Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-10-04
BY FRANK H. sIMONDs.

wv YHAT will be the political ef.
wv ' ST. s. :; f. the s. ' rss s. n's:,
concerned almost exclusively
with the financial and economic as
poets, but it is clear that on the politi-
cal side the results will be hardly less
far-reaching. And the first result must
| be to place Squarely before Germany
the alternative of making peace or
plunging into either a Communistic OF
| Nationalistic domestic upheaVal.
The situation which now exists Is
! the direct outcome Of German de-
| cision.
At the end of the World War the
German people, like the Austrian and
the Hungarian, refused to accept the
treaties constituted in their eyes the
ruin of all they held sacred and dear
a denial Of their present hopes and
future ambitions.
Twelve Years Of Conflict.
The consequence has been IL years
Of postwar conflict war in peace
In this war Germany again has beer
beaten. She is bankrupt today. Aus
tria and Hungary, also at the edge OF
utter ruin, have surrendered again. They
gave up the fight and obtained the only
terms they could get at Paris. They
| took money and abandoned rights
Germany, equally helpless, has no other
choice.
/ Actually her situation is worse today
even than in 1919, because in this last
CONFUSION she has exhausted the posi-
| bilities Of aid from the outside world
All along, once the war emotions had
vanished, the British and American
people have seen Justice in German
claims. And particularly in the matter
Of reparations they have aided as they
could through the Dawes plan and the
Young plan.
For now neither London nor New York
can do more. Whatever the funda-
mental causes Of the British crisis, the
precipitating cause was the German
crash. And the German trouble wa;
due to the German fight against the
peace treaties. British and American
| flnancierS were caught IN Germany The
way American tourists were caught
| there in July, 1914, when mobilization
orders were suddenly issued.
Must Get Money Back.
The problem for London and New
York now is to get their money bach
! from Germany, not to risk more. 1t L
la problem which can be solved only or
the condition of peace and order II
Europe. And. precisely as long as thu
| Germans continue their campaign
against the treaty Of Versailles there
can be no peace.
Therefore, Germany has to make
peace. She has to make peace witt
France. She is in precisely the situa-
| ton of France after the fall Of Paris
in 1871. And as the price Of peace
| then was the ceSsion of AlSace-Lor.
raine, the price now is the recognition
of the present f1nality of the loss Of the
Polish Corridor. Germany does MOI
possess the corridor. She has not ever
the legal title, as France still had tt
| Alsace-Lorraine until ratification Of thu
treaty of Frankfort.
In reality Germany has nothing bu
her claim, backed by her will. But un'
less she now agrees to suspend thai
will to join in some form of politica
aid in the world. She cannot even pay
back what she owes Britain anc
/ America.
But what, after all, does such {
moratorium mean? Nothing in thu
world but a renewal of the pact o.
Locarno, which has never legally lapsed
After the occupation of the Ruin
Stresemann, the single statesman post
war Germany has produced, perceived
that Germany must make terms with
France or disintegrate in domestic an
archy and misery. He agreed. there.
FORE to resign all claims on the part
Of the Germans to Alsace-Lorraine ano
to renounce the right to recover the
Polish Corridor and Upper Silesia BY
arms.
Hoped for Treaty Revision.
| The Germans have hoped against
| hone that the AnPIo-SaXOQ desire tc
see Europe get back to normal life
would lead them to force France and
her allies to agree to treaty revision
but that has not happened and IS out
Of the question now.
The Germans also hoped that Soviet