FIXING THE INDEMNITY.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.") Sns,—I quite agree with the suggestion in your leading article entitled " To Save Europe " that it is desirable to fix the indemnity that Germany is to be called upon to pay us, but I would suggest that there is no reason to limit the amount to what she is likely to be able to pay in the near future. The very fact of her being in our debt will act as a safeguard against her arming herself for another war, as the Allies—or the League of Nations if it ever-comes into being—will be able as it were to audit her accounts, and to see that there are no secret appropriations for military purposes. But as soon as her debt is paid off this factor will cease to operate, and she will be free to make her preparations unchecked. Therefore
I consider that it is imperative that we should .exact such a sum that it will be physically impossible for her to pay for at least fifty years. I do not of course suggest that we should make such demands as will cripple her powers of commercial recovery; indeed, I think that for the next five years her annual contribution should be, comparatively speaking, a very small one, as our Exchequer will derive far greater benefit from the r,pturn of the mark to its normal value than from an occasional instalment of the indemnity.—I am, Sir, &e., A. W. T.
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