The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, JULY 26, 1923. FRANCE AND GERMANY

New Zealand Tablet, Volume L, Issue 29, 26 July 1923, Page 29

The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, JULY 26, 1923. FRANCE AND GERMANY

HE whole world looks on with anxiety while the question of French demands and German reparations remains unsolved America, stands aloof England has 'a furtive sympathy with Germany ; France stands to her guns; accounts of harsh treatment and of atrocities committed by the army of occupation are broadcast ; and, owing to this result of the godless Peace Conferences, the European Powers are all more or less on a steep slope at the foot of which is an abyss of unfathomed depth. Representatives of the British Labor Party who' visited Cologne, Essen and Bochum, hold that, bad as conditions are now, they will become worse it drastic measures are taken by the occupying forces. The Labor delegates submit a series of suggestions of which the following is a summary : (1) A settlement cannot be reached by attempting to dismember Germany or to keep her permanently “in a state of economic vassalage.” (2) The total amount of reparations should be fixed at once and international loans secured on German resources floated so that France and Belgium could be paid at once. (3) A special meeting of the League of Nations should be called to admit Germany as a member and to settle questions of national security, debts and indemnities. The British Government should be ready to be generous in regard to debts, mandates and forfeited property, both on moral grounds and because present conditions ruin trade, are likely to cause war, and endanger civil liberty and reform. (4) The German proposals offer a. basis for negotiation. (5) Troops should be removed from the occupied territory, and, if this is not agreed to, British troops should be withdrawn independently and at once. Interference with the liberty of the German workers, they declare, will lead either to famine or widespread disorders. > * Germany’s note, of . June 7, states that-she has already made known her sincere belief as to her capacity to make reparations payments, and that to promise more than she could do would be folly. In proof of her determination to discharge her debts she invites the decision of an impartial international body, for whose information she will throw open all her financial records and furnish any details that may be desired concerning the resources of German industry oand business. As precise indications of the kind of guarantee

. she can offer, the following proposals are mad© as part of a definite, settlement ;

. (1) The railway system of the Reich, with all its appurtenances, will be detached from the other State property and held as a separate fund; the accounts of -which would be independent of the general financial administration and under its own control; and obligations will be issued up to the amount of 10,000,000,000 gold marks, with a direct first charge on the assets of this administration and carrying interest at five per cent, as from July 1, 1927, thus securing an annual payment of 500,000,000 gold marks. (2) To secure a further annual payment of 500,000,000 gold marks, as from July L, 1927, the German Government will at once subject the entire business, industry, banking, trade, traffic, and agriculture of the country to a guarantee in the form of a first mortgage of 10,000,000,000 gold marks on the real estate, whether buildings,' dwellings, lands, or forests. The annual dues of 500,000,000 gold marks will be levied either indirectly in the form of a general tax on all classes of property or on the specific objects of the mortgage. . • (3) In addition the German Government will pledge as security the customs on imports of consumable articles other than necessaries, the excise' on tobacco, beer, wine and sugar, and the receipts of the spirits monopoly. On the average of the years preceding the war these customs and excise receipts reached about 800,000,000 gold marks. Their yield ,in gold marks has now fallen to one-quarter on account of the loss °JL^. eil^or y population and reduced consumption. With the recovery of the economic activity of Germany it will automatically increase. In conclusion the German Government explains that in so vast and complicated a matter real progress cannot be made by the mere exchange of written documents, but only by word of month at the conference table: A method of payment can only be arranged in direct consultation with those who are to receive payment. The guarantees can only be worked out in detail with the collaboration of those whom they are intended to serve. For the solution of all these questions oral discussion s essential. Germany acknowledges her liability to make reparation. The German Government repeats its request that a conference be summoned to decide how it may best discharge it. * While England seems anxious for more moderate measures than France is willing to concede, the United Mates Government, according to the New York Herald , is willing -to give whatever aid ’it can in a final and workable settlement, and would, if agreeable to all parties interested in the reparations payment, participate in any conference of experts that the Powers decided on. ' In the meantime, the most disturbing actor in a very threatening situation remains unsettled, and the future looks dark. One looks around the world to-day and asks what has become of all the fine promises made by our press and politicians when they wanted men to rush forward for sacrifice in the war that was to end all wars and make the earth safe or democracy. Surely, seeing how terribly the policy of banishing Christian principles from their councils has recoiled on the Powers, the peoples of Europe ought to have common sense enough to give justice and charity a chance at present. . . J