lson,
faced with realities and called to practical counsel, affectionately
dismissed the high-souled speculative projects in which he delighted
during his hours of contemplation. Although the German delegates signed
the Treaty, no one can honestly say that he expects them to observe it
longer than constraint presses, however solemn the obligations imposed.

In the press organ of the most numerous and powerful political party in
Germany one might read in an article on the Germans in Bohemia annexed
by Czechoslovakia: "Assuredly their destiny will not be determined for
all time by the Versailles peace of violence. It behooves the German
nation to cherish its affection for its oppressed brethren, even though
it be powerless to succor them immediately. What then can it do? Italy
has given it a marvelous lesson in the policy of irredentism, which she
pursued in respect of the Trentino and Trieste."[306]

With the Treaty as it stands, nationalist France of this generation has
reason to be satisfied. One of its framers, himself a shrewd business
man and politician, publicly set forth the grounds for this
satisfaction.[307] Alsace and Lorraine reunited to the metropolis, he
explained, will assist France materially with an industrious population
and enormous resources in the shape of mineral wealth and a fruitful
soil. Germany's former colonies, Kamerun and Togoland, are become
French, and will doubtless offer a vast and attractive field for the
expansion and prosperity of the French population. Morocco, freed from
German enterprise, can henceforth be developed by the French population
alone and without let or hindrance, for the benefit of the natives and
in the true sense of Mr. Wilson's humanitarian ordinances. The potash
deposits, to which German agriculture largely owed its prosperity, will
henceforward be utilized in the service of French agriculture. "In iron
ore the wealth of France is doubled, and her productive capacity as
regards pig-iron and steel immensely increased. Her production of
textiles is greater than before the war by about a third."[308] In a
word, a vast area of the planet inhabited by various peoples will look
to the French people for everything that makes their collective life
worth living.

The sole arrangement which for a time caused heart-burnings in France
was that respecting the sums of money which Germany should have been
made to pay to her victorious enemies. For the opinions on that subject
he