The Chancellor of the Exchequer, speaking at Manchester on Monday,
disposed of the rumour that he was making a separate bargain with Germany, through Dr. Rathenau. He declared that the Allies must act together in the matter of reparation. It would be a disaster if Germany, through being pressed too hard, were to collapse. But when Germany said that she could not pay she must be reminded that her own domestic policy was hampering, her in the discharge of her obligations to the Allies: She was subsidizing bread and coal and the railways for the benefit of the employers, who could thus get cheap labour and cheap transport. If we were to forgo our just rights to reparation, at least temporarily, we must insist on Germany abandoning these subsidies and increasing taxation. If she made us payments in kind, she could only give us such goods as we ourselves manufactured.
Previous page
