Evening star., 1926-01-10
BY FRANK Ill. SIMO\DS.

the delusiOns of the era through
which we have just come, and chief
among these delUsions must he that
which has to do with payments
by one nation to another. whether
the payments be for debts incurred in
II common action in war or imposed
following defeat in the terms of peace.
Such historian viii point out that
for all the years Of the war and those
of the immediate peace making the
statesmen of the respective nations at
war nouriShed, and perhaps cherished
the illusion that victory would enable
the cOnquererS to put the costs of the
struggle upon the Vanquished. while
at the same time they clung to the
notion that nations borrowing from
allies would regard the loans as
sacred, since they permitted salvation.
; In the twelfth year Of the series
which began with the war il is a
I fact that despite reparations agree
mentS and debt settlements, no nation
is paving anything to any other. Take
the single case Of Germany. At the
close of the war her cOnquerors eE-
, acted certain immediate tributes. They
took some 80 900 square miles OF terri
tory, most of the merchant marine
and a whole variety of what might
be called liquid assets. BY means Of
armies Of occupation they also col.
lected certain other tributes, oi
, which coal was the most important.
Greatest Postwar Tribute.
SO far the process was on all fours
with the transactions which have &C.
companied wars before. Losing the
war. Germany lost 81. 900 square miles
Of territory and 5000 900 people; she
had To make forced contributions, the
value of which reached perhaps S.
500 900 900 or two and a half times
the sum she took from France in
1871. All told, this was the most
formidable postwar tribute ever
levied upon d defeated nation ii mod
ern times.
Having got SO far, however, the vic
toriOus nations then turned their at.
tentiou 10 shifting TO German shoul.
ders the burden OF paying for the
war, not entirely, because this was
beyond even the dreams of the men
OF Paris. but for a portion of it which
amounted TO fantastic sums. Thus
the Paris estimate Of German ubliga-
tion passed $50 900 0O0 600 or we'll To-
ward half Of the pre-war valuation
Of German national assets.
Failure Is Confessed"
Eeginning, however. with the ratiri
cation of the peace treaty in January
1870. what are the facts OF German
payment? All told, Germany has not
turned over to her CouQueroTS ma
terially more than she has extracted
from them by various methods. such
. for example, az the imitation and repu
diation of her currency. Occupying
much of her territory and a large part
/ of the richest industrial area, the
allies not only have been unable tC
get payments from Germany. but by
the end of 1924 had To confess failure
The confession OF failure lies writ
! ten in the Dawes plan, which at once
wiped out all past programs and
while fixing a new method and stand
ard for German payments, opened the
series by providing loans for Germany
which amounted in reality To provid
/ ing Germany with all of the money
needed TO pay her creditors for the
! first year and a considerable part ful
! the second. It also esta blished the all
! important condition that no German
/ payment need be made when such pay
! ment menaced the stability of German
| exchange.
Now actually what happened was
that the German people, although
hopeleSsly defeated and absolutely
helpless before their couqUerors. were
/ able by va ssiye resistance 10 ,yoiC
+ an considerable foreign contributions
from the moment the peaC" treaty be
4 came effective. Not only that, but
they We're at last able To come To Lon
/ don i'll 1924, TO be received as equals
and 10 stipulate the terms under
! which they would agree to assume an!
obligation whatsoever.
LIQUID Assets Seizable.
| In reality. the Germans demon
J 49, col IN
! IDENTITIES beyond those represented BY
| liquid assets which can he seized
1 Pressed for payments. they deliberate
! IL threw themselves into bankruptcy
! Confronted by these conditions, th'
allies invited the Germans TO a dis
cussion OF what they would be Willins
To pay. And the Germans agreed L
pay only what it was worth 10 then
to get rid Of allied interference ant
TO obtain allied loans to reconstruc
their economic life.
The London conference, which
adopted the Dawes plan, was a Su
preme victory for Germany becaus
/ the Germans there imposed their owl
terms. wholly in principle, partially II
| detail What the Germans said was
IF YOU will withdraw from the Ruhr
if YOU will agree to make us larg'
! loans, If you viii insure us againS
new coercious, We will accept an ell
s,agement to make certain payment
under certain conditions, always pro
videG these payments do rot interfer'
with our recovery. our prosperity ant
our entire domestic life"
Gave Up Coercion.
BY this agreement the allies sur
! rendered the idea of coercing Ger
many. the evacuation Of the Ruh
has been followed by that of tn
Cologne zone, and every Europeal
| knows that no matter what happen
in the future there will be no resor
TO force TO collect, because it is ap
preciated that force cannot collect
| Meantime the world has lent Gen
MANY directly and indirectly vas
| sums Of money to reconstruct her in
dustry and other sums which are to b
paid back and have been paid back t
cover first reparationS payments. s
far from making Germany pay, ther
Germany had made the allies abando,
all thought of coercion, present o
future: she has made them pay tn
first installments of her new repara
tions contract and supply the none
to start her industrial machine.
Now every one in Europe realize
that despite the elaborate condition
written into the Dawes plan, there /
not the smallest likelihood that Gel
many will ever fulfill. What remain
in this enormous process or imitation
| is the new contract which Will replac
the Dawes plan and amount to flXinj
a sum which Germany will pay to ge
rid of the whole troublesome question
There is a value to Germany in free
ing herself from all the interference
with bar acopomjc life incident 10 rar