FRENCH FOLLY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18766, 20 January 1923, Page 9

FRENCH FOLLY

BREEDING FUTURE WAR. MOST SINISTER EVENT FOR CENTURIES. DANGER OF RUSSO-GERMAN COMBINATION. 1870 INDEMNITY PAID THRICE OVER. Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright LONDON, January 18. (Received Jan. 19, at 5.5 p.m.) [The following and all of Mr Lloyd George’s articles are copyright by the United Press Association m America (all countries), copyright in Australia and New Zealand by the Australian Press Association, copyright in Britain by the Daily Chronicle. Reproduction in full or part is prohibited.] Mr Lloyd George continues; “France has once more jumped on the prostrate form of Germany with her sabots, and has come down with a thud that sickens the hearts of multitudes, on both sides of the Atlantic, whose friendship for Prance stood the- losses and griefs of a four years’ war—Germany having b(?en overthrown and disarmed, and her arms bound with the thongs of a stern treaty, the process of dancing on her when she is down can at any time be performed with complete impunity by anv of the Powers alone. No doubt there is some joy to the unsportsmanlike mind in kicking a helpless giant who once maltreated you, and who, but for the assistance of powerful neighbours, would have done so a second time. “The additional coal and timber that will bo wrung out of Germany will barely cover the direct cost of collection. These punitive measures must in the end diminish the means of reparation, and will, therefore, fall on the victor. The existing armies of occupation have already cost Germany over £300,000,000. How much better it would have been if this money had gone to the rebuilding of the devastated area? Between the cost of the armies of occupation and the contributions already made, Germany has already paid three-fold the indemnity that Bismark exacted in 1870, this without making allowance for her surrendered colonies. Let, therefore, no one approach this problem as if dealing with a recalcitrant country that was dcl'iiberately refusing to acknowledge any of her obligations under the treaty. “The indirect cost caused by these aggressive measures to victor and vanquished alike will be crushing. It is already accumulating. The mere threat has depreciated the value of the franc. There may be a rally, but I will be surprised if the improvement is more than temporary. All that is obvious for the moment to the untrained eve is the way in which the mark is dragging the French and Belgian franc along in its downward course. The policy which demoralises the Gorman currency is also fatal to the solvency of French finance. As long aa reparation coal is dug by baronets and timber cut down by the sword-it is idle to talk of restoring the mark bv putting German finance in order. No tariff, however nimble, could keep pace with the runaway mark. If the more threat of force produced such a panic, what will be

tho effect of the actual measures? It is safe to predict that the French advance will not arrest the mark’s flight “The only chance of securing an early instalment of reparation is by_ pressing Germany to put her finances in order, and the only chance of a German loan is by restoring the stability of German currency. The French statesmen have deliberately thrown these chance's away. The effect oiv their own currency must bo grave. Frenchmen will have to pay in the increased cost of living for a venture dictated by short-sighted and shorttempered statesmanship. “When one thinks of the consequences

one is driven to ask whether the French policy is really seeking reparation. The feather-headed scribes who advocated this rash policy assume that France will b» helped because Germany will be reduced to impotence. For how long? German disintegration is not unlikely in consequence of this move. I know that is the expectation of Frenchmen who still hanker after the days when Saxons, Bavarians, and Wurtemburgers were the allies, almost the vassals, of France against Prus sia. It was this lure which led Napoleon to his ruin. It is an attraction which is now drawing France once more fo sure doom. Nothing can keen the Germans apart?. They will re-unite at a suitable moment., under more favourable conditions, freed from external as well as internal debt. France will have lost her reparations, only retaining the hatred of an imnln cable foe. “There is no knowing what will happen when a brave people, numbering 50.000,000, find themselves faced with utter ruin. The French proclamation, with its threat of the severest measures in case of recalcitrancy, is ominous of much that may happen. No peonle accustomed to natural independence will he long able to tolerate a foreign voke. Herr Cuno’s action is the- first manifestation of revolt. It will grow in intensity, and Germany will inevitablv be driven to desperate courses. A Communist Germany would infect Europe. European vitality is so lowered bv exhaustion that it is in no condition to resist the plague. Russia, with her incalculable resources of men and material, is at hand, needing all that Germany ran best r’ve and spare. The Bolshevist leaders nnlv require what Ger-

many is so well fitted to supply in order to reorganise their country and convert it into the most formidable F+atc in Europe or A sia.. When the, French troops marched on Essen they began a movement the most far-reaching and probably the most sinister in its consequences that has been witnessed in Europe for many centuries. And these people are the people who, after 50 years of patient and laborious waiting. demonstrated to the world in 1918 Germany’s stupidity in abusing the victory of 1871. If the teacher so soon forgets his own special lesson, the pupil is not likely to remember when fnrv overcomes his terror.’’.—A. and N.Z. Cable.