“(17) In case of default by Germany in the performance of any obligation under this part of the present Treaty, the Commission will forthwith give notice of such default to each of the interested Powers, and will make such recommendations as to the action to be taken in consequence of such default as it may think necessary. “(18) The measures which the Allied and Associated Powers shall have the right to take in case of voluntary default by Germany, and which Germany agrees not to regard as acts of war, may include economic and financial prohibitions and reprisals, and in general such other measures as the respective Governments may determine to be necessary in the circumstances.” There is also a provision in Article 430 of the Treaty, by which any part of the occupied area which has been evacuated may be reoccupied if Germany fails to observe her obligations with regard to Reparation. The French Government base their contention on the words “and in general such other measures” in § 18, arguing that this gives them an entirely free hand. The sentence taken as a whole, however, supports, on the principle of _ejusdem generis_, the interpretation that the other measures contemplated are of the nature of economic and financial reprisals. This view is confirmed by the fact that the rest of the Treaty narrowly limits the rights of occupying German territory, which, as M. Tardieu’s book shows, was the subject of an acute difference of opinion between France and her Associates at the Peace Conference. There is _no_ provision for occupying territory on the _right_ bank of the Rhine; and the only provision for occupation in the event of default is that contained in Article 430. This Article, which provides for _reoccupation_ of the _left_ bank in the event of default, would have been entirely pointless and otiose if the French view were correct. Indeed the theory, that at any time during the next thirty years any Ally can invade any part of Germany on the ground that Germany has not fulfilled every letter of the Treaty, is on the face of it unreasonable. In any case, however, §§ 17, 18 of Annex II. of the Reparation Chapter only operate after a specific procedure has been set on foot by the Reparation Commission. It is the duty of the Reparation Commission to give notice of the default to each of the interested Powers, including presumably the United States, and to recommend action. If the default is voluntary—there is no provision as to who is to decide this—then the paragraphs in question become operative. There is no warrant here for isolated action by a single Ally. And indeed the Reparation Commission have never so far put this procedure in operation.