THE WORLD'S TRAVAIL.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3141, 30 October 1922, Page 2

THE WORLD'S TRAVAIL.

(By Mercurius.) Apparently the happiest people in Europe at the present moment are the Germans. They owe .nearly everybody of any importance something, large or small, and with a. benignant aid copious smile they offer them marks ([paper marks, be it noted) as a recompense for all the weary years they have waited for the payment of these "just debts" ; but as German paper marks have now reached the abysmal depths where their denomination as counters in financial settlements is much less than the cost of the printing and the paper there is a very natural repugnance to giving them storage room. Storage costs money, and it would require a very large warehouse to find shelter for at* many paper marks as are necessary to liquidate a £SOOO debt; therefore no one wants them. As Germany cannot pay with anything else on a large scale she must naturally be in a better position than, say, France, winch also cannot pay till Germany pays her; and so on with Italy, Poland, Austria. Belgium, and all the other European national midgets that are buzzing about the individual or nation with a- few coinsi in his or its pocket that can be clinked to make an unaccustomed- and. .agreoablie noise with. Sir Philip Gibbs says Europe is almost entirely bankrupt, and so far as his statement coincides with inability to pay its debts, each of the nations referred to might just- as well have sought the shelter of the outspread wings of a national assignee in bankruptcy. M. Poincare, who is a real Frenchman, and wants everything for nothing, readily admits that Franco cannot pay unless Germany "dubs up." is content to plead the poverty of France as a set-off against the recalcitrancy of Germany. France has appealed to Britain for assistance in compelling Germany to pay, but Britain has several times refused to act the part of Don Quixote and tilt .at German windmills. As a retort to Britain's obduracy France has on two or three occasions let Britain know that she also has shots in her locker, and knows when and how to fire them. She put a spoke in Britain's wheel when she refused to be bound by the agreement at the Washington Conference in respect to a reduction of armaments. France there was a thorn in the sides of both the United States and Britain, for both countries made powerful appeals to her to fall in with the trend of the world in its quest for peace. But France was obdurate, and the Conference bad to be content with much less than it wanted. And similarly with the Near East question. Here France was guilty of a. deliberate breach of faith, for'she would not carry out the terms of the Sevres Treaty signed by her, but made a separate and secret arrangement with Kemal Pasha* in defiance of that treaty, and supplied the Turk with munitions of war. Far better for Britain to league herself with the new Germany than with a Power on whose written bond no reliance can lie placed. Britain, with the aid of France and Italy, would have given Greece more than she is likely to get out of the Kemal Pasha affair, but France drew Italy with her. and shouldered on to Britain the duty of defending the freedom of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus. leaving Greece with next to nothing, which is, perhaps, a good thing for Greece, as she is ton weak to hold the country against the more valorous but blood-thirsty Turk. Britain has, -no doubt, realised that, and is quite content to accept the position of guardian o'f the Straits, with France and Italy accepting the benefits accru'ng therefrom. France was a good ally during the war. but at its termination she formed .herself into a big .savings bank, into which all those with a copper were expected to defer to her avarice and drop it in. even if loft penniless. If it i< a question as to whether Germany can pay her debts with greater ease than France, let us place the exact position before the readers of these notes. Germany says it is impossible for her to pay the reparations in the amounts and on the dates fixed by the Reparations Commission. Franco says she cannot pay Britain and others until Germany pays her. If. therefore, wo place France in Germany's position, could she do anything better than Germany is doing? Both have defaulted in their payments, but it must bo remeniJieied that Germany during the war bad to finance three financially lame ducks in Austria. Bulgaria and Turkey, and keep her own pot boiling. while France borrowed from Britain and tho United States, to whom she has- not paid a Denny-piece of interest. Tn addition she has treated these two Powers with dire ingratitude, because they would not lend her any more or assist, her to throttle Germany, who has. in fact, ruined herself by the issue of avalanches of paper marks. while Fiance, to help herself up the. hill, is turning out francs made of nickel and brass because they are cheaper to produce than silver coins. France, which is in Queer street, is waiting for Germany to pay up. while Germany, which is also in the street called Queer, is waiting for a big universal loan to put her on her feet. What a pair to< look to for payment to their respective creditors ! Perhaps both could meet their engagements better if they taxed their people to a greater extent than tliey do, instead of turning out spurious and worthless money that only depredates previous issues.

New Zealand .Ministers and legislates hnvo obviously not been too close readers of the liistorv of the Croat War Mr K. A. Wright asked the Prime Minister in the House the other day if the cabled statement made by General Hurries of tlie IT.S.l T .S. Army, was reliable, that i" five days more the Allies could have captured the German army and had a military victory. General Hurries also said thai the army commanders had gone as far as the politicians would allow them, and the armistice was responsible lor the massacre of Smyrna. How General Hurries (who seems to heie his mime) can associate the defeat of the Greeks anld the niitssacn at Smyrna with the granting to Germany of an armistice, instead, of carrying the war on for live days longer, is one of those conundrums that General Hurries could have answered himself had he paid closer attention to the history of the war. for Hindenhurg said that had Germany failed in securing the armistice he bad asked for the German army woul dhave surrendered, because it had little or no ammunition and an insufficiency of food, and surrender would have been its only alternative. Mr Mas soy did not reply to this effect, perhaps because lie had forgotten or was not aware of what Hindenhurg had said. The Allies, for obvious reasons, did not want the surrender of the Germany army. As a matter of fact a great part of the Germany army had slipped past the American commander's army, and was back in Germany. Had General Pershing been able to force the German positions on liis front he would have interposed between the Germans and retreat, but he was unable to "get there.' and consequently nothing was to be gained by further blooshed—nothing but what the Allies could gain by granting the armistice. Yet General Hurries finds fault with the Allies for not wasting a division or two in five days' further fighting, to gain no more than was obtained

without it. Hindenburg's design was to frustrate the Allies invading Germany, and his trump card was to prevent that by a general surrender. This would have been what General Hurries Mould term a military victory. The "politicians," however, intervened, and made the conditions of the armistice so severe that it could not have been worse bad the Allies marched on to Berlin. All that General Hurries wanted bv five days' fighting the Allies obtained withont any fighting whatever. Allied armies occupied German territory, and they still occupy it. Germany has to pay the cost of the army of occupation, and up to the present she has done so, but, unfortunately for the Allies, she has paid nothing else. The great question is the method by which Germany can bo compelled to pay. The British Government has come to the conclusion that she cannot fulfil the terms set out by the Reparations Commission, but France believes she can if Britain will only foot the bill, for that is what marching armies into Germany means. France will not' foot the bill if she can induce others to do it for her, and she is prepared to make those smart who refuse her requests, whether they be friend or foe. Britain is decidedly against marching British troops into the Ruhr Valley or any other part of Germany, because it would bring them no nearer the payment of the indemnities, but perhaps precipitate a crisis in Germany, out of which France would get less than if the invading armies never moved forward. Mr Lloyd George has tried to prevail on M. Poincare to look at the matter from this point of view, but the French Premier is afraid to accept the advice lest the chauvinism of France would exhaust itself on his devoted head, and he would be refused that vote of confidence in the Chamber of Deputies that every French Premier so ardently aspires to receive. Yet although refused by Mr Lloyd George M. Poincare ha.s not yet moved his army into Germany. He need not wait for Britain. He has the power, and why not uso it? \