The Rhineland Occupation

Abstract

SINCE the day when the German Foreign Minister, Walter Rathenau, closed his celebrated speech at the Genoa Confer ence with the impressive words Peace! and since Locarno and Thoiry laid the foundations for the triumph of conciliation, it has been impossible to silence the cry of the European peoples for enduring peace and security. Indeed, the peace movement among the nations of Europe in general has been gaining ground steadily. The underlying principle of the League of Nations, however imperfectly realized in practice, aims at nothing more than the settlement of differences of opinion between peo ples in a peaceful way. Unfortunately in many parts of the conti nent there are unmistakable sources of danger; to those already present before the war, the unhappy Treaty of Versailles has added. Whoever is earnest in wishing for European peace, for world peace, must keep close watch on these points of tension. In particular, who can ignore the danger of military complications between France and Germany which exists today as a result of a whole series of phases in the historical and cultural develop ment of the two nations, as a result even of their geographical situation? For over a thousand years they have waged a bitter struggle, with ever varying fortune. Here is always a glowing spark which only too easily can be fanned into a fierce destroying flame unless it is held rigidly under control. The German people want peace, with that earnestness, that whole-heartedness, that integrity of mind which is characteristic of them. They want peace, not because they are weak, but because they have a clear realization of how intensely the cultural progress of humanity suffers from the scourge of war, and that even the victors do not escape! The German people has shown its will to peace in more than words. It has carried out the disarmament im posed upon it so thoroughly that even the Allied Disarmament Commission has been constrained to acknowledge the fact. It has lived up to the spirit of the Treaty of Locarno and joined the League of Nations. If all the German cabinets since the signature of the Versailles Treaty are considered one by one, it will be seen that not only have they announced their unfaltering devotion to peace but have demonstrated their full sincerity in action.