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Show I Briton, German, Frenchman Write Views On Europe's Tangle German Editor, Answering Tiger Clemenceau, Asks Frenchman to Study Lincoln's Southern Policy BY MAXIMILIAN HARDEN Gormanv's Forrmost Publicist. (Copyright 19 2 2. by Tho Standard- Examiner.) BERLIN, Dec. H. On the grave of Lincoln you Citizen Georges Clemenceau made a vow to endeavor en-deavor to follow the example the great Abraham set for all future statesmen. He who answers you here does not belong to those who deny your honest Intentions, or believes your win determined by hatred and tigor like destruc-tlve destruc-tlve fury I always have admired o'our hard and steel energy and intrepid defiance lihlured by the vvill-o'-the-w lsp of the passing popularity and who In his country's coun-try's darkest -tour proved himself It.s strongest personality. Always have I admired the man who in is"i in the national assembly at Bordeaux protested against Germany's Ger-many's annexation of Alsace-Lorraine Alsace-Lorraine and. as the only survivor sur-vivor of that gathering brought he lost provlndeS hack there eight years later winning the right to tho lnserlptlnn on Mon In every communis of his country. "Io cltoyen Georges Clemenceau, Clemen-ceau, a blen marito do la patrie." The physical courage of an old man of 80 in crossing the Atlantic At-lantic and going from town to town defending Franco also Is admirable. For myself I um sure the senate's exceptions do not justify tho fjerman press In terming term-ing your trip a fiasco that will rebound to Germany's advantage. Because I consider you strong despite your age I think It noocs-sary noocs-sary to declnro before your hearers that you are laboring under a disastrous and dangerous danger-ous delusion. The smile quivering under your moustache. Indicates you would not have been surprised at an oven more rude answer coming from Germany But aren't you reproached in your own country for great blunders? Has It not been your fato to bo Judged as unfit to rise to the presidency because your oven people consider you useful only as B steel Ihatrurrh nt Of war? Tho same would have been the fate of Lincoln had he lived, and after victory, continued to treat the southern states as deadly enemies. But the patriarch you praised at Springfield. Ill , was made of different dif-ferent stuff In Iron will power, humor and ready wit he was at least your equal, Clemenceau. yot lh every fibre of his being ho was a humane benevolent democrat demo-crat He kept alive fnlth In vlc-tory vlc-tory tnrougn the darkest hours but from Sumter to Richmond his air always was for reconciliation reconcilia-tion and lasting peace. Will you now clnso your ears as at Versailles where perhaps it was eXoUsabiC to the voice of a great people who always will be your nelglihiM-a and who won't consent to hobble lamely through centuries? What Oormany must :ind can pay as an Indemnity Is a dispassionate business matter such as is settled dally between private debtors and cn-citors with : thorough examination of books I nt without rattling tho sword. And once uni'cd the new world won't refuse the necessary credits to this strong concorn which could effect the economic unity of Europe This, Citizen Clemenceau. is the way Lincoln's memory should point to you. Y- ur Paris homo is In a utrret named for Franklin and you know that noble citizen never misused the scepter which he received from a tyrant to bo-come bo-come a tyrant himself Ami you also have honored Washington, whose grontesr of all deeds was that which prepared tho way for the union of tho states exhausted by v. .t Tho-,. rho admire the fire of your proud spirit must hope that when It flickers out you will I Inrile the flames of gospel of a United States of Kuropc It was superfluous to brave Atlantic storms Just to prove that Prussians, Prus-sians, who believe only In force and not In the gentle power of friendly reasoning exist also In Vendee, your homo. The last page of your biography biog-raphy will determine your place and rank In history. You want your enemy's seal p. who you sny, can never become your friend or business partner. You will only consider the Welfare of your own race and scold angrily at those nations which are not ready to make every sacrifice for FraflCBi I personally share your disappointment over the failure to ratify the iroaty Amcrican-Brltlsh-lraneo guarantee pnet i which would have quieted France ) and rendered the occupation of Germany needle: s, thereby blunting blunt-ing the claws of our monarchists and bringing real PoaOs But wasn't It rejected precisely be-cause be-cause London and Washington found that you of France did not rCCOghliS the duties and rights (( s new world order and wanted more for JfourselVea than clearsighted clear-sighted reason could allow ? The great sea-bound empires havo ;nore Important business than a Franco-German quarrel. A wise victor w.uuld reconcile the defeated and use him for economic eco-nomic co-operation I do not deny that Germany made a great blunder regarding France, but th-ne have been terribly punished and cannot be used as an excuse, ex-cuse, after Fosen, West Prussia, MemOl, North Schlesweg, Upper Silesia, Alsace-Lorraine and tho Sanr have been taken away, as an excuse fo:- cutting off the Hhlne-land, Hhlne-land, putting whites under tho domination of colored troops, occupying the Ruhr, our industrial indus-trial heart and demand paper billions bil-lions from bankrupt towns for every nationalist misdemeanor. This misdemeanor nover would have beeomo io prevalent had your policy been different. With Germnny, the deep'sed enslaved Pariah of humanity. can you wonder large classes of people become be-come Capable Of tho maddest acts of desperation. If you knew how terribly the German people are Kuffering from the profiteers, hnw sick their souls, how impoverished impov-erished their Intellectual life, how rotten their state edifice has become, be-come, you would not believe for a moment that a revenge war could come tomorrow and not be more than quit kly suppressed as a revolt of blln 1 fools Tn both our countries, the majority ma-jority still Is for reconciliation. Let us bury' the past and prepare for a brighter future Should Germany sink into darkness France will go with her. She can I am herself only through economic eco-nomic co-operation. Let's get to work. Patriot Clemenceau. |