THE BREAKING POINT

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 151, 23 December 1918, Page 6

THE BREAKING POINT

The whole-hog peace terms drafted by the National Committee of Patriotic Societies of the United States, and published in to-day's issue, will command respectful attention.. The Committee does'not breach the principle of "no annexations and no indemnities," if the last word is construed to mean punitive indemnities;' but it does insist on payment by the 'Central Powers of the cost of-the war. That such a payment would be in accord with the principles of justice there can be' no doubt whatever. The only doubt is one based on expediency, and it is summed up in this question; Can the Central Powers be saddled with the enormous cost of this war without over-straining them and making them a non-productive asset and a political danger to the rest of Europe ? If some moral-economic engineer would come along with an 1 exact system of measuring a nation's financial strain, and if he could precisely fix the paying-point and the breakmg-point of the Germany of to-day, he would render the Allied Governments an invaluable service. Just at the moment there is some doubt. Germany 'a burden should be made deterrent but not destructive, for justice would not be served without the one, and the Allies would lose with the other. Whatever their policy is, it is not to depreciate the enemy assets which have fallen under their control, nor to. provide an opening for the Lenins and the Licbknechts.

In this matter, a great deal depends on President Wilson. On 12th December the United Press Washington correspondent 'reported: "It is understood that ,Germany will not be asked to pay the full Allied war debt, as Mr. Lloyd George has demanded, if President Wilson's principles actuate the Peace Conference." This is jjuite committal but not official, and it may be taken for granted that President Wilson has not yet taken up any such definite attitude. Whether he will do so it would be folly to try to predict; but it is worth noting that opinion in favour of reimbursement 1 by Germany is hardening on the American as well as the European side of the Atlantic. The terms of the National Committee of Patriotic Societies are, irt this respect, in line with a speech made a week or more ago by Senator Poindexter.' Mr. Josephus Daniels, who is Naval Secretary in President Wilson's Administration, had, it appears, taken the responsibility—probably a purely personal responsibility—of declaring that " the United States ought not to seek indemnities from Germany." To this Senator Poindexter replied:

The United States, as the winner of the war, is entitled to justice under international law, and should demand the cost of the hostilities. It is the duty of the Government to assert the interests of the people of the country. Thqse interests demand that, the United States shall be reimbursed for the tremendous expenditure and cost of the war.

"The winner 6*f the war," if applied only to the United States, sounds flamboyant, but let that pass. The main point is that the Senator appeals to American public opinion, with which he claims to be exactly in line. And the fact that there is so large a body of American opinion in favour of reimbursement is bound to have a weighty influence at the Conference table.