Evening star., 1928-05-13

THE prompt and emphatic In
dorsement Of Secretary Kellogg s
proposal for the outlawry Of war
/ by the German government must
be recognized as throwing the
hole question into the vortex OF Euro
,ean politics. The German action, too
must be appreciated as one more adroit
step in the whole chain of operations
which began three years ago with
5tresemann's proposal for the nego-
tiations which led eventually to Locarno
and the German entrance into the
League of Nations.
But BADLY, Germany, defeated in the
war. isolated by the consequences of
her defeat disarmed and occupied not
! merely territorially by the allied forces
IN the Rhineland, but also financially
, by the administrators of the Dawes
plan. was left with but one possible
course which might regain for her a
position Of influence and a measure of
prestige In the world And this course
vas obviously the advocacy of peace.
Germany has today three immediate
purposes to serve. First of all, to rid
herself of the armies of occupation
| which by the terms of the treaty of
versailles may remain until 1885
Locarno was a deliberate attemut to
obtain evacuation by supplying France
! with that degree of assurance as to
Alsace-Lorraine necessary to meet the
French demand for security. German
acceptance Of the status quo in the
West created by the peace treaties and
the British guarantee of that status
quo invited by the Germans, was de-
signed to that end.
Gerrnany's Army Small.
The second purpose of German nolicv
IS to bring about that degree of dis
armament in Europe which would be
commensurate with the condition i'm
/ posed upon the German people by the
neace treaties There was contained in
/ the peace treaties a specific declaration
that the disarmament of Germany was
| 10 be no more than a preliminary step
IN the direction of the general European
disarmament which all peoples longed
for.
Today Germany finds herself with an
army OF hardly more than 100000, the
treaty limit, surrounded by nations All
of which base their military estabIish-
mentS upon conScription, forbidden To
the Germans. Thus not merely do the
armies OF Germanys neighbors. France
Poland, Czechoslovakia and Belgium
number at the moment $50. 900. 300. 900
100000 and i25,000, respectively, but
each OF the four countries could put in
the field on mobilization their whole
male population between the ages of 81
and Is, trained for war.
TneSe four states are united BY a
common alliance with France. In case
OF any immediate issue between Ger
many and France these allies would be
able to muster not less than a million
men. already in arms and 5000 OOC
trained to fight. Against such an array
Germany could put In the field at once
not more than 100000 She would have
certain number Of the veterans of tn:
World War. already trained, but each
year they grow older and there are nc
trained troops to replace them.
| Would Disarm Others.
Forbidden to arm. Germany can only
work for the disarmament of her neigh
bors This was the explanation OF Ger
man policy at Geneva at the last meet
ing OF the preparatory disarmament
conference. when the Germans, repre-
sented by Bernstorff. heartily supported
the bolshevist proposal of Litvinov for
a general, complete and immediate abol-
ition of standing armies. Wsnile the
Germans were very far from welcoming
the situation which put them in bas-
ket with the bolshevistS and the Turks,
1t was impossible for them not to sup
port any project even nominally advo-
eating disarmament.
| The third German objective at the
moment Is to bring about liquidation
Of the Dawes plan. The first step in
this is to fix sum for the total OF
| German payments. since the Dawes
1an fixes only maximum annual in
tallment, with no provision as to how
ong this must be met. Once q sum Is
7ommercializing that debt. which means
N simple terms discovering a whole
program by which Germany issues
bonds based partially upon her rail-
ways, mines and other industries and
partially upon her revenues.
These bonds must be sold abroad and
N the main In the United States. II
they can be sol1. then the proceeds will
go to pay of the nations entitled to
reparations and with the payment they
will disappear from the scene. The
bonds will be held by individuals, not by
governments: there will be no further
reason for any such commission as S.
Parker Gilbert heads in Berlin today.
Thus not only military but financial oc-
cupation can be terminated
Bigger Issues at Stake.
In this situation nothing was more
uiSNatMOiS ttldA tIlaL TIE GefiHAIlS
.iould support Mr. Kelloggs proposal.
To reject 1t and as consequence 10
rritate the American Government and
perhaps anger the American people
would be poor preparation for tn"
later financial operation, which depends
upon American participation for sue
cess. Even had the Germans found the
plan unpalatahle. within limits they
were bound to accept 1t. because of the
greater issues at stake.