Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-02-13

of all further supervision
of German ornaments to
the League of Nations marks one
more step in the liquidation of the
war, there are not lacking signs that
the process of Franco-German recon
Citation is likely to be halted for a
considerable period.
Many reasons combine to support
this view. But the most obvious ex-
PLANTATION is to be found I'm the reap
pearance of the Nationalsts in q Ger
man cabinet. Despite all the assur-
ances which come from Berlin that
Nationalist participation in a cabinet
involves acceptance of both the re-
public and Locarno, the National1stS
themselves have made too many
equiyocal statements to inspire conf
dence.
At the present moment a single
great issue survives from the war set
tlement BY the Dawes plan the
Preparations problem was settled and
eliminated from the list. Locarno
witnessed the restoration of Germany
to the status of a great power and
the later admission to the League was
| final evidence of allied willingness to
deal with Germany on the basis of
complete equality.
Problem of Evacuation.
With the end of the military con
troll there remains only the problem of
evacuation of the occupied zones.
Under the terms of the treaty of Yer
sailles allied troops can remain in the
northern zone until January l., 1880,
and in the southern until the opening
of 1885. In the latter year, too. a
plebiscite is provided for the Saar dis
| trict.
In fact, however, the French have
already recognized the thoroughly
German character of the population
| of the Saar and there is little likeli-
hood that a plebiscite will be held.
BY contrast all German interest is
| now concentrated upon shortening the
| period of occupation. This is, more
| over, the underlying purpose of the
| foreign policy of Stresemann, who
! sought German liberation through full
| fillment.
| But the French have legal right
| to remain in Germany until 1885, and
| this right represents for them Inn
| mediate security against German
attack and tangible guarantee of
/ German fulfillment of the treaty for
| the next eight years. The question
\ of security is important because the
new French frontier in Alsace-Lor
raine is defenseless. The guarantee
| for fulfllment gains new value now
| that military control is ended.
| Had the recent political crisis beer
terminated by the formation of q
German ministry based upon the re
publican parties, 1t is possible thai
new negotiations might have beer
opened with respect of the evacuation
issue. But there is no mistaking the
1 8 Oh irf0 is. n
ted and even disturbed by the turr
events have taken. The guarantees
which it still holds legally, therefore
acquire for 1t a new value.
| Question of Republic.
The German statement that the en-
trance of the Nationalists into the
| government actually brings new
strength to the republic has, however
been largely contradicted by the vague
and conflicting statements OF the
| Nationalist themselves.
| 1t is conceivab1y true that the
| Nationalist leaders see the situation
| more practically than the majority
| of their EasteIbian supporters. but
their words, designed to satisfy their
| reactionary constituents. have found
unpleasant repetition on the other side
of the Rhine. For the moment even
i
| Again. the problem of evacuation
is complicated by the fact that the
| Germans, while anxious to shorten the
period of occupation, have nothing to
offer the French in return for evacu'
alton. At Thoiry BRAND and Strese'
mann discussed the marketing of
| bonds, which represent mortgage
on the German state railways, and
have been turned over to the agent
general as a part of the general pro-
gram of the Dawes plan.
The total of these bonds amounts to
81, 500 ,000, 900 and the French share
is slightly more than half. Obviously,
| in the present state of French finance,
the proceeds of these bonds would be
of an enormous value to the French
treasury. But the difficulty in the way
| of a transaction is that these bonds
can only be marketed in the United
States, and while their soundneSS is
unquestioned, pending ratification of
the Mellon-Berenger debt settlement,
| the American official veto closes the
| door.
French Situation Better.
When BRAND and Stresemann lunch
ed at Thoiry the situation In France
was acute Today it has improved. at
| least temporarily. Therefore, while
contributions from this German direc-
ton would be welcome, they are no
| longer essential to the salvaging of
the franc. But, in any event, while
| the Coolidge administration stands its
ground, Germany has no apparent re-
sources to employ for the purchase Of
French evacuation.
Meantime, the German political sit
uation, which is never very simple to
1oe al nj
telligible. Actually the political par
ties are cut both ways. Parties are
not merely divided from each other
on the question of monarchy and re-
public, but the republican groups are
separated over the questions which
have to do with domestic legislation
Moreover, the multiplicity of parties
adds to the general confusion.
Thus, at the moment, the Catholic
Center, the Democrats and the Social
Democrats. who composed the oid
Weimar bloc. are completely united
in their support of the republic. On
this issue, too, they have the tacit
support Of the Peoples party, which
is composed of big business interests.
For while the members of the Peo-
pies party are in the main monarch
lists in theory, they recognize that
both for foreign and domestic po-
litical reasons any attempt at resto-
ration now would be fatal to economic
recovery, which Is naturally their
main concern.
But between the Social Democrats
and the Peoples party there is a COM
plete difference of opinion in all mat
ters which involve disputes between
capital and labor. And on these issues
the Catholic Center Is itself divided,
although it tends to agree with the
conservative Peoples party. But
while the Peoples party and the CEN
ter can agree sufficiently in foreign
and domestic matters to unite. the
peopIe'S Darty refuses to combine