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About The Omaha morning bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 1922-1927 | View Entire Issue (July 15, 1923)
Ruhr Invasion Held Blunder of French Premier Failed to Viaualize Conditions Consequent to Occupation of Valley, Observer 'v. Says. By MARK SULLIVAN. Paris, July 14.—The present posi tion of the French government with relation to the Ruhr and Germany rests on the present phsychology of the French people. Just what that psychology Is can best be explained by beginning with a condensed sum mary of what has happened since the peace conference—as the French peo ple see It. The peace treaty was signed in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. As the . blotter was placed on the last sig nature a thousand cannons fired sa lutes. Fifteen thousand Jets of water from the fountains in the Versailles t gardens leaped joyously Into the air. Hundreds of airplanes dropped thou 1 sands of allied flags on the crowd around the park. There was exultant cheering, hysterical tears—such an explosion. If one may use the word, • -of relief over long suspense come to a wished for end as made the whole invent on* of the greatest emotional •’•episodes of all history. The French thought it was all over, ... Ihought the war had ended in their ; favor, and took it for granted that - the Indemnities, the reparations, the replacing of the goods which the Ger ‘man army had sent back to the Fa therland, the money for the restora * tion of the ruins the Germans had made—the French took it for granted lhat all this would follow In due , course, just a* France had paid its Indemnity of 5.000,000 gold francs to the victorious German army In 1871. Unaware of Defect. ;! But the French did not know the :,!i vital defect in the treaty that had . "juet been signed. Throughout the whole world only the comparatively '.smalt number who had actually been dose to the situation, or who had • studied it carefully, knew that the jr'rimount of money to be paid by Ger ;» many, instead of being a definite and 4 possible sum, had been left indeter ttjjminate; and, so far as any definite ”i;figures at all had been mentioned, they had been put at an impossible ;• height. Thereafter there began that long se. ries of conferences between the French and British governments. : .looking to reducing the reparation figure to a possible and tangible ba • j sis. to arranging terms for the Ger ''I man Installments, to arranging for , 'the deliveries of coal, wood and other .;|Lcommoditles. itf Conference after conference of this •;j!hind turned out to he futile. They 'P did not produce the money that the French people expected and had a ^dfight to expect. .[ J, For the futility these conferences It is not necessary at the moment to apportion the blame. Some of It doubt less lies on France, bnt probably less on Franc* than on any of the other parties to the Versailles freaty. Some of it is pty on the United States for her failure to make good the , promises, specific and implied, which President Wilson had made. Premier Shares Blame, Some of the blame lies on Lloyd George for having first led the move ment that made reparation too high, and also for acting throughout the various conferences held with France in ways which, viewed as a whole and in retrospect, account for much of the Irritation that arose among the French people. Lloyd George In a conference would agree, or seem to agree, to some course of action, and a few days later would be engaged In a course of action Inconsistent with the understanding the French thought he had given them. Lloyd George's temperament, which In some aspects-of his public career has been a great asset, was. for the purpose of these conferences, most unfor tunate. Where he ought to have been sure-footed he was venturesome. One plan after another for settling not only the reparation problem but the ftussian problem and the near east problem—one plan after another leaped up In hla rich Imagination, and he tried them all. And the sum of them all, so far as regards France getting her money from Germany, Was nil. Germany also was to blame. To the French people Germany gave the imprcselon of trying, by tricks and devices, to evgde the pay ment of any thing at all. (This statement, stand Ting alone, Is misleading In a direction ijiinfalrly hurtful to Germany. Ger ' many hag actually given up, ip one v way or another, something like $4,000, 000,000 or $5,000,000,000; but very lit tle of It In the shape which France wanted and expected, viz., reparation for the restoring of the devastated -districts.) v French Irritated. 3; To the French people Germany ^seemed to be living up to their old ■v role, to be acting as If the Versailles V treaty were a scrap of paper, and aa tach of the promises arising out of • the various conferences held after the • Versailles treaty was a scrap of ..; paper. The end of It all was that the ''.'.French people came to be In a state jjjiiof implacable Irritation. Germany had il: promised to pay, but Germany had (iitinot paid. That was all the French Jiil'people saw. or still see. !"l! There can be no exaggeration of the v; depth and widespread prevalence of ; this emotion of angry resentment on the part of the French people. One i;)}'French statesman, describing it to me, used again and again the word jj1 "assez." Literally, the translation of I [i the word la “enough;" but colloquially III'the French people mean the same i:/thing that an American meana when, i; ;,tn a burst of angry Irritation over a : ; state of affairs that has become In ' tolerable, he aaya, “I am through," or jjj! "I am done." There was eloquence la • ■ the manner In which this French I statesman repeated this word again and again, accompanied by a rapid r gesture of the hand and arm—out ward, downward and backward—the gesture of a man thoroughly angry with a situation and finally deter mined to put it behind him. Another French statesman who happens to belong to that very small minority which believes in reconcilia tion with Germany as the aureat basis of future peere described how - Impossible he found It to make any headway :«ven with hit own mother f ■ Yes, They Have a Mud Bath Good morning! Have you had your mud bath to day? No? Good night! You ain't really lived. Mabel. Ask either the bather or the bathee. The best part of a mud bath is the bathee. She looks more sooth ing than Ivory soap. The plot for the mud bath shown in the picture is laid on the beach at Carter lake. Don’t confuse with the beach at Wakiki. Carter lake mud la far superior. The piece opena in one and closes in the shower room. The photographer couldn't catch the denouement. They wouldn’t let him in. The, other picture is the Carter lake version of the goose step. Done in two eouins, by the numbers. Or in nine counts by the figures. Count ’em. Nine. —Blhl«r Photo*. The bronzed object on the rignt Is the decimal point. His name Is Ken neth Baker and he saves lives for a living. The bathers, from left to right, are Lois Walmer, Peggy Walmer. Mary Reaves, May Drooste, Dorothy Par dun, Florence Mueller, Lucille Gess man, Alice Everson and Dorothy Parmalee. His mother was old enough to remem ber the war of 1871, to remember that Germany named an indemnity and^ kept its soldiers in France until it was paid; and that the French peo ple, individually, had to go down into their Btockings to find the gold 10 pay it. This old lady, remembering thl», would listen patiently to all the arguments of her gtatseman son, but at the end would always say, “Ger many must pay.’’ There were three years of these futile conferences, from 1919 until 192?. The French people expected Germany to pay, and Germany had not paid. They were through with conferences and with postponements They arrived at the point where they had one fixed idea: Germany must be made to pay and France should take whatever action was necessary to make Germany pay. It was in response to this mood on I the part of the French people that I the present French premier, Poincare, came into power. At home, in Amer ica, the common way of thinking Is to suppose that Poincare led the French people into the invasion of the Ruhr. Much more true Is the fact that the French people forced Poincare into the invasion of the Ruhr. Ninety per cent of the French people were behind him in this action and, once the thing had been done, more than 90 per cent of the French people are now behind him. But the invasion of the Ruhr, while it was inevitable as the expression Of an angry mood on the part of a whole nation, was by no means that kind of wise and frui'ntl action such as would be the result of a caref >1 survey of the future, taking Into ac count all the possible eventuarfit'es More correctly, the fact Is that the In vasion of the Ruhr was undertaken without any survey whatever of the things it would lead to. First of all came tlie breach with Britain. Britain did not think the in vasion of the Kuhr was legal under the Versailles treaty and still thinks It is illegal. Soon after the defection of England came that of Italy. Whin the advance Into the Kuhr was fir it made the French people were told that Italy was with France In this action. In point of fact Italy sent a few engineers into the Ruhr with the French to try to see to it that Italy’* era! supply should not be Interrupted. But very soon Italy ceased to have even the appearance of support! ig Frur.ce and lined up with Britain In disapproval of the presence of the Fiench in tho Ruhr. Belgium, in ap pearance, has approved the French uct'on and has united with FVance lri the operation; but almost since the beginning Belgian public opinion has gii'wn colder and cold.-r toward the occupation of tho Ruhr and It soon became a question whether Belgium stood with Francs «.r with England. More fatal thin all fit s the French ptcple did not visual, .e, and Poincare did not visualize, an/thing beyond tho I mere act of occupying 'he Ruhr. They toak the first step without looking fo- ward to what should be the second stop or the third st?p. Poincare. I have l>een told by those competent to know his state of mind, really thought that Germany could pay an immense sum In gold, and thought that the Invasion of the Ruhr would be followed by such a payment. Economists, of course, and business men of the right sort of experience know that such a payment of gold by one country to another is a sheer im possibility; they know that reparation like every farge transfer of wealth from one country to another can only be paid in terms of balance of trade. It may sound grotesque to say that Poincare did not understand this We’re going to hold a Get Acquainted Sale in both our stores S’ Every day we hear of people who do NOT know just where our TWO STORES are located. We are therefore going to call our clearance sale a Get Acquainted Sale. We want everyone to know us and know the dependable class of merchandise we handle. This Get Acquainted Sale will offer prices that are intended to bring in lots of new faces to our stores: we want to pay them “with unusual price reductions” for coming. This sale :,wi(l be a Knockout. You’ll regret it if yon miss com ing. Watch tomorrow’s papers for further details. 1509 Fa mam Street 1908 Famam Street fundamental economic fact, but there appears to be little doubt of It. Furthermore, there appears to be little doubt that Poincare did not anticipate the resistance set up by the people of the Ruhr. It is probably fair to say that In the beginning Poin care contemplated merely what he called "an invisible occupation," that is to say, the mere sending into the Ruhr of enginqgrs and tax collectors, with only enough soldiers to guard them. In the United States Poincare Is frequently suspected of twid faith be cause he said he was going to send to the Ruhr only civilian engineers and a few soldiers; whereas, In fact, he did send a military occupation. But decidedly th# best Judgment Is that Poincare acted In good faith; the policy of a military occupation was forced on him by the reaction of the German people In the Ruhr—by one of those Immediate resulta of his first step which he and the French peo ple had failed to visualize. Those Germans who live !n the Ruhr constitute one of the most pacifist elements of the German popu lation, one of the most resistant to militarism of any kind. The people of the Ruhr had failed to support their own country's war, had resented the domination of their own German military system; and, when French soldiers came In, their sense of out rage was so strong and their action upon it ao instantaneous that It caused something approaching a panic in the French government. .The French response to German re sistance was to use force and more force, speedily the thing which had been intended as a mild occupation of the Ruhr, mainly civilian, became a military Occupation of such size and aggressiveness as to lead to the situs tlon which exists today. And now comes the thing that is most fatal of all. In occupying the Ruhr, Poincare had the support of more than 90 per cent of the French people. But neither Poincare nor the French people looked beyond this single step of occupying the Ruhr. Once in the Ruhr, and with Britain alienated, it was up to the French government to say what they wanted Germany to do; it was up to Poincare to sit down and make a detailed plan for the future. But that Is exactly what Poincare could not do. It was, and is, all very well for Poincare to say that he was going to make Germany pay. On the simple slogan, "Make Germany pay," the French people are solidly behind him. French Groups Differ. But, once let Poincare give out a definite and detailed plan for making Germany pay, and instantly much of his support will fall away from him. One group of the French people wants one thing done about Germany; another group wants another thing., For example, the militarists want a permanent military occupation of the Ruhr; tlie industrial magnates want a continued occupation of the Ruhr in such terms ns will give them continu ing access to the Ruhr coal; another French group wants Germany split into several states; yet another group wants Germany to pay the repara tions in the shape of certain com modities. whereas the French produc ers of those commodities do not want this material coming into competition with them. The French Industrial magnates would like the reparations paid in the shape of German labor, but the French labor unions will have none of that. Many French people would be willing to have the reparations paid, for example, in coal; but the owners of French coal mines will have none of that. And so on, and so on. Aim to Break Away. Among all these possible next steps for France to take, as soon as Poin care takes any one the supporters of the rest will drop away from him. It Is an Impasse. If any one thing can be called both a deadlock and a drifting that is what the situation Js. At no time, from the first of January, when the occupation of the Ruhr be gan, did Poincare have any plan other than a crude and much more danger ous variation of what ex President Wilson once calltd "watchful wait ing." Toward the latter part of June, under pressure from the British. Poin care began to set down some detached details which were to be conditions of French assent to any next move. But Poincare had no next move In mind and no plan. Pdlneare is of a temperament that wholly lacks Initia tive; what strength he has la that of "abstention," as another French poli tician expressed It to me. The only Initiative there has been at all haa come from the British, and that has not been Very real. It has been more In the nature of a wish to get away. If possible, from the condition of Im passe. rather than any comprehensive plan. Dime Novel Career of Defaulting Bank Head Nearing End Former President of Chicago Company, Who Left Short age of $1,500,000, Lo cated in Mexico. By loternatlonsl News Service. Chicago. July 14.—The career of Warren C. Kpurgin, former president of the Michigan Trust company, who defaulted in 1921, leaving a shortage of more than $1,500,000, which wrecked the institution and caused its depositors to suffer heavy losses, is nearing an end in Mexico, according to reports received here. 111. practically penlless and deserted by his paid bodyguard, his former friends are said to be ready to sur render him to Chicago authorities. His capture is said to he only a matter of days and Mexican authori ties are said to have given assurance that as soon as he is captured they will permit his prompt extradition. Spurgin's disappearance in July, 1921, and his subsequent adventures contain all the thrills of the dime novel. His peculations with the bank's money had been going on for months and discovery was about to overtake him. He had lent huge sums on worthless securities of cor porations owned by himself. Women and wine had taken thousands of his dollars. Three days after his disappearance the trust company went into hands of a receiver. A nation-wide search for Spurgin was instituted and he wag reported seen in various coun tries of the world, most of these re ports being proved false. Concert Club Band at Riverview Today The Thatcher Piano company will sponsor the City Concert club band, directed by Arthur K. Smith, at Riverview park at 5 tonight. George Yager is assisting in sponsoring the band. The program follows1 March—‘‘Nobles of tha Myatic Shr.ne'* Souaa Overture—"Poet and Peasant' . Supr>« ( Medley—“Southern Kongf" .. Thornton i Descriptive Fantasia—'TJn a Bird . . Store Lake INTERMISSION. March—“Liberty Beil' . Seura Mexican Serenade — "La Paloina" Yradier j Patrol—“Blue and Gray’* .. .. Da'bey 'Vxlta^—Eat udlantina" Walteufen Selection—"Kin* I>odo* 'Ludera Finis—"The Star Spangled Banner". Key SI20.000 School Bond*. Special Dispatch to Th. Om.ha Bee. North Platte. Nob.. July 34—A school bond issue of 1136,000 lias been sold to the First Trust company of Omaha at a premium of 11.63; on open bidding at which eight bond firms w’ere represented. The bonds bear a i>er cent interest. The pro ceeds will be devoted to erecting three eight-room buildings in tha outlying districts of the city. -—— , I Chiropractic For Health Rheumatism, neuritis, nervousness, head- 5 ache*, backaches and lumbago respond ! quickly to our methods, as well as liver, stomach, kidney and boael troub’e*. Office adjustments are 12 for I!®. | or 30 for t2S. Office hour* 9 a. m. to 7 p. m. Phone JA ck*on f.3 17. Dr. Frank F. Burhorn THE CHIROPRACTOR Suite 414-26 Securities Bldg. I Complete X-Ray Laboratory Brief City News | Move* to Lincoln—Allen L. Bechter, former state bank examiner, has moved from Omaha to Lincoln to ac cept a position with the Union Loan and Savings association. New Swimming Classes — New classes will be started Tuesday by the Hed Crocs now conducting swimming instructions at Krug park, according to Mr*. W. E. Bolin, director. New classes for children will begin at 11 a. m. and for business men and wo men at 6 p. m. Off to Kakes—Mrs. Fritz Sandwal! and her daughter, Segrid. leave Mon-^ day for an extended vacation to Minnesota lakes. Vacation in Colorado—Miss Nora Moriarlty, secretary to County Attor ney Henry Beal, left for a two weeks' vacation Saturday. She expects to visit several points In Colorado. ®onpon,€)d6en&€a I In the Midst of Summer * Come New Fall Frocks Be among those who non chalantly reply, “Oh, yes, I saw them at Thompson, Belden’a” when someone remarks over the pleasant tinkle of the lemonade v glasses, “Have you seen the new fall dresses?” An Interesting Forecast —of the new fashions, yet an ex tremely wearable group of dresses is displayed Monday for the first time. Easy to wear and easy to look at is one of navy Canton crepe made graceful with clusters of fine pleats and lightened with touches of gray in the collars and cuffs. Priced $48.00. Soutache braid gets a new effect when used over a bright printed silk on a straightline model of Poiret twill, priced $36.00. Others up to $79JW. Autumn Millinery Arrives! Autumn is a fash ion rather than a season in matters of millinery. Al ready advance fall models in duvetyne and felt are found in the Millinery P Section showing the newest angle for a feather, the smartest twist for a ribbon. E>rop in Monday if you en joy seeing the new things first. Third Floor RESERVE SPACE NOW IN THE NEW Bankers Reserve Life Building ^1 65% ALREADY RENTED Partitions, plumbing and wiring made to suite tenants if leases are taken now 1 THE BANKERS RESERVE LIFE CO. 1 ALFRED H.ERICK<SON I JOHN M. GII/CHRIJT_ I PR. ARTHUR P. DUNN 1 PR*. WAR REN THOMPSON | DR. C.H BALLARD ' . IDR A P. OVERGAARP" DR.'WO BRIDGET PR. EPSON 1/. BRIPGEJ I DR. HENRY LEMERE f DR. JOHN BANNIStFR| •— r . t sft r EUTCH CARBON! ftlBB*W M-l I I DANIEL A JOHNSON 1 ' JOHN A. BRUCE f\ E.V. GRUPE JR. I J DR. WILLIAM P WHERRY i DR. ERSKTNE M BARNES 1 DR • IYN N T. HALL / DR JOSEPH A WEINBERG I 1 DR ROBERT G-DRAKE 1 OR. C.C.TOMLINSON 1 DR. EDWIN DAVIS _ DR.EARL C SA6C PR . CARL RUSCHE | DR. F.N.CONNElC ] —T PR,. gRANT WILLIAM? ——{ CLAIR JOHNSOhT | -~C I. 3IBBERNSEN 1 THE GROVE HIBBARD CO. Tenants of the Meu) Bankers TteserVe Difb Building, 19^ and Douglas Sis. The Building Is Lavishly Trimmed Throughout With Marble, Mahogany and Bronze GEORGE ®L COMPANY, Agents Service Same as the City National Bank Building and the Standard Oil Building ForPla'ij, Price* and Detailed Information See HOWARD (i. LOOMIS, 1001 Omaha National Bank Building—EDWIN S. JEWELI. 901 Car National Bank Building—ARTHUR L. LOOMIS, 901 City NationaJ Bank Building. Building Manager* k • ji * ,*
