I

THE TREATY OF PEACE

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to be satisfied without full compensation fromGermany , how bitter will be the protests againstpaying it to the United States . We, it will besaid, have to be content with a claim against thebankrupt estates of Germany, France, Italy ,and Russia, whereas the United States hassecured a first mortgage upon us. The caseof France is at least as overwhelming. She canbarely secure from Germany the full measureof the destruction of her countryside. Yetvictorious France must pay her friends andAllies more than four times the indemnitywhich in the defeat of 1870 she paid Germany .The hand of Bismarck was light compared withthat of an Ally or of an Associate. A settle-ment of Inter-Ally indebtedness is, therefore,an indispensable preliminary to the peoples ofthe Allied countries facing, with other than amaddened and exasperated heart, the inevitabletruth about the prospects of an indemnity fromthe enemy.

It might be an exaggeration to say that it isimpossible for the European Allies to pay thecapital and interest due from them on thesedebts, but to make them do so would certainlybe to impose a crushing burden. They maybe expected, therefore, to make constantattempts to evade or escape payment, and theseattempts will be a constant source of inter-national friction and ill-will for many years tocome. A debtor nation does not love itscreditor, and it is fruitless to expect feelingsof goodwill from France, Italy, and Russia