What France Wants from Germany

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XLIX, Issue 40, 12 October 1922, Page 13

What France Wants from Germany

; If Germany is to : get the moratorium she is .asking for, . she must be prepared to give certain “productive guarantees” is the view of France, which was stated by Premier Poincare at the opening of the Allied Conference on . War Debts and Reparations in London on August 7. An - unofficial summary of the French terms, which is sup,plied by the London correspondent of a New York newspaper (says the Literary Digest), indicates that Franco wants' to have wider power given the Committee on Guarantees over German monetary reform, more rigid control of customs in the occupied zone, an immediate capital levy in Germany, which would consist of possibly 25 per cent, tax on all. German industrial societies, a like tax on coal in the Ruhr district, and control of State forests and State mines by the Committee on Guarantees. The French feel (said M. Poincare) that the Treaty of Versailles is observed \ less and less as .time goes on, and France becomes more and more the victim of this non-fulfilment. But Mr. Lloyd George differs with M. Poincare on this point, and so the French proposals, we learn from London dispatches, are referred to a committee of Allied finance Ministers and their experts. In the view of the Berlin press, the French Premier’s stand foredooms the conference to failure. Moreover, it reveals the fact, they say, that the mainspring) of M. Poincare’s policy is “political and not economic.” . ■/ M. Poincare averred that difficulties of many kinds are being put in the way of reparations, that the Reparations Commission had continually reduced the assessment Germany was called upon to pay, that a partial moratorium had been granted to her from December 31 last, and she was now asking for a Complete moratorium to the end of 1924. Also he pointed out that Franco so. far had got nothing, although she has already spent eighty billions of francs upon expenses for whiqh Germany ought to have provided the money, “Interest on this huge sum,” said the French Premier, “we must carry in our next budget. It will cause a deficit. France is in an extremely critical situation.” London dispatches inform us further that: . ’, “The French Premier then took up some of the criticisms made on the French policy. People asked (he said) why did not France reduce her army. They forgot that she was not yet satisfied that she had real security. Why did she not, impose more taxes? Her ten devastated departments could pay nothing, and France had few great fortunes. She had a large number of .moderate fortunes, but they were, not the same thing from’ the fiscal point of view. Her indirect taxes were very heavy, and to make further efforts was at present socially and politically impossible. , i- “M. Poincare then referred to the reckless expenditure pf the Germans in regard to navigable waterways and railroads, and remarked especially on the inflation of her currency. He complained that the report of the Committee of ■ Guarantees was still vague in character, and suggested that it should have asked for control of the Budget and exports “No mention had been made, he pointed out, of the establishment of control over the German fiduciary currency or of the position of the Reichsbank, and so he declared France had com© to the conclusion that no moratorium should be granted until Germany had. given productive guarantees to the Allies. If France Was alone in that ; opinion she might take strong measures on her own account, but she wanted to work with her Allies, and that was why he placed all his cards on the table. M. Poincare enumerated specific measures which he wished the Allies to take into consideration.” In reply to the presentment of, the French case by M. .Poincare, the British Premier, Mr. Lloyd George, say London dispatches, quoted a publication of the Bankers’ Trust' Company of New York which estimates French expenditures at $37,500,000,000, Italian at $14,500,000,000, and that of : the British Empire' at $49,000,000,000, so he held ’ that’ British claims for reparations are quite as good as those of France even with her devastated areas. Moreover, Great Britain had raised £3,000.000,000 . sterling by taxation during the war, the United States’ and Great Britain being the only two countries to raise - any considerable /sums in . taxation while the fighting was .going on. On the question of devastations Mr, Lloyd George paid that, no one desired, t to underestimate the awful French loss,.but he pointed out that British trade had been devastated also. / The number of unemployed might now-be down to 1,400,000, he said,I but Great Britain had to face the winter/; and it - should

*be remembered that; while the population of the' devastated disricts in France amounted’to 2,000,000, the population of Great Britain affected by- . unemployment was between 4,000,000-and .5,000,000, • and, Mr. Lloyd George, argued: ■ .. “So we, must conclude that failure of Germany. to pay reparations does, not concern one or two of : the Allies alone. In addition to our unemployment, we have to bear a heavier debt and heavier taxes than any country, and our burden is at least /equal to that of any of the Allies.” ' Mr. Lloyd George went on to state his conviction that the Treaty of Versailles has been more effective ’than the French Premier seems to believe, and that as far as disarmament is concerned, statistics of the material surrendered by the Germans enabled him to declare that it would be quite impossible for them to manufacture armaments sufficient to attack France successfully, and he added “Germany could not manufacture as much as she had surrendered in two years even if she had every factory working. As a military power she is prostrate.” With reference to reparations, London dispatches inform us that “Lloyd George pointed out that every alleviation that had been granted to Germany had been made at the instance of the Reparations Commission, although the Reparations Commission had not been appointed as an impartial body,. but as the representatives of, the Allies. As a matter of fact, Germany had already paid 000,000 or 10,000,000,000 gold marks, although there had been since the Armistice two revolutions in Germany and the Government was obviously not in complete control of the country. Moreover, the Committee on Guarantees had on the whole reported favorably on Germany’s effort to meet her obligations. “.‘lt is true,’ went on Mr. Lloyd George, ‘Germany is crying out, and has always cried out. We are not required to accept the protests of our debtor without inquiry, but do not forget that we have means of measuring the truth of the situation. The condition of the foreign exchanges is most valuable as a clinical thermometer. When a. man has a temperature of 104, we can be sure that he is ill, and German exchange has lately recorded 4000. The Allies are bound to take that into account.’ ” How unwelcome the proposal to amplify the powers of the Committee on Guarantees will be .to Germany may be gathered from the fact that the initial financial control laid upon Germany by this commission is considered bv the Vossische Zeitung to bo “morally and practically” a heavy burden and a “grave humiliation,” which proves that “the Entente has once more cast stones into the garden of those working in Germany for the reconstruction of Europe.” But the Entente will gain nothing, according to the Vorwarts, except to increase “the hate of those who are using the enslaving of Germany for their own political purposes” and increase “passive resistance in many quarters, which will be certainly sufficient to make the task of Germany’s financial recovery harder.” The mouthpiece of Herr Stinnes, the Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, charges that the finance control of the Committee on Guarantees is “the maintenance of a financial check on the whole German nation, an economic exploitation that bleeds the corpse white, and completes political enslavement.” There can be no question of any such institution as the Delte Publique Ottoman©, this daily goes on to say, and it adds sarcastically that “no such demands have been , made on Turkey as are now made on Germany.” Meanwhile “the moratorium” which Germany seeks “only means ■ a postponement of the evil day. of bankruptcy.” In the judgment of the Taeglische Rundschau, the Guarantees Commission’s demands “mean nothing more or less than the end of German sovereignty,” for the Germans are “delivered up remorselessly into the hands of French torturers,' to be bled white by them.” . - , ’ ’ 1 ; v - Nations Respond to Papal Appeal 1 It is too early, to know, to what extent the Pope’s appeal on behalf of the starving Russians will be responded to, but already some generous donations have been received, which are published in the Osservatore Romano. ' v The largest contribution to the 'fund is; : that made by the Holy See, which amounts to some £250,000. ; Spanish Catholics have not been slow to respond to the Pope’s noble gesture, and from - a committee in; Madrid a : sum . equal .to £SOOO-has been received. An .'anonymous subscription of--5000 - dollars. has - arrived from .North America, . and the archdiocese of Malines has sent £I2OO. . But. this - is; hot the only response from Belgium, for a generous ■ benefactor who describes,..himself -/as? a person wishing to remain unknown .has 'sent a > contribution that -represents ;• a V sum/ 1 of ; £20,000. / :■ “ r :• <• • ;