QUICKSANDS OF RUHR.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 16074, 10 March 1923, Page 2

QUICKSANDS OF RUHR.

MARCHING FURTHER INTOQUAGMIRE. >• LLOYD ,GEORGE’S OPINION. FRENCH GOVERNMENT'- TIEIL'TO THE SADDLE. ' (Copyright.) (Elec. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.] (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association ] (Received March\lo, 8.50 n.ra.) . - ' LONDON* March 7. Mr. Lloyd George, in a further article, states: When you have walked some distance into a quicksand and are sinking deeper with every step, it is always difficult to decide Whether you are more likely to reach firm ground by pressing forward or by going backward. You must do one or the' other. ' .You canrtot stand just fast, \ for that is inevitable destruction. " "ir ; . ' • The French Government is clearly of

the opinion that safety lies in marching further into the quagmire, so more German cities occupied,.. more , burgomasters nnoofficials expelled, more men and boys shot in; the streets, more black troops imported, more regulations and decrees is more depression on the French, Belgium* and Italian exchanges, more confusion' in Central Europe's business. In a sentence, there is more quaking and solid coal. But- for her fatuous invasion Franco, would in the past six weeks have received from Ruhr nearly three million tons of coal and coke, instead of fifty thousand actually received. No wonder M. Loitcheur stated flatly in the French Chamber that he did not approve of the Rujic Enterprise., He has one distinct advantage over the Ruhr plungers. •• -He knows something about business. He is also an admirable judgo of to-morrow’s weather—a rare endowment among politicians. Any simpleton can tell you the way the wind is blowing to-day,/ but it requires a man of /special insight to forecast directly for to-morrow. M. Loucheur is one of these, well-equipped weather prophets, so he has satisfied the opinion of to-day by supporting M. Poincare, and safeguards his position against, to morrow’s change by stating ho does not approve of the *he supports. Will the French Government try to extricate themselves from the difficulties in which they have/ precipitated their country and Europe? I fear not. Hcedlessness rushes a man into danger. It

needs courage to get out, when getting out involves an « admission of blame. There are few who possess that oxalted type of courage. There are further reasons why the

present Government of France will flounder further into the quicksand. The trouble to-day in France is that every alternative ‘lpader disapproves of this

enterprise ahd believes it must ultimate ly fail. Oh the other hand no pro- . minent figure in French politics is prepared- to take the odium of sounding the retreat! v lt would always be said ' success was in sight and but -for the new Minister’s cowardice and"': perfid} France would have emerged T' triumph antly-out of her financial worries. No French statesman dare face that deadly

accusation' So the present French Gov. --' eminent is tied to the saddle of its

charger and forced to go on. Another explanation of the difficultyin withdrawing lies in the increasing fury of the original fomenters of this rashness. Last week I gave a summary of ambitious plans for syndicating Euro-, pean resources. This week they" pro pound a new treaty which will supersede the Versailles treaty. ■ Boundaries are . to be revised, rich, provinces and town. 1 practically annexed. Ruhr coal is to be s harnessed to Lorraine ore, and Gcr- - many reduced to complete economic subjection. There has been nothing com parable with these ideas since the Norman Conquest. Needless to say, Bri tain and AmeirioarfWe-not tp be invited y\ to this new pda’ce''conference. They will be* of the con ditions of the new peace when it if finally established A»yr French arms. The British Empire''’ which rafted millions of men to liberato French soil from the German invaders, and lost hundreds oJ thousands of its Lefti. -yloung lives in the effort, is not even to be consulted as to the settlement which its losses alone made possible. ..Arneyica, who came to the rescue with trillions of its bravest, is barely worth a sentence, in these ravings of brains, - intoxicated with an -unwholesome mixture of hatred, greed, 7 and military arrogance, t

The French Government are not committed by any overt • declarations to these schemes, but it is omnious they issue from pens 'whose - insistent prod

ding has driven this Government on to •k the present action. Up to the present no repudiation has come; from the head of the Government. Pledges for reparation and security will covet' a multitude of aggressions. I have perused the Blue Book on the Paris .Conference, anxious to find out exactly what M. Poincare proposed to demand of Germany as a condition of submission to the French will. I have read' his speeches in vain. ' It'.- is true he was never asked the question. That sounds incomprehensible. Everyone was engaged in such a hurry to break up the conference and put an end to. the disagreeable disagreements, that it seems never to have occurred to them to ask this essential question, and the party principally concerned was not represented. No one knows the terms on which 'the French is pYepared to evacuate . Ruhr. Mr. Bonar-Law could not explain it to the House ,of Commons, for no one ever told him, and the never asked. It is sure by this time M. Poincare hafj quite forgotten why he ever went to Ruhr. He will remain there until something happens to provide us with an afisWer.