Nations hard pressed on the East have in the past moved forward irresistibly to the West. In obedience to the same law a people hard pressed on the West will look to the East.
When the French troops marched on Essen they began a movement the most far-reaching, and probably the most sinister in its consequences, that has been witnessed for many centuries in Europe. And these are the people who, after fifty years of patient and laborious waiting, have demonstrated to the world in 1918 the stupidity of abusing victory in 1871.
If the teacher so soon forgets his own special lesson the pupil is not likely to remember when fury overcomes terror.
Algeciras, January 15th, 1923.
XIII LOST OPPORTUNITIES
The French government, having conspicuously failed to win its anticipated coup, is doubling the stakes each time it loses. When will it end? And where will it end? It is ill gambling with human passions. They are all engaged in this wild venture—on both sides of the table. Pride, greed, vanity, obstinacy, temper, combativeness, racial antagonisms, but also patriotism, love of justice, hatred of wrong and high courage. Each side draws from the same arsenal of fiery human emotions. Unless some one steps in to induce a halt I fear the result will be devastating.
France has now abandoned all hope of being able to run the mines, railways, and workshops of the Ruhr by military agencies. In these days you cannot shoot every worker who fails to excavate so many hundredweights of coal per diem, or who refuses to fill a wagon or drive a locomotive when and by whomsoever he is told to do so. France cannot provide the necessary complement of miners and railwaymen from outside to fill vacancies created by sulky workers. And even if she could it would take many months ere they become sufficiently accustomed to their new conditions to work without peril to themselves. So a new policy has been improvised. It is nothing less than the siege of Germany. Sixty millions of Germans are to be starved into surrender. That is a long business, as every one knows who has been engaged on the difficult operations of strike breaking. We have often witnessed workers with little support or sympathy from the rest of the community hold out for weeks after their funds have been exhausted. In Germany all classes are united in resistance. The national pride fortifies endurance and incites to sacrifice. And the ports are still open. Meanwhile incidents may happen, developments may occur which will create a situation that will baffle all the resources the invaders can command.