The Daily News. FRIDAY, JUNE 13, 1919. GERMANY'S ADMISSION TO THE LEAGUE.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 June 1919, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, JUNE 13, 1919. GERMANY'S ADMISSION TO THE LEAGUE.

The assertion made by the faris editor of the Chicago Tribur e that. Germany is to be guaranteed admission to the League of Nations within two years, and that Britain and the United 'States both favor that course, •. is beyond credence. We have /inly to take into consideration wljat is taking place in Germany at; the present time with regard, notVonly to the peace terms, but to flaunting the main principles of the League and the spirit of the armistice conditions, in order to realise row impossible it is for the Allies ft permit her to join in a covenant which is regarded by the German militarists as a scrap of paper. To admit Germany to the League until she has a democratic Government that has stood the test of stability would be absolute madness. According to a recent cable by thf! Daily Chronicle's Berlin correspondent the Seheidemanu Government is weakening every hour, and it is believed that the Majority Socialists are anxious tj | rid themselves of the bourgoisie element svMch is baliiad Jhe Gov.'

eminent, and the military influence which is increasingly apparent in the administration. If that movement succeeds it is inevitable that the next administration will be a dictatorship on Bolshevik principles and it is obvious that such a Government could not be allowed to take part in the League of Nations Council. Apparently there must be some ground for the rumors concerning Germany's entry to the League, or there would have been no occasion for the French Premier to be adamant against the proposal, or to intimate that if Germany is permitted to enter then Prance would probably leave the League. Any suggestion as to Germany's early entry into the League would savor of a bribe in connection with signing the peace terms. It wouli be nothing less than a crime to show any weakness to the Ger- ' mans either now or hereafter. The Allies have made sueh enormous sacrifices in defeating Germany';! terrorism and lust of conquest that they should stand firm and swerve not a hair's Ireadth from the terms of peace, even -f it means proceeding to extreme measures, for it would seem that nothing but intense firmness will cope with German bluff and trucn vlence. Germany by her deliberate unscrupulousness and brutality has placed herself outside the pale of the white races, and must bear the full weight of her responsibili ties. To admit an unrepentant and unpurged Germany to the League would be to wreck it beyond redemption, and it is greatly to be regretted there should even be a rumor of such a kind. If anyone has any doubt as to whe-, ther or n6t Germany has changed for the better, it is only necessary to peruse the remarkable document issued a month or so back by Herr Erzberger, and circulate.} among influential Germans, in which he ins&e t]y asserts that the steMily weakened since thj3 and that the process is v&K, He then, with the view feeliug between France and th'a, other allies, asserts, that America I and Britain, having destroy el German competition, are unsym pathetic towards France, and that, the anti-militarist agitation is reducing the fighting spirit of the Entente armies, and concludes by throwing down a threat that Germany, by cultivating Russian friendship, will find the road to Paris. This is the sort of intrigue which the Germans dearly love, but the revelation of her aims as voiced by Erzberger should convince the Allies of the imperative need for <i determined, | united, firm front, devoid of ! every atom of weakness. That is 'why the rumors as to Germany's early admission to the League ' should at once fce disclaimed in no uncertain way. This is no time ! for sueh unthinkable proposals to see the light of day. It is akin to playing with a lighted torch over a powder barrel. "We know German ways only too well, and it would be suicidal to treat the Germans otherwise than as dangerous enemies until the taming process been thoroughly completed.