In one of the many conferences on reparations the Japanese ambassador to Great Britain declared, “Gentlemen, there is only one question before us: ‘How can we best make Germany pay most?’” The Japanese ambassador was talking common sense. But his point of view was as little heeded in the heated discussions as had been the point of view of General Bliss several years earlier, when he insisted that the armistice with Germany was a military question and should be so regarded. The statesmen in 1918 had no intention of rendering Germany immediately and completely impotent; for they wanted a treaty in which terms could be incorporated, on the excuse of Germany’s power, that would serve their political and economic interests. In the reparations question what the statesmen feared most was a final definite and workable solution proposed by bankers and economic experts; for they intended to establish an indefinite protectorate over Germany. There is no doubt that Germany’s capacity to pay has decreased steadily since June, 1919, and received a still more serious blow by the rejection of the offer of the Cuno Government in May, 1923, to submit the question to any tribunal the Entente Powers might name, and agree to abide by its verdict. The frank annoyance of the British Government at the “unnecessary precipitancy” of the French reply to the Cuno offer reveals a seriously disrupted Entente. In the House of Commons and in the House of Lords the same statement was made on May 8: It was the view of His Majesty’s Government that the best and most natural course of procedure would be to return to a concerted reply ... the more so as the German note was in response to a suggestion made publicly and officially by the Foreign Minister of the British Government and as the problem involved ... was one in which the Allied Powers, and not merely France and Belgium alone, are deeply concerned. The isolation of France from her old comrades in arms, through whose aid alone she was put in the position where she could coerce Germany, is accompanied by dissatisfaction in Belgium, and by a feeling of resentment and suspicion, as we have already indicated, on the part of other European countries. The prudent policy for a country with the birth-rate of France would seem to be reconciliation with Germany and conciliation with Russia. Whatever gain France may enjoy from a temporary success of the Ruhr occupation is bound to be offset by the feeling aroused in the minds and hearts of the generation growing up in Germany. Wise statesmenship ought to have taken this fact into account.