Vashon Island news-record. [volume] (Vashon, Wash.) 1919-1954, 1932-02-04
. :
TODAY AND TOMORROW
BY Walter Lippmann
An Example Of Intolerance

Last week there was on sale In the
United States prize specimen of the
difficulties with which statesmen have
to contend when they seek to bring
some kind of order out of chaos. 1t
was an article called THE Rescue of
Germany" II was written by MIR.
Baret Garrett, 1t was printed in THE
Saturday Evening Post for Septem-
Der 20.
Mr.. CARROTS contribution to the
sanity OF nations is an elaborate In
nuendo that Germany has brought
herself TO the verge Of bankruptcy in
order to escape paying rcparations.
Mr.. Garrett was careful never to state
the idea as bluntly rs l have stated 1t,
but that is the impression he, never
theless, meant to convey. Nobody
could imagine" he said, for example,
In speaking of those who have invest
ed money in Germany, that the Ger
mans would attack their own credit
and really mean 1t, or that second
act Of national bankruptcy was pos
sible. 1t was a little like the warning
on the sinking of the Lusitania.
There it was, cold and authentic, and
nobody believed It,"
No more serious charge could be
made against nation in time of
peace; for If the German people have
deliberately enticed money into their
country with the intention of attack
| ing 1t in order to coerce their creditors
they are guilty of one Of the most
gigantic conspiracies In history. II
Mr.. CARROTS insinuation Is well
founded, the reconstruction of Europe
on foundation of good faith is I'M
possible. If one OF the great nations
Of the world is a fraudulent bank
rupt, all plans for making peace, re-
storing credit and dealing with the
worlds problems by common action
are absurd.
happened to be In Berlin during
the week following the announcement
of the Hoover moratorium, and had
the opportunity then to talk with
many of the principal figures in the
German government and in German
finance. They would all have had to
take part in Mr.. CARROTS conspiracy
If there had been one. They included
the Chancellor, the Foreign Secretary,
the Finance Minister, the President of
the Reichsbank, and the heads OF
several of the largest banks. That
they were happy and grateful at Mr.,
Hoover's Intervention goes without
saying, but to my unsuspicious eye
those infinitely tired men looked less
like successful conspirators than like
doomed men who had suddenly been
reprieyed when all hope seemed lost
do not think a whole governing class
can counterfeit the look of desperate
anxiety and of profound physical and
nervous exhaustion which was stamp
ed on their faces. cannot believe
that those men had Just engineered q
daring coup, and were secretly chuck
ling at their smartness in fooling
mankind.
I I should not, however, ask Mr.. Gar
lrett to accept such personal impress
sion as conclusive. What I should
like to ask him is why, at a time
when all kinds of debtors in all parts
of the world are unable to pay, he
singles out the Germans and implies
that their bankruptcy is fraudulent?
I could understand his being very
suspicious if the Germans had gone
bankrupt in time of great prosperity
That would, indeed, be suspicious,
But at time when scores of other
governments are in default, when al
most every bank has frozen credits
at time when foreclosures have
reached enormous proportions, at a
time when England cannot pay her
commercial Indebtedness in gold, why
does Mr.. Garrett make 1t appear that
the Germans are playing a deep and
devious game?
If this article had been written by
some one less well-trained in eco
| Monies than he is, should set down
the article as mixture Of ignorance
and prejudice. For what Mr.. Garrett
relies upon to support his charge is
the fact that between 1924 and 1929
the Germans modernized their in
ldustrial plant, carried out a great
housing program and made all sorts
of attractive public works. His i'm
lplication is that If the Germans had
not been so extravagant at home they
could have paid their debts abroad
The known facts, vouched for by a
committee representing all the I'M
portant central banks of the world
ldisprove it.
The Germans have been extrava-
CANT in their borrowing and in their
Expenditures, but, if they had not
been, they would still OF have been
able to pay PREPARATIONS out of their
own resources. For in the six years
from 1924 to 1929 there was no single
year in which they sold enough goods
and services abroad to pay for repara-
tons and the interest on their other
debts. They almost did it in 1925, and
Theoretically they did it in 1890. when
the collapse of the world prices OF