The Daily News. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1921. BANGING THE BIG DRUM.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 February 1921, Page 4

The Daily News. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1921. BANGING THE BIG DRUM.

It was inevitable that the terms imposed by the Allies on Germany should be received by the Teutonic leaders in that arrogant manner which they have always evinced under dictation by their conquerors. They have only themselves to blame for being made to feel that solemn obligations entered into, however unwillingly, are something more than scraps of paper, and that the patience of those on whom they inflicted such unjust and terrible injuries has been at last exhausted The speech made by the Foreign Minister (Herr von .Simons) in the Reichstag has properly been designated as insolent, and the scene as a carefully staged comedy designed to support the Berlin Government’s plan “to pay how much (or rather how little) and when the Government pleases.” If, as some of the London papers assert, the object of this banging of the big drum is to keep the door open for fresh negotiations wherein the Germans hope to meet the Allies on an equal footing then it is as futile as an exhibition of temper by a spoilt child. There Can be no question of the Germans meeting the Allies on an equal footing; they must submit to dictation, as well as to penalties of defiance. The representatives of the German people may he united in their opposition to the terms as to reparations and disarmament but so are the Allies in their insistence on those terms, which admit of no further argument, being their final decision after most mature and careful consideration. All the raving about economic en slavement of the people, “especially the workers,” is mere playing to the gallery. There is nothing in the terms that cannot be fulfilled without “throttling in-

dustry,” nor is there any threat to exclude Germany from the League of Nations until the terms are carried out, but a mere statement of fact that obedience must be precedent to privileges—quite a different matte-:-. If the terras are refused, the consequences must be shouldered by the German people, who supported the war and must submit to the inexorable law that the losers pay. Inevitably they must make sacrifices, which, after all, can only be as a grain of sand on the seashore in comparison to those which the Allies and their people have been made to suffer by the most terrible and unjust war of all time. Had the Germans been treated on the same basis as they dealt with France half a century ago they might well have squirmed under the rod of retaliation, but because they have been let off lightly and 'received extraordinary leniency they have the insolence to demand that* they shall meet the victors on an equal footing. The German Chancellor contends that the terms are not compatible with the Treaty or the honor and economic needs of his country. Possibly he is right, hilt not in the sense his words convey. Had the terms been compatibles with the Treaty and the wilful evasion thereof by his Government they would have been far more drastic. As to Germany’s honor, the less said about such an unknown quantity the better, and the matter of Ger many’s economic needs has to be considered in the light of the same needs which press sorely on the Allies and certainly have a prior and greater claim for consideration. It is authoritatively stated that the Allies will adhere to the terms, and unless they carry out that policy there will never be any finality. Justice demands that the authors of the war must suffer for their crimes. They may protest against the sentence as dramatically as they please, but there is not the slightest hope of a revision unless and until they have earned goo.d conduct marks by, obedience to the conditions imposed.