FRENCH FOLLY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3593, 23 January 1923, Page 27

FRENCH FOLLY.

BREEDING FUTURE WAR. DANGER OF RUSSO-GERMAN COMBINATION. LONDON, January 18. [The following and all of Mr Lloyd George’s articles are copyright by the United Press Association in 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 France stood the losses and griefs of a four years’ war—Germany having been 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 bv anv of the Powers alone. No doubt there is some joy to the unsportsmanlike mind in kick ing 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 be wrung out of Germany will barely cover the direct cost of collection. These punitive measures must in the end dimin ish the means of reparation, and will, therefore, fall on the victor. The existing armies of occupation have already cost Germany oveT £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 threefold 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 deliberately 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 eye is the way in which the mark is dragging the French and Belgian franc along in its downward course. The policy which demoralises the German currency is also fatal to the sol-

vency of French finance. As long as reparation coal is dug by bayonet® and timber cut down by the sword it is idle to talk of restoring the mark by putting German finance in order. No tariff, however nimble, could keep pace with the runaway mark. If the mere threat of force produced such a nanic, what will be the 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* chances away. The effect oil their own currency must be grave. Frenchmen will have to pay m 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 be 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 Wurtem'burgers. were the allies, almost the vassals, of France against Prus sia. It was this lure which led Napoleon to hi® ruin. It is an attraction which is now drawing France once more to sure doom. Nothing can keep 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 implacable foe. “There is no knowing what will happen when a brave people, numbering 60,000,000, find themselves faced with utter ruin. The FVench proclamation, with its threat of the severest measures in case of recalcitrancy, is ominous of much that may happen. 'No peoole accustomed to natural independence will be able to tolerate a foreign yoke. Herr Ouno's action is the first manifestation of revolt. It will grow in intensity, and Germany will inevitably be driven to desperate courses. A Communist Germany would infect Europe. European vitality I s *** 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 can best give and spare. the Bolshevist, leaders onlv require what Eermanv is so well fitted to supply in order to reorganise their country and convert it into the most formidable State in Europe or Mia 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 Flurope 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 m abusing the victory of 1871. If the teacher so soon forgets his own special lesson, the pupil is not- likely to remember when fury overcomes his terror. REJECTED BY DAILY TELEGRAPH. LONDON, January 20. The Daily Telegraph, which has been publishing Mr Lloyd George’s art,elea simultaneously with the Daily Chronicle, announces that Mr Lloyd George is holidaying in Spain. Since he wrote the seventh article the gravity of the situation in the Ruhr has deepened hourly in view of its delicacy, the difficulty of the international situation, and the importance of maintaining—notwithstanding present differences- the f«end shl P that was sealed by Britain and Frances common services in the war, the editor has decided not to publish the article.