have been alienated during the war, inland securities would only pay our enemies' dividends in German money, which could only be realized by buying German goods. There remains, therefore, only the possibility of paying in goods, of which there are no reserve stocks. The armistice conditions are already more than we are able to carry out, as regards railway material, motor lorries, etc. Therefore, an indemnity could only be paid in goods which have yet to be produced. Our maximum yearly exportation before the war amounted to about 10,000,000,000 marks, the greater part of this being used to pay for indispensable imports. It will be long before we are able to export anything approaching to this in value. For the next few years, our exportation will hardly cover our importation of absolute necessities. It is not only a moral impossibility, but also materially impossible for Germany to pay even moderate interest on such an indemnity as our enemies propose. The indemnity imposed on France in 1871 was within the limits of what could be asked without reducing a nation to slavery. To ask what it

would take decades, possibly centuries, to pay off, is nothing but inflicting slavery on a whole nation. This is hardly compatible with a peace of right and justice, and it is not likely that a nation of sixty million people would tolerate such a position for long.'

In conclusion, Dr. Helfferich pointed out that the demand for a war indemnity was regarded with very mixed feelings in Entente countries. The New Age wrote that it could only be paid by flooding the British market with cheap German goods. The Dépêche de Toulouse said much the same, and added that France could only demobilize her armies slowly, for fear of unemployment, and French workingmen were demanding the repatriation of German prisoners of war, who were taking their work and bread from them. If ever there had been international solidarity of the artisan classes, it was in the general opposition to the enslavement of a civilized nation, and to the imposition of an indemnity which would be equivalent to condemning the German people to slavery.

La Dépêche de Toulouse

PRINCE MAX'S VIEWS OF THE LEAGUE

OF NATIONS

THE Berliner Tageblatt (Democratic Party) has published extracts from an address by Prince Max of Baden on February 3, at the opening meeting of the Heidelberg 'Society for the Study of a Policy of Justice.' Prince Max protests against the thesis of the Entente, that 'the enemies can enter the League of Nations later on, at present we are the League of Nations.' He further protests against the maintenance of the blockade, against the action of the Entente in regard to the Armistice negotiations, and against the postponement of peace.

The League of Nations not as a mere league for the prevention and punishment of breaches of law, but as a community of nations trusting each other, with a creative force which heals and helps and builds up this League of Nations is dead for my generation. Its foundations ought to have been laid as soon as the Armistice was declared. The distress of Europe cried out for first aid; only international coöperation could give it. What help can be given by a League of Nations, if nations who must form a part of it are to be destroyed? The most urgent tasks lay clearly before us: (1) Combined protective measures against Bolshevism on the part of the Allies and Germany. . . . (2) Experienced experts in Eastern conditions who possessed the confidence of the Christian peoples of the East ought to have met together to work without delay for the relief of distress. (3) Central Europe ought to have been protected from the Eastern infection by relief of hunger and unemployment. . . . (4) The International Red Cross ought to have reopened its doors and summoned representatives of all the enemy countries in order to secure the speediest possible help for the sick and wounded soldiers

of all nations. . . By joint work in the fulfillment of these tasks of mercy, the

strength, and the attitude of mind without League of Nations would have gained

which it cannot live would have been developed. As President Wilson demanded on January 22 as his first condition: 'The right attitude of mind, the right feelings of the nations toward each other, are just as necessary for a lasting peace as the just settlement of contentious territorial questions and of questions of nationality.' President Wilson was not a Utopian when he put forward this demand, nor were we others when we believed in it. He named at once the psychological prerequisites indispensable to the creation of this attitude of mind: . . . 'No victory!' No victory for the Entente and no victory for Germany.. At the moment when the generals on both sides believed in the possibility of victory on the battlefield, if then statesmen had been found who were endowed with sufficient national self-restraint and international sense of responsibility to enter into negotiations . . . the way would have been open for feelings of mutual respect: the healing forces of humanity, which have been forced into the background during four years, would on the first day of the Armistice have been liberated. .

There are, however, other possible alternatives between the true League of Nations and the peace of conquest for which the enemy Chauvinists are striving. The international judicial organization for the maintenance of a lasting peace, a peace of justice, is not yet lost; we do not go to the Conference in a defenseless condition. Our bulwark is the agreement which President Wilson formulated with the Entente and with Germany, according to which peace was to be concluded on the lines of the Fourteen Points which he had laid down; our bulwark is, further, the promise which he gave to the German people that this peace was not to be a dictated peace,

but a peace by negotiations. In the public conversations which I commenced with the President on October 3, and which led to the conclusion of the Armistice . . . the President demanded and obtained the unconditional acceptance of his conditions from us and from the Entente. . . . . Presiident Wilson did not confine himself to indicating a course which we and the Entente are at liberty to pursue or not to pursue; but he solemnly and publicly undertook the responsibility that the course which he has indicated shall be pursued to the end.

THE RIOTS AT CAIRO

THE other day the rioters, reinforced by students from the El Azhar University, as well as by a fair proportion of lower-class ruffians, resumed the demonstrations on a more extensive scale, while several flying squads of street arabs, armed with sticks and stones, rushed to the European quar

ters and smashed windows, tablets, signboards, and indeed everything that could be smashed within reach. Most people were too surprised by the suddenness of the attack to defend their property, and besides they did not know what was behind it all. None of these youngsters was more than ten to twelve years of age, and when, as occasionally happened, they were seized by casual onlookers they would drop their sticks and start howling.

The students being naturally much older and in considerable numbers were allowed to have things pretty much their own way until the troops took a hand in the proceedings, and quickly restored order. It was seldom necessary for the troops who were called out to use their rifles. In one case, where a few unarmed soldiers had been surrounded and attacked by a large crowd a few warning shots were fired into the air. These not having effect, some bullets were fired into the crowd, which immediately scattered. Otherwise the soldiers found the handles of their trench tools quite adequate to deal with the rioters, a considerable number of whom were arrested. One attempt was made to fire the premises of a native illustrated newspaper, but the fire was quenched before it took hold. Strong forces of native police helped, rather late

in the day, to hold up and scatter the demonstrators.

Recently a crowd of from 2,000 to 3,000 students, chiefly from the El Azhar University, marched through the streets in a more orderly manner, but dispersed near the railway station, where the sentries fired a few shots over their heads. Three casualties occurred. The troops pursued the demonstrators all over the town, which is patrolled by armored cars and detachments of infantry and cavalry. The state of the city is practically normal, except that the trams have stopped running. A few shops were closed during the excitement, and a few jewelers' shops in the native bazaars were looted by the hooligans, who, in some cases, used revolvers.

MORE NEWS OF THE RED ARMY

THE following statement is based on a report by Dr. Scheubner-Richter, formerly of the German Embassy in Riga. He confirms what was already stated, namely, that many of the German volunteer units are unreliable.

There is no doubt that the Russian Army will present an enormous menace to East Prussia and to the whole of Germany as soon as the winter is over. The discipline in the army is most severe, Draconian methods are observed, and men are shot for the slightest offense. Unsuccessful Generals are also shot. Soldiers' Councils have been done away with. There are confidential councils, but these deal with purely economic affairs. The officers are not all communists; many of them hope that a day of national democracy will dawn but they are obliged to bow down to the Bolsheviki. The newly formed Soviet army is composed of the reservists of six different classes. Their actual value as soldiers is perhaps inconsiderable, but they are animated by the need for food and lust for plunder. They also firmly believe in Germany's downfall, and in the victory of the communist revolution directly they set foot in East Prussia. Their officers are supervised by commissaries of their own government, whose powers are far-reaching. They also have established propaganda commissions, by means of which they

skillfully and successfully distribute their propaganda among the German soldiers. For this reason they treat the German soldier fairly well in many instances, but toward the German officers great brutality is practised. On Trotzky's initiative many of the officers belonging to the old imperial army have been attracted. Among the German soldiers left behind in Riga and other places I have observed a number of very questionable elements who certainly do us no credit. I have noticed men belonging to a so-called 'International' Saxon Corps, numbering some 10,000 to 15,000 men. Soldiers belonging to this corps have returned to Germany, and are now busy distributing communistic propaganda in Halle, Chemnitz, and Leipzig. The danger of this propaganda is especially great for East Prussia. In the neighborhood of Königsberg alone some two hundred Russian agitators are actively spreading their doctrines among the population and soldiers. In Königsberg itself the revolutionaries have instituted agitations of all kinds, and there is no sign of the disunion between themselves and the Spartacists which was indicated by the speaker in the National Assembly. The Volunteers who are supposed to be guarding the Province are in many instances absolutely unreliable. The great danger which threatens East Prussia this spring deserves the most earnest attention of the whole of Germany.

A LETTER TO LLOYD GEORGE

THE following is the text of the letter, addressed to the Prime Minister by President Wilson, M. Clemenceau, and Signor Orlando:

Paris, March 17, 1919 Dear Prime Minister: It seems to us imperative, in order that the world may wait no longer for peace than is actually unavoidable, that you should remain in Paris until the chief questions connected with the peace are settled, and we earnestly beg that you will do so. If you can arrange to remain for another two weeks we hope and believe that this all-important result can be obtained.

We write this with a full comprehension of the very urgent matters that are calling

you to England and with a vivid consciousness of the sacrifice we are asking you to make. Sincerely yours,

Woodrow Wilson.
G. Clemenceau.
V. L. Orlando.

Right Hon. D. Lloyd George, M.P.,
23, Rue Nitet, Paris.

THE PASSING OF LES FORTIFS'

So the Paris fortifications familiarly, les fortifs put up in the reign of Louis Philippe, to provide work for the unemployed, are to be razed- for a like purpose! They were never in much favor, except perhaps with the criminal classes, the undesirables of both sexes, who have long haunted them after dark, being a constant source of danger to the unwary passer-by and of trouble to the police. Moreover, as a means of defense to Paris these so-called fortifications have long been

probably always were quite useless; and there is the further objection to these unsightly mounds that they have tended to check the natural expansion of the city. Perhaps the best thing that can be said for the fated fortifs is that soon after their construction they inspired a very useful double pun. Parisians in the forties used to quote with approval,

'Le mur murant Paris

Rend Paris murmurant.'

THE MORAL EFFECT OF THE WAR To the Editor of the New Statesman

SIR: I have only just received your issues of the 8th and 15th inst., but I would like to say a word in support of Mr. Waugh's testimony to the deadening influence of

war.

I am an Education Instructor' in one of the new Army Schools in France, and I have many opportunities of studying the mentality of the soldier who has been through three or four years of war. In every case with which I have come in contact the mind had to be wakened out of its long sleep. The power of concentration has been reduced to a minimum by the dull routine, and quick apprehension has disappeared with the necessity for its use.

I admit that the war 'wakened us from

sleeping,' but we have relapsed, and we know (those of us who have served in the ranks), that war spells for us not only the 'surface hideousness' of mangled bodies and gibbering maniacs who once were men, but also the more hideous atrophy of the mind and soul.

But for this we soldiers can be thankfulwe have not acquired the habit of letting false catchwords like 'Blessed Banners' and 'Purging Fires' blind us to, at least, a partial understanding of hell and the wickedness of pain.- Yours, etc.,

W. J. Thorne. B. E. F. February 23, 1919.

COMPULSORY EMPLOYMENT OF DISABLED MEN

A DECREE of the German Government of January 9 ordains that all public and private undertakings, offices, and administrations are obliged to employ at least one severely disabled man for each one hundred actual employees, clerks, or workmen, without distinction of sex. For agriculture the proportion is fixed at one in every fifty. Severely disabled men within the meaning of this Decree are those who, under the Military Pensions Law of May 21, 1906, receive a military pension of fifty per cent or more of the full pension on account of a disablement received on service.

The carrying out of these regulations is to be supervised by the Demobilization Commissioner, or by the authorities entrusted with the supervision of service and the organization of the War Provident Fund. Severely disabled men may only be dismissed after proceedings before the works committee and observance of the legal term of notice. Private employers who do not comply with the Decree, are liable to a fine not exceeding ten thousand marks.

SALARIES OF BRITISH PROFESSORS

To the Editor of the Spectator:

SIR: I am glad that 'A Professor' has brought to the notice of the public through your columns the additional hardships which, owing to war conditions, have fallen upon a limited but typical section of the middle class - viz., the teachers in Universities and University Colleges. I should like

to be allowed to reinforce what he says from my own case. Before the war my salary was just enough to maintain myself and my family in modest competence. Since the outbreak of the war it has not been increased, nor have any bonuses been given to supplement it. On the contrary, it has been diminished by the extra drain of enhanced rates and taxes. Further, the work in respect of which it is bestowed has been nearly doubled owing to the calling up for service of my assistants. The gradual increase in prices has rendered it impossible, even with the strictest economy, to keep my house together upon my salary, and last year I was under the necessity of earning nearly £200 extra by means of private tuition, journalism, and the writing of textbooks. In such circumstances, I need hardly say, no attention to original research, or work for the advancement of science, is conceivable.-I am, Sir, etc., Another Professor.

THE SITUATION IN CONSTANTINOPLE

HERR GUSTAV HERLT writes to the Oesterreichische Volkswirt from Constantinople that business in that city is still at a standstill.

Thefts and murders are of frequent occurrence, the local Apaches taking advantage of the constant failure of the electric light. There is a great shortage of coal, the tram service is restricted, and the tunnel railway and the Bosporus steamers are not running. A certain quantity of coal is arriving from Eregli, but it does not go far. The output has declined considerably since the government of the Young Turks only paid low wages. Most of the local mines were being worked by Christian soldiers, who understood nothing of mining, and were too badly fed to extract much coal. The government, supported by the English, is doing its best to remedy the coal shortage. There is great activity in the Anglo-French banks, and the embargo on the banks belonging to countries formerly hostile has been removed. The prices of many commodities have fallen, but they frequently rise again.

Shipping is slowly recommencing, and since the opening of the Dardanelles merchant ships laden with cargoes have