Most foreign observers were surprised at the cordiality with which
the scheme was received in France when it became generally known. It only shows that the people of France as a whole recognize that France will not be helped by crushing Germany industrially. " In order to live let others live " seems to be the rule. The Petit Parisien ecstatically looks into the future and sees Germany, France and America controlling the potash markets of the world. The first rapture, it is true, cannot again be captured, but the incident is none the less a milestone. When Frenchmen admit that the recovery of Germany is an essential part of the resettlement of the world the principle for which Mr. Lloyd George, and indeed the vast majority of Englishmen, have contended is substantially acknow- ledged. And how ironical it all is that things should tend to work out in this way—Germany benefiting as much as anybody —after all that has happened. We are reminded how Bismarck, when he saw France making use of her lowered exchange after the war of 1870, and Germans being undersold, exclaimed that after his next victorious war he would be careful to pay not to claim an indemnity !
Previous page
