REPARATION PROBLEM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18298, 15 January 1923, Page 7

REPARATION PROBLEM.

LLOYD GEORGE'S REVIEW, AMERICAN! RESPONSIBILITY. TREATY NULLIFIED. / By : Telegraph—Press Association— Copyrigbt. A. , and N.Z. - ./ LONDON, Jan.- 12. ' What is the reparation . problem, ! and why does it appear / further-; from i solution than /ever ? writes /Mr.,; Lloyd George in his latest article. The public in I all lands 'is perplexed and worried Iby its I.disturbing iiisolubility. ;' The /real trouble i is hot in solving ; the/ problem itself, But in satisfying the :'./public opinion which surrounds,, it. I do not mean to suggest •that it. is easy to ascertain ■ what : Germany can pay ;or for Germany, to keep ;on paying these sums/ once r they, I ascertained. Ifithe difficulty were, purelyfinancial it could- - be 1 overcome. / The heart of'the problem/ lies in the impossibility . at- - present ' ; of / convincing v. the expectant, " indignant,' hard-hit • - and heavily burdened - people of France - that sums fixed represent ■•; all ; that Germany is. capable of paying. At first it was . too readily taken ./for.; granted/that the wealth;. which ,could J bear, a war/debt of £8,000,000,000: could I surely / afford., an indemnity; ,of £6;000,000,000, provided that it was made first charge on the national revenues.. It took time for the" 1 average mind to appreciate, the ■ fundamental difference, j betwieen payment inside and transmisr-l sion outside a countiy. / /When. I think of the estimates framed in 1919 ;by i highly-trained experts as. to' Germany's j capacity to pay. cash over the border, I am not disposed- to complain of-the French .taxpayers' ! impatience . at the I efforts of ; successive conferences to;;. cut ; down those/sanguine estimates; to feasible I dimensions.: ■. ■■;::::/,/-;-;;--: /,:- : -/ British Taxpayers' : Conunonsenße. I am content; to point with pride to $9 fact that the common ■ sense of the more heavily-burdened British taxpayer, long ago tauglft him to cut his loss and keep his temper: Wlien '-, his example is followed all round the reparation problem is already; solved./' Financiers ; can \then soon' find > way/out. It is always assumed -by' those.who- have-not read, the Versailles /Treaty and. the letter accompanying it, that ; / this much-abused and little-perused document., fixed a fabulous indemnity. ' The treaty may have defects, but that is not one of them, for it fixed no payment. It : stipulated \that the / .Commission //should assess the damage .and /compensation, also that the Commission—and this -is/ always overlooked-Zshould/ ascertain/ how much of that claim / Germany ; was ; / capable of paying. Even : :so /;■ fair ;a\ controversanist as Signor / Nitti ignores . the latter provision, arid/ treats every alteration : ' , in the annuities fixed in May/ 1921, as : a -departure : from the ; treaty... to (the victors' detriment, whereas every modification was the'•;' treaty's machinery. But there has undoubtedly been a fundamental -departure: from the treaty/ and the whole trouble has • arisen/ by this .departure. The treaty provided that the Reparation Conunission should include. / art American representative. With the exception of the United States all "theother Powers/ are pecuniarily interested in the verdict,-and at best, it was, therefore, not/ a very impartial tribunal.;, Still, Britain -as"' a great trading community, being more interested /in the settlement than in a few millions more or less of indomnity wrung out of Germany, with! the presence of the United States; on the; Commission, would have/ constituted /fa guarantee for moderation. Now; the only disinterested party - has retired from the tribunal/while/ the; most interested party is in 'the . chair/ with /a .casting; vote -oh certain ' questions. ,; That is/ not ; the treaty that .Germany signed. ' ; /',// Balance Si Treaty tlpset. ' The/balance; of the treaty/ has /been entirely 'upset. What is t really needed is to restore/ balance; to secure a /fair verdict; bit, ; the only question,; and;; that is how much can Germany pay You must make up your mind whether you wish to ruin, the debtor to recover the cash. If you want beef from a cow you must' ..forego the milk. i, >-You must find out what the. dfcbtor can pay, then proceed judiciously, patiently, but .firmly to recover 1 the* .amount... I do not mean what ho can pay by condemning him to lif^servitude r : and /poverty, - No brave nation could,, stand that long. If you scrape the butter from ttu> bread of every German /child// for 30/; years,; you may add a, milliard /oivtwo-of gold., marks to the indemnity. .That;/ however, is not what the treaty intended. You must ".what Germany can pay without con'demmng a generation of, workers to Egyptian bondage and their children to sehii-starvation/i Every oppression, ii persisted in, ultimately ends in ruin in the waters of, a Red Sea, Europe only just: escaped with -great loss from; its waters; "We want to cross. The only hope of a fair and final decision'is to secure/a. representative of the United r Stated on' : the adjudicating body. ••/Unless, the -United" States takes rjiand the real "settlement will' -be - postponed • until the hour of irreparable mischief strikes. / IE; the United ;; States: cannot occujiy. the vacant chair I despair! of ; any real progress /being made/ .'.':■ The; Allied , Ministers can accept decisions from a body representing the ' leading Powers who won /tlie/war;/ which they dare not., take : on their .own responsibility; That ;is the essence ; the position. Statesmen could accept the judgment ofv an ; international tribunal without being taxed with, the responsibility;-of its conclusions. British opinion 1 will not accept a settlement based on the ...assumption that abatements of the ; reparations : must' '."be discounted by. the/ ; British/taxpayer. She is willing to stand I in; with the: Allies for' loss as well as profit;, but/shp would resent bitterly that- the loss' must necessarily be her share while such profit -as there is: belongs, to others* THe Americans also'will not see the/force of «. settlemen vat their :■ expense ' as';' if . they:; Had been ■ condemned to /pay an indemnTly. To offer tq hand over bonds to Britain in retm'n .for her claims is an insult•; to the intelligerice of the British public. Let us get back to the -treaty :/■ There is '•■ no need to revise it. All that is/ needed is to restore it. . If the United. States reappears on /the tribunal she heed: not accept the rest, of the treaty. • : -