.
And, following the Ruhr occupa-
ton, it was no longer possible, even
had they desired it, for moderate
men in Germany to counsel submis-
sion and settlement. Germany was
invaded and the fact of invasion pre-
cluded any examination of the
causes. 1t sufficed, to say that the
French were in the Ruhr, to rouse
the whole German people and to pro-
mote unity, as Clemenceau's old
phrase, The Germans are at Noyon,"
united Frenchmen during the war
itself.
Deadlock Prevails.
In the fatal deadlock which had
come about France could get no real
reparations, but she could occ,py
German territory and paralyze Ger
man industrial life. Germany could
evade all payments, but she could
not prevent French invasion. Both
countries suffered excessively, but for
neither was their any escape com
patible with the conception each
people had of its own rights and lib
critics and of its own unity and Sc
curity
At all times, of course, the vice
in the situation lay in the fact that
the inevitable failure of the treaty
of Versailles to fix any sum of repara-
tions decisively and the later failure
of the reparations commission to fix
any sum reasonably possible gave to
the Germans at least a shadow of
basis for resistance. Germany, pal
pably asked to pay more than was
possible, asked in principle, although
no impossible payments were di-
rectly demanded, found a ground for
evading all payments.
The world, and particularly the
United States and Great Britain,
were agreed that Germany should
pay up to the limit of capacity, but
they were equally agreed that to
demand more than was reasonable
was at once foolish and inequitable.
But the British situation was com
promised hopelessly by the fact that
British representatives had indorsed
impossible figures and the British
change had only come about when
it became clear that British interests
were to be best served, not by the
collection of reparations, but by the
restoration of trade.
No solution of the problem was
then possible until there had been
some fxation OF the sum which Ger
many could be asked to pay, a fix-
xtion SO made as to satisfy the rea-
sonable opinion of the world that II
rested upon economic and not poffti-
cal calculations. When such a flxa-
ton had been ,made-and 1t was
made by the Dawes committee-then
instantly the whole German case COL
lapsed. When France accepted the re-
port, as she we'll might. since it cor
roborated all her claims that Ger
many could pay. and pay largely, then
Germany was put before the world
in the situation of having to disclose
her real purposes.
Since. moreover, the Dawes report,
while fixing German obligations at
considerable sums, insisted upon the
restoration Of the economic. unity of
Germany, which meant in terms the
return to the Germans of the Ruhr
industries. and since France accepted
this condition, there, too, was an end
of the German plea that France. un-
der cover Of reparations claims, was
seeking to destroy German unity.
Resistance ColIapses.
When France called Herriot to sue
ceed Poincare, the last pillar Of Ger
man resistance collapsed. The world,
and Britain and America particular
ly, instantly accepted the French
election results as evidence of the
good faith Of France, of the triumph
of liberal and moderate views, of the
removal of even the shadow of i'm
perialism. 1t promptly recognized
that now the problem was purely one
which concerns Germany; would
she show herself ready to meet a fair
bill presented in a reasonable spirit, |
to comply with the conditions Of the |
Dawes report and with the other con-
ditions concerning the limitations of
her armies and armaments, or would
she openly convict herself Of fidelity
to the old faith?
Had Poincare won the recent elec-
tions Germany undoubtedly would
have rejected the Dawes report and
put the responsibility on Poincare.
And in doing this she would undoubt-
edly have enlisted much British and
even some American support The
German election which preceded the
French by one week WAS based on the
assumption that Poincafe would win
the French elections and the victory
of the reactionaries and the reds was
the direct consequence of the Ruhr |
war and the expectation Of continu-
alton of this struggle.
But the victory of the French Left
was in reality a crowning disaster |
for the German Right, it was q worse
defeat for Ludendorn and his crowd |
politically than the battle Of August
8, 1918; was militarily. Their case
rested upon the assumption that there |
was nothing for Germany but a grim
and despairing resistance to forces
and men determined to destroy, re-
solved upon the extinction of the
German state and the slavery of the
German people. But. to urge. such
purposes against Herriot. Painleve,
Doumergue, this was palpable alb
surdity.
And when Herriot announced that
France would retire from the Ruhr
not when Germany had paid in full.
but when she had given the pledges
and complied with the conditions of
the Dawes report, the old allegation
Of the purposes Of France to stay