Evening star., 1925-05-10
Continued from First Page.)


TO accept a condition which now ex-
lists on the east.
Germany suffered more. on the
whole, in my judgment, than any of
the other European belligerents, with
the exception of Russia, which is out
OF the reckoning. She suffered longer
and the imitation agony was as bad as
the worst of the war. The great mass
horror of a new conflict as the people
OF any other nation. Moreover, the
informed recognize that a new gen.
eral war, whether Germany won or
lost, would spell ruin, by reason of
the economic devastation which
would be inevitable.
Living Is q Question.
But. and the point is all importa mt.
the mass of Germans do not believe
Germany can live under existing con-
ditions. For them the reunion of the
lost provinces of the east, the recon-
suuction of a great Germany, is pre-
cisely as important as security for the
Frenchman and trade for the Briton.
And If France. in alliance with Poland
and Czechoslovakia; if Britain and
Belgium, in alliance with France, un-
dertake to hold Germany within her
present limits, or seek to eternize any
frontier save those in the west, it Is
almost impossible to believe in any
permanent German acceptance of this
situation or association with the west
ern nations inside or out of the
League Of Nations.
Hindenburg's election does not
mean German desire for a new war.
No other German could have been
elected on the Nationalist ticket, as
the preliminary vote showed More
over, even Hindenburg is a minority
president, since the sum of the Marx
and Communist votes exceeded his.
He was elected largely because of the
sentimental appeal his name had. In
the same way Robert E. Lee would
have been elected by the South to any
off1ce he could have run for after the
Civil War, had he chosen to be a can
didate and had he been eligible. That
would not have meant that the South
was not beaten or that it wanted a
new war.
Republic Is Blamed.
Yet sentiment by no means ex-
plains the Hindenburg vote. There
are millions Of Germans who asso-
ciate Germany's present helplessness
with the republican regime. who re-
call the grandeur of the empire, the
prosperity Of the other days and the
ieve that a weak republican leader
ship has brought Germany to her
present state, and that a return to
the old order would mean a return to
the old prosperity, and. above all, to
the condition in which Germany
would again be, treated as an equal
among the great peoples of the world.
The cost of living now and II years
ago, the foreign status of Germany
then and now, the continued presence
of armies of occupation, which the re.
public has not been able to remove;
the presence of a hostile Polish from
tier as near to Berlin as Wilmington,
Del, Is to Washington, the failure
of the allied armies to retire from the
Cologne zone and the general belief
that the French mean always to stay
on the middle Rhine, these are cir
cumstances, which, taken in conjunc-
ton with the popularity of the old
marshal himself, explain his election.
Germans Want Peace.
Yet the German people, in my judg-
ment, want peace as sincerely as the
French or the British, but on condi-
ttons. just as their neighbors do
If, I repeat, the British are ready to
direct their foreign policy in any way
to promote trade and thus to permit
existence; If the French are similarly
ready to do anything consistent with
national safety to insure peace, the
Germans seek peace, but with the
deliberate understanding that within
that area of peace Germany must be
allowed to be what her population
and resources entitle her to be, name
ly, great and Independent country,
possessed Of these lands, which every
German regards as rightfully hers by
reason Of the social character of the
Inhabitants.
Meanwhile one must also recog-
nlZe the rise of two very considerable
and important new states. Poland,
with nearly 100000 people, rapidly
increasing in population, with vast
resources, agricultural, industrial,
with an efficient army and a popula-
ton resolved to defend its present
frontiers to the last gasp, is by no
means a negligible factor. In no
conceivable way, save as the result of
successful war, could Germany re-
claim from Poland a foot of soil
which was once hers, albeit taken
originally from the Poles.
But, to wage a successful war
against Poland Germany would have
to raise armies vastly in excess of
the limits. imposed by the treaty of
Versailles, and no one can imagine
France would permit this to happen,
disposed Of Poland, would be turned
against France, and recalling that a
similarly supine policy in 1866, when
Prussia attacked Austria, led to the
debacle of 1870, when France, alone,
was overwhelmed. Nor can one be-
lieye that Czechoslovakia, with its
large German minority, would stand
idly by while Poland was erased,
knowing full well that it would be
predestined to be the second victim.
Demonstrate Capacities.
Poland and Czecho-Slovakia, too, are
demonstrating their economic capaci-
ties as going national concerns. They
have balanced their budgets, stabilized
their currencies undertaken great de-
velopments in the way of railroad coll
etruction. And there has been a
renaissance OF national sentiment
which is impressive.
These races, which for long gener-
atoms have been subject to alien
domination, have. with their escape,
reacted to liberty in a fashion which
Is at once impressive and fascinating.
But there, in all its complexity,
rises the new European problem, new
only in the loosest sense, for at bot
tom it is the oldest of the problems
of modern Europe. Great Britain sees
that Germany must, within a period
OF years, recover, as did France after
1915, and become one of the primary
powers of Europe. She sees clearly
enough that this Germany might &C.
cept her western frontiers, might
surrender her shadowy claim to AL
sace-Lorraine, that the French need
Cor security might be thus had.
On the other hand, Britain sees that
C~armanv will mt accant har ao a arn