The Dominion. FRIDAY, MAY 9, 1919. THE RECKONING

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 192, 9 May 1919, Page 6

The Dominion. FRIDAY, MAY 9, 1919. THE RECKONING

The Peace Treaty, which appears

in Bummary to-day, deals with an immense array of detail questions, soma of them complex, tut its essential provisions are strikingly free from obscurity. Reading them it is possible to echo whole-hearted-ly the verdict lately pronounced by M. Olejienceau: "It is a good peace." A good peace implies first and foremost a stern and pitiless reckoning with Germany. Tnis obviously is the foundation upon which everything , else must be raised. If the Allies failed to inflict upon Germany . a punishment as nearly as' possible appropriate to her crimes they would he reducing the civilised world to the moral degradation which must obtain in any walk or department of life where crime is weakly tolerated or lightly passed over. In this vital aspect the Treaty seems to leavp little to be. desired. Though it divides chiefly under the heads of reparation and guarantees of future good 'behaviour' the aggregate penalty imposed on Germany is one to stagger the imagination. In view of her abominable record she is by no means harshly dealt with, but the total effect of the Treaty pro-, visions is to reduce her from the condition of a great military and colpnial Power to that of a selfcontained and dependent State, narrowly restricted in the matter of land and sea armaments, and condemned during tho next thirty years to devote an appreciable proportion of her industrial output

(mainly in raw materials) to in part repairing the havoc she has wrought in the world. The demand that the Heligoland fortifications shall be permanently dismantled and the prohibition of anything in the shape of fortifications or military preparations in a zone about thirty-five miles wide east of the Rhine are conspicuous items in a programme which manifestly spells the complete and thoroughpaced destruction of Prussian militarism, One of the most satisfactory sections of the Treaty is that which deals with reparation. It is a matter of common agreement that from the narrowest material standpoint as well as in a broad view Germany is incapable of making full reparation for the loss and damage . she has occasioned to the Allied nations and their individual citizens, but it is on this account all the more necessary to take the most drastic steps towards collecting what compensation is possible. As a French writer observed not long ago: ''If it were impossible that Germany . . . can repair the crimes sho has, committed , , it would be even more impossible for her victims to do so. In that case there wtuld be nothing left -but to despair of humanity." Unless Germany is made to pay the fullest possible compensation she will presently be prospering while her victims whose territory ahe devastated and whose cities, towns, and factories she destroyed are vainly endeavouring to make head against ruin. At the same time, any attempt to bring her to an immediate and final settlement in the matter of compensation would obviously be futile. The Allies, therefore, have evidently taken the right, course in deciding to set up aiv Inter-Allied Commission which during the next two years will make , a leisurely and exhaustive survey of German resources and determine how and in what manner compensation shall be paid. Ships, gold, and securities will go but a little way towards meeting the claims, that Germany is oalled upon to pay, but in view of the strictly practical procedure adopted it seems likely that the aggregate amount of compensation ultimately collected will be much greater than recently seemed possible.

As a whole the conditions imposed on Germany arc the most positive yet afforded that the old international order has come to an end and that a new era has opened. _Such conditions obviously arc not to be imposed and left to stand of themselves. Tho most essential provisions of the Treaty, whether they deal with reparation or with limitation of armaments, would bV meaningless if thoir imposition were not accompanied and their enforcement guaranteed _by the establishment of an effective international authority. "With the. Treaty set out in detail, it is possible to realise the full, force and truth of some observations on this subject which were made recently by 'the British Prime Minister:

All hopes of savins; tho world from a Repetition of the unfathomable cataclysm of 1911 centre upon our working out the practical means whereby tho nations of the earth can conduct'the common affairs of tho world in friendly cooperation instead of jealous rivalry.

Even the Allied nations, powerful as they are in their united strength, mightwell shrink from the task of imposing upon Germany by physical force alone such conditions as are sofc out in .the Treaty. But in great part these terms, drastic as they are and humblinj* to German pride, are Jess an 'infliction upon Germany than a first great step towards freeing the whole world from the incubus of militarism. The Treaty contains no more vital section than that which constitutes the

League of Nations. Upon the stability of this organisation depends not only the possibility of imposing a just peace on Germany, but every hope of world peace and security in years to come. It on that account gives added confidence In the Treaty as it stands that the League of Nations Covenant has been in some respects improved and strengthened as compared with its original draft. This is true notably in regard to a stipulation which at first demanded complete unanimity in order that action might bo taken against an offending and recalcitrant State. The Treaty is a noble document, ' marked all through by an honest attempt to deal justly with the affairs of great and little nations.' But nothing is clearer than that its enforcement is contingent absolutely upon the successful establishment of the League.