HUES' UGLY SPIRIT

Hokitika Guardian, 30 May 1919, Page 4

HUES' UGLY SPIRIT

AN EDITOR’S WARNING

WOULD RATTIER STARVE THAN SIGN CRUSHING TERMS.

Mr Oswald Garrison Villard, editor of the V New York Nation,” who returned to Paris recently from Germany, where he has spent four weeks, has drawn up a report o:i the conditions in that country, which has been received with great interest by leading members pi the American Peace Commission and by Mr Lloyd George, in the course of ati interview a London pressman had With him recently, "Mr Villard says the most prominent 'men of all classes jn Germany have no hope of preventing a complete economic and political collapse within the next'ih'ree months if food in large quantities is not forthcoming at oride, and they are even doubtful whether it is hot too late now to save the situation with the amount of food 'promised under the Brussels agreement. The only reason that Rbeft and Scheidmami have been able to hold on so far is the fict that the Independents have no strong mail to olfer as an alternative.

Business is completely at a standstill, because of the Uncertainty due to the delay at Paris aiid the resultant political insecurity at home. feeding of hopelessness.

Reports front Paris attributing violent Chauvinistic designs to the Allies appear daily in the German press and are creating a feeling of hopelessness in all circles, which is intensified by the growing scarcity of food, which will inevitably mean the collapse of the rationing system by June ist, if aid is not forthcoming promptly. Mr Villard is strongly of the belief that the mere supply of food will not save Germany from complete Bolshevism in its most violent manifestations if the blockade is not also lilted and raw materials allowed to go in. The lack of lubricating oils and greases is particularly felt. Seventy-five percent of the blast furnaces and steel plants will have shut down within another week, while the coal strikes are further demoralising transportation, ALSACE-LORRAINE THE LIMIT.

Asked what kind of Peace Treaty the Germans would sign. Mr Villard said he had talked with various members of the German Peace delegation and men of the classes, and they were unanimously of opinion that no German Government would sign a Peace Treaty demanding greater territorial concessions than Alsace-Lorraine and survive twenty-four hours. During the week of MrVillard's stay in Berlin daily meetings were held of from 50 to 150' representatives of different industries and sections iu Germany—a new group each day—to discuss the terms of peace. It was unanimously agreed to stand absolutely on President Wilson’s Fourteen Points, to demand publicity in Paris, thepresence of reporters at ever}' meeting of the delegates, aud to refuse to sign any treaty calling for annexations, or heavy indemnities, or annulling German domestic war loans. (They will simply go into bankruptcy and tell the Allies to enter Germany and assume the government of the country. RATHER LOSE 10,000,000 LIVES.

Mr Villard pointed out to those who talked in this way that they had first said they would never sign the last armistice extension or give up .their mercantile fleet, and had subsequently done both things. To this the Germans replied that those were different situations, and that the universal sentiment of the country would not permit the signing of a treaty such as was proposed in Paris. They would prefer to lose ten millions of their people by starvation, if necessary. This opinion Mr Villard found to be held by members of the Government, bankers, editors, people in railway trains, soldiers—in fact, by everybody with whom he came into contact.

More than that, he found that during the last three mouths a very dangerous spirit of revenge has risen in Germany which did not exist when the war ended. He attributes this to the fact that the Germans are rapidly coining to the conclusion that the Allies wish to exterminate them, or, at least, totally ruin their industries and commerce. They are determined that if they go down through Bolshevism or economic disaster they will pull France down with them, even if it is their last act as a nation. SPECTRE OK THE RED ARMY.

Members of the Government, Mr Villard asserts, are profoundly worried by the presence ofTrotsky’s well disciplined army on Germany’s boundaries and the fact that they have no adequate means of protecting themselves. “ I cannot exaggerate the gravity of the situation, even if I desired to do so,” said Mr Villard, in conclusion, “and I am glad to say that I find a keen realisation of its seriousness among the American officials here.”

GERMANY’S WEALTH LESS THAN A representative of the “ Petit Parisien” interviewed Dr Helfferich, theformerGerman Vice-Chancellor, whose authority in financial matters still carries considerable weight in Germany. Dr Helfferich sets out to demonstrate that the costs of the war should fall upon the League of Nations, and that Germany is not in a position to lace such charges, her entire wealth amounting, he says, to less than 310 milliards of marks (■£15.500,000,000). German holdings of foreign stocks, he says, which before the war were estimated at 25 milliards, are now confined to slocks that are depreciated or valueless. American securities served to pay for German imports, which, Dr Helfferich calculates, have exceeded exports by four milliards per annum.