GERMANY YIELDS

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 10898, 12 May 1921, Page 4

GERMANY YIELDS

At the eleventh hour Germany has surrendered unconditionally. A Government has been formed, with a majority behind it, in support of obedience to the Allied ultimatum, and the Premier of that Government has announced that Germany will pay. The awkward situation is over, and there will be no military advance. The United States Government, instead of intervening, as asked from Berlin, had advised Germany to accept the terms ’ 'dictated, and the presence in the Supreme Council of the Allies gave significance to the advice. So did other things. Of these, the chief are the practical collapse—camouflaged as delay—of the Senatorial conspiracy for a separate peace, and the abandonment of the Presidential idea of another League of Nations under the mask of an Association. The rage of the conspirators speaks for itself. Another sign not to be lightly considered by Germany was the message of the Pesident to King George carried by the new American Ambassador. The -wording of that message of goodwill from the head of the greatest Republic to the head of the greatest Empire, urging as it did the necessity for the two to stand together in the interest of civilisation and as a guarantee of Universal Peace, cannot be misunderstood. Indefinite that message may be called, but its decisiveness can neither be denied nor ignored by those whb relied upon the new ruler of the Republic who sent the message to make trouble with the Empire whose ruler received it. That Germany has yielded to these signs and to the determination of the Allies, backed by. considerable forces ready for immediate action, is a surprise to many observers of, events, an agreeable surprise. The surrender, at the same time, ought not to cause any loss of sleep- to the people who have been weeping over Germany’s inability to meet what they have for months consistently described as an extortionate penalty. The evidence grows stronger with every day of Germany’s industrial recovery,' shown by the large number of new industrial and commercial institutions appealing successfully to the money market; the very rapidly-growing output of industry; by the activity of inventive power in coping with all the difficulties left by the i^ar; and the increasing employment of labour, skilled and unskilled, throughout the Fatherland. That, nevertheless, Germany strove hard to avoid paying the penalty, certainly heavy, was natural enough. But the bluff has been called, and Germany will pay and look pleasant, because Germany is striving hard for .commercial supremacy, and is encouraged by the prediction of many who fought against her that she will either get her wish, or something not far from it. The settlement of this great question of German reparation is especially welcome at the present moment, when the British Government requires all its energies for the growing formidable domestic trouble now claiming attention.