The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1918 UNPARALLELED JUSTICE.

Taihape Daily Times, 21 November 1918, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1918 UNPARALLELED JUSTICE.

(With which is incorporated The £aihape Post and Walmniiao News).

■When Germany launched the great | world war the Kaiser, his war lords and : politicians were fully cognisant of what the cost might be, and also of the fact that the losing belligerents would be compelled by those that were victorious to foot the bill. Although the German preparations had been so perfect, although stories of munitions, guns, transport and everything required in a long war had been provided tor far beyond what the requirements were estimated to be, even with the most liberal allowances, and despite the fact that gold had been hoarded and collected just before war was declared from every country under the sun where it was obtainable, German rulers thought it impossible for the bill of costs to be presented to them, but they have encountered the unexpected. Germans .went on destroying life and property, looting, robbing and murdering in the countries that they had decided were to pay the costs; they went on insanely

piling up destruction because they bad falsely decreed that the destroyed were also to pay; it did not trouble the German conscience whether the depleted people of ruined lands were able to pay, they would simply have to pay, even if they were reduced to slavery to enable them to do it. The history of the war has been so profusely punctuated with speeches- from : Kaiser downwards to the man in the prison compound, affirming the belief that the Allies would have to pay the costs,, whatever those costs might be. Taxation for war in Germany was only to be money advanced 'by the people;, it would all be re-couped by indemnities the Allies would be comj polled to J pay. These were gloriously .happy dreams for Germany, they were not ~clouded or specked with one I thought of a possibility that the bill

might be presented to the German people for payment, and so: the costs went on mounting up with the idea that the indemnities would total a figure that would for ever destroy Britain and her Allies as first rate national entities. Columns of quotations from German leaders, political and military, could be' printed in support of this view of indemnities, as well as, columns' supporting German intentions respecting annexations. In fact, i Germany went to war for annexations l and idemnities which would increase Teuton power in’’the world, making it supreme. It was British, French, Belgian and other Allied, as well as neutral,« territory that Germans intended to seize by force, and the countries so robbed were to be made to pay the whole costs of the process of robbing, but made a fatal miscalculation. The burglar becomes so enamoured with his scheme that the negligible something places him in the hands of the law; the German negligible something was the British Navy, for it is now the whining of the hog of Europe that impresses the fact of how thoroughly the Central Powers have been starved by the naval blockade. The present German attitude is, to say the least, bewildering, not understandable; Germans left no doubt in Allied minds about what in-

demnities and annexations would be if they were defeated, therefore they should have no misconception about what attitude the Allies will take in victory. 'After committing the most criminal and inhuman acts in territory they occupied these Huns have the audacity to argue the victorious Allies must not requisition anything in German territory, even although it is paid for because everything is wanted for Germans. They are whining and importuning and protesting that Germans will have to go short; that German industry will suffer; that ruin only faces the German people unless the Armistice terms are so modified as to allow German shipping to be put into trading; to allow postal and telegraphic communication with all the world so that markets may be recovered and new opened, and much more is wanted that will not be conceded. The German people are sufficiently calculating to have become - fully apprised of what complete defeat meant to them and. as the Commonwealth Governor remarked, all this whine and importunity is merely a “try on.” The cost of the war was Germany’s making and it is a just retribution that compels Germany and her Allies to pay it. In the British Parliament, Mr. Bonar Law has declined to say

whether Germany will bcb made to pay the Allies’ (Jests of the war, but it is impossible to believe that Germany will be allowed to escape responsibility for the most awful and horrifying seance the world has any conception of. Such laxity would be criminal in the extreme, as it would be an encouragement for Germany to repeat her effort for world dominion at the earliest practicable date. The "fact that Germany may be bankrupt has no bearing on the indemnity question; no matter what the condition of the Allies might have been in defeat there is irrefutable evidence from German tongues and pens that annexations and indemnities to the last penny would have been exacted. German rulers are alone responsible for their country’s bankruptcy, and since they have used their whole resources in an endeavour to land the Allies in bankruptcy, there is some incongruity in I the idea that the Allies should help Germany on the road to a sound financial and industrial position again. There is little evidence of Germany’s financial position available, from what war taxation Germany has levied as compared with that levied in Bri-

tain alone there should be a huge taxable reserve for, the country to ro-com-mence industrial operations upon. This is supported by a remark from the American Food Controller, Mr. Hoover, who says “all that Germany wants is the blockade raised.” Germany has a taxable reserve equal to all necessities so long as freedom to the markets of the world is conceded. While war taxation in Britain alone

totalled over one thousand millions, Germany has only raised six hundred and seventy-five millions, an undeniable indication that the Germans are engaging in financial camouflage to •hoodwink the Allies. In face of such figures-Germany must have a taxation reserve superior to what obtains in Britain] the great difference is that has to bear the cost of the war, a retribution that has no cQual in the world’s history from a justice point of view. Germany’s taxable reserve eliminates necessity or desirability for listening to the lying and whining for amelioration of the Armistice terms.