THE BREAKDOWN OF THE REPARATIONS CONFERENCE.
[To THE EDITOR or THE " SPEGTATOR."]
Ssa,—In your article on the breakdown of the Conference you say that the policy favoured by you "is based on the sound principle that we must not be guilty of the supreme folly of ruining ourselves and the rest of the world in order to teach Germany a moral lesson or to punish her for past crimes." Agreed; but we must never forget that the aim of Germany since the Armistice has been to escape punishment and evade reparation for her crimes. She now seems in a fair way to succeed. If she should do so, then, in future wars, Germany or any other robber State will be justified in assuring her people
that the longer they fight and the more barbarous their methods of warfare the less likely will they be called upon to suffer or to pay. It is not a question of teaching moral lessons, but of future security. If civilization cannot punish, civilization will
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