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REPARATION

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Reparation Commission finds that Germany refusesto observe the whole or part of her obligations underthe present Treaty with regard to Reparation, thewhole or part of the areas specified in Article 429will be reoccupied immediately by the Allied andAssociated Powers" ? The decision, as to whetherGermany has kept her engagements and whether itis possible for her to keep them, is left, it should beobserved, not to the League of Nations , but to theReparation Commission itself; and an adverse rulingon the part of the Commission is to be followed" immediately " by the use of armed force. Moreover,the depreciation of the powers of the Commissionattempted in the Allied reply largely proceeds fromthe assumption that it is quite open to Germany to" raise the money required in her own way," in whichcase it is true that many of the powers of the Repara-tion Commission would not come into practical effect;whereas in truth one of the main reasons for setting-up the Commission at all is the expectation thatGermany will not be able to carry the burden nomin-ally laid upon her.

It is reported that the people of Vienna, hearingthat a section of the Reparation Commission is aboutto visit them, have decided characteristically to pintheir hopes on it. A financial body can obviouslytake nothing from them, for they have nothing;therefore this body must be for the purpose of