France Fears Germany as If It Were a Tiger Only
28,1919)
France fears Germany as if it were a tiger or a wolf. Even after Germany has suffered
such a great defeat, France is still terribly afraid of her. They have taken the coal mines
of the Saar. They have detached the left bank of the Rhine from Germany and made
it into an independent country.86 They have destroyed the fortifications on Heligoland.
They have helped Poland to become independent in order to restrict Germany in the
east. They have helped Czechoslovakia to become independent in order to prevent
Germany from moving south. The desire of the German and Austrian peoples to join
together as Germany has been obstructed on every hand, heedless of the fact that the
ideal of national self-determination was thus sabotaged. Germany’s colonial territories,
together with her land, sea, and air forces, have been pared away on all sides. She has
had to turn over much of her commercial shipping to prevent her from recovering her
foreign trade. But even this is not all. France also wants guarantees from England and
the United States. The other day the teletype noted that Wilson had agreed that before
86 Yuan Shikai.