Montana labor news., 1932-11-17
VAST CHANGES
INVOLVED IN
MILITIA PLAN

-
WASHINGTON - Of. P.) y Conf
dent that Hitlerism in Germany is
dying out, the French government
has at last made terms with the
Won Papen dictatorship in Berlin,
under strong pressure from Wash
ington and Wall Street, and has
agreed to begin demolishing the
Versailles Treaty. Premier Eduard
Herriot has published his arms-re-
duction proposal, and the French
Chamber Of Deputies has given him
an overwhelming vote of confidence.
The French parliament knows why
Herriot has proposed to put Germany
and all the rest of the European
continent on a conscript-militia basis
of self-defense. He makes this offer
because the French people want to
stop paying good money to the
United States on their war debts.
He knows, and the French know.
that only after a big reduction in
armament expense is agreed upon
in Europe will the Washington gov
eminent consent to a scaling-down
or final cancellation of these debts
Between maintaining the Versailles
Treaty against Germany and freeing
herself from war debt, France has
turned away from the Treaty anC
reached out her hand for forgiveness
of payments.
Every economist knows that the
existence of these war debts has
been one of the prime factors in deep.
ening the economic depression anC
paralyzing industry around the worlt
in the past three years. American
national wealth would have been fai
greater today if it had been decided
three years ago to wipe the deb
slate clean. European politics is
powerfully swayed by the debt bur
den. Neither Herriot nor any Other
politician can remain in power il
France unless he can secure a solu.
tion-unless he ear get the United
States to reduce or cancel the pay.
ments due. That was the bait which
Norman Davis, American special en-
voy, held out to France in recenl
weeks, with the warning that thu
American Congress would never
agree to any reduction of the pay
ments unless French ornaments were
sharply reduced.
Herriot drafted his plan. 1t callet
for the abolition of standing pro
fessional armies in continental Eu
ropean countries and the creation O
a conscript militia, whose size il
each country would depend upon it
population and certain other genera
factors. The powers having coloniel
could keep standing armies in thos'
colonies. There would be drastic re
duction of all other elements of tn
war machine, to satisfy in part tn,
Hoover proposal of a cut of one
third in all ornaments.
Davis was consulted and he re
ported to Washington that the Frencl
were beginning to see reason. Fo
the sake of money saved they wer'
willing to remove their standing
army from Europe and to let Ger
many have a militia comparable il
size to the militia that would b.
maintained in France. Better still
Foreign Minister Benes of Czecho
slovakia was one Of the authors o
the Herriot plan, and the FrencI
satellite states in the Balkans woul,
fall into line. Poland would resist
but Poland could not stand alone.
Germany's dictatorship of junker
was delighted. Here was the answe
to Hitler's Brown Shirts, the Nation
alist Steel Helmets, the Social Demo
cratic Reichbanner force and tn
Communist Red Front Fighters. al
of these armed forces Of the politi
cal parties could be dissolved an
suppressed as soon as a national con
script militia could be armed. Nor
important for the Won Papen gov
eminent, the Herriot plan remove
the main political stock-in-trade o
Hitler and the Nationalists-the or,
that the French were depressing tn
Continued on page four