Evening star., 1926-11-07

or the SXlSllHE citud'AVl' -.
n Europe, economic, political
and psychological? What Is
the condition and what is the
| stata of mind Of the people alike OF
the great and the smaller states near
| " eight years after the close of the
| great conflict?
The first obvious comment is that
| in all countries. great and small
helligerent and neutral in 1914'lS. the
economic fact dominates all others.
| Nor is it less clear that speaking
generally the condition of Europe OF
| the moment is. without being des-
perate, Enthusiastically depressing. or
| the great powers. leaving RUSSIA
aside as the great enigma. as the
monstrous "X' about which no one
knows much. Germany is the single
nation which has measurably l1qul-
| dated the struggle both economically
| and politically.
1t is the return of Germany to the
great bower rank. to the position OF
an equal, marked by the recent
| Geneva events, by the conversations
between Stresemann and BRAND
| quite. as much as by the formalltles
Of TIE entra nee into the League OF
| Nations, which has transformed the
whole international situation and
posed problems which are troubling
all chancellerles and all statesmen.
Position Of Germany.
The Germany which has come back
Is very far from being the Germany
of 1914 1t is possible to exaggerate
the degree of the German recovery,
but 1t is true that Germany has done
these things: She has. by cruel
and even brutal reputation of her
domestic debt, by the sacrifice of the
whole of her middle class. swept
away that whole mass Of financial
wreckage which today still obstructs
the pathway of both the Briton and
the F'renchman. Germany has no
domestic debt. her reparations COM
mitments are so controlled that while
her payments will presently be con-
siderable. if the present plan Is fol-
lowed, they can never affect her cur
rency or her exchange. She has a
fixed stabilized money.
In the second place Germany has
| arrived at a state of order in her
political and her economic system.
| The republic has found itself and the
control Of foreign affairs has fallen
into the ablest hands since Bismarck;
in Stresemann Germany has the
ablest foreign minister in Europe and
Stresemann not only has a clear pro-
gram for himself, which has already
in part been realized. but he has now
a solid backing at home despite the
loud clamor of a noisy Nationalist
opposition.
In France and in Great Britain the
effort to get back to, normalcy has SO
far failed. on the British side indus
trially. on the French financially.
Politically. Britain has escaped from
the temporary incoherence of the
Labor Liberal time and arrived at a
relatively firm and stable party govern
ment. France has only just reached
the point of having a strong cabinet
and this. unhappily, may prove but
an interlude. But France has still
no staggering problem of unemploy.
ment and no paralysis of trade and
commerce.
Contrast With Germany.
Germany by contrast has neither
political incoherence nor domino ting
economic difficulty. because, although
she has a vast army of unemployed
there is not the COncomitant revolt
of labor against capitalism, which is
the fatal circumstance of cotem
porary Britain. Labor has accepted
the situation IN Germany and gone tC
work at the wages which it can OBJ
tain. The sacrifice has been imposed
not upon the workingman. but tn,
middle class-and the middle class
notoriously can die, but it cannot
fight.
There are 1,750,000 unemployed ir
Germany, prices are high, life is diff
cult. 1t will be even more difficult
when the British coal strike is over
for then the present boom in the
coal trade will inevitably come to ar
end. But it is the judgment of the
ablest financial and business men ir
Germany, with whom / talked, that
Germany has turned the corner anC
that recovery, while bound to be slow
is now assured.
1t would he easy, as have said
to eXaggerate this situation. German,
has lost much by the war and the
peace treaties, her recovery is mat
ter of years, it may we'll he doubt eC
If she can recover all Of what she
lost. and certainly her recovery in {
large way must wait upon the re
turn of Russia, which is always prob
, lematical But she has arrived al
the position where neither her poll
tics, her business nor her finance
constitutes crushing problems am
combine to create an atmosphere Of
) uncertainty. Measured by American
standards. the condition Of the mas
of Germans is far from gay and the
immediate future by no means allur
] ing, but It Is solid.
Heavy Load on Britain.
When one turns to the British sit
uation the contrast is enormous. The
: Germans repudiated their domestic
debt and abolished their existing cur
rency. The British by stabiliznj
their pound sterling literally raised
the total Of their debt by billions anc
!, are now crushed under burden o.
debt which passes S35, ,00O, 900 900. TIL,
collapse of the coal trade has pro
duced almost inconceivable disarray
' which has been terribly increased h,
: the present strike. The whole fabric
of national industry has still to b,
: readjusted and the existence of E
: real class war makes all such reor
ganization dificult because boti
their battle with little concern fol
national safety and salvation.
Can Britain carry the presen
, burden Of debt and compete with
Germany and the United States II
the world markets? Can labor anc
capital reach an adjustment and vii
1 world recovery permit British recov
S cry? These are great and so far un
answered questions. while in the i'm
4 mediate present millions of Briton,
have to look forward to a tragic Win
ter following the present strike.
( know of nothing quite so despairine
!. in the European outlook at the mo
II ment as the British situation.
: When one turns to France the
paradoxes are innumerable, but the
outstandin fact Is that millions o
Z French men and women view. tn,
I future with alarm and even hopeless
? ness.
Z France is obviously on the eve o