The Dominion. SATURDAY, JUNE 28, 1919. THE GERMAN SUBMISSION

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 235, 28 June 1919, Page 6

The Dominion. SATURDAY, JUNE 28, 1919. THE GERMAN SUBMISSION

The one really definite item of news bearing on the peace situation which is in hand at time of writing is an-official. message from Paris announcing that, a .German delegation haS'been appointed and is expected to arrive to-day. At its facc value this means'.that the" Allies have so far. varied the terras of last week's ultimatum as to grant the Germans a delay of a full week in which to complete their preparations for signing the Treaty. It is clear from earlier official news, however, that. this concession was not made until the German Government had agreed unconditionally to accept the •Allied peace terms. No doubt the situation as a whole would be much better defined but for the serious disorganisation of the cablo servico. A scrutiny of .the cablegrams from day to day in existing- conditions rather' suggests that the order in v/hich messages are transmitted is either being left largely to haphazard chance or is being controlled "by some inexpert and ill-informed authority. It can hardly be doubted that more ■ important messages than'a proportion of those coming through are being held'up. For instance, no explicit statement of the conditions on which the Allies granted an extension of time for signing the Treaty'hns been transmitted, although many less important details have been ■ reported. . .Neither is there any really definite information regarding tho con l ditions in Germany which prompted the Allies to extend the period of grace. Various cablegrams have spoken of serious disorders and of SpartaeisO uprisings, and there is more news of a similar tenor to-day, hut the scope left for conjecture is wide. The.one point on which there is fairly conclusive evidence is that the present German Government in its essential composition has not been seriously challenged in the disorders lately prevalent. Such changes as are said to have been made in-the personnel of the Ministry are presumably a. matter of arrangement. It is not a particularly vital matter whether SoheideMANN or some otjicr Majority Socialist fills the post of Prime Minister. On the other hand it counts for a good deal that the factions and parties which have been dominant in Germany for the last six months are apparently still in con--trol. The suggestion in one of today's messages that the Government has narrowly escaped being overthrown by a military revolt is somewhat unconvincing, since it is un- • likely that the reactionaries could j establish a Government that for the time being would more conveniently ,serve their ends than the one now in office. In existing circumstances they arc enabled to develop their schemes while screening themselves behind an ostensibly democratic Government. Presumably if the present Administration in Germany were seriously threatened it would bo by' a popular revolt. As to this tho position seems to be that wherever revolt has, threatened to assume serious dimensions the Government lias beeii able to suppress it with military force, hurrying up reinfoi'cements when they were shown to *uc necessary. The latest case in

point is the Spartacist upheaval in Hamburg. It seems to have no sooner occurred than prompt measures were taken to suppress u. Had similar conditions obtain'ed in Russia prior to the Bolshevik coup d'etat- Lemx and his associates would undoubtedly have failed to establish their usurpation. _ They owed their success less to their own strength than to the feeble ineptitude of the Central Government. It seems fairly evident that no such favourable opportunity is offered to the Sparfcacists in Germany to-day. Any estimate of the position reached must be to some extent tentative, but it.seems distinctly probable that the keynote of the policy shaped by ,the ruling powers in Germany is to 'be found in a proclamation issued a few dqys ago by the President, Herr Edert. In this document he declared, that the Government had agreed to sign the Treaty "under pressure of brute force," and pointed out that each unfulfilled obligation meant an extension of the blockade. He.added that the Government sympathised with the .agitation against delivering Germans to enemy Courts, but that unless internal order .were defended millions, instead of a few hundreds, would he endangered. There is more in the proclamation to much the same effect. As a whole it is an astutely worded appeal to the desire that must be as general in Germany as elsewhere for the restoration -of settled conditions. It seems likely that ihe current disorders, will tend rather, to strengthen than to weaken Ebbut's appeal by inducing the mass of the population to turn to the Government as the only authority capable of restoring order and security. Should it prove in fact that there is little , real danger of anarchy in Germany the immediate task of'the Allies will be in-some respects simplified. The serious problem remains, however, of checkmating forces to which sporadic disorders and political stage-play afford a convenient scrcen. A" welcome indication that the problem is not being neglected appears in a. report to-day that M. (Jlehfaceau has notified the Germans that they will be held responsible for, any unofficial support of the movement against the Polish authorities originated in Poscn and East Prussia. By fomenting such movements and >n other ways- (he Germans have !jeen conspiring industriously since the Armistice Tn the hope of creating and profiting by chaotic, and disturbed .conditions in the Polish 'arid' Baltic provinces. It is likely that much will remain to be done in suppressing these sinister activities. even when the Treaty has been signed and its territorial conditions have, been generally, enforcell. The one,thing abundantly clear is that now, in her rejuctant submission to the Allies, as in the days when she promoted the war, Germany is controlled and dominated by' a thoroughly unscrupulous, gang of plotters. No doubt the Treaty will be signed within, a few days! but the need of watching and curbing Germany will not oii that account be diminished.