French Reparation Policy in the Light of the Dariac Report

The Dariac report is a secret document in the files of the French Foreign Office. It is the result of an investigation my M. Dariac, who was sent by Premier Poincare in the fall of 1922 as a Commissioner to report on the economics and industry of the Rhine provinces. The report was placed in the hands of M. Poincare at about the same time Secretary of State Hughes proposal for an impartial commission to determine Germany's capacity to pay was made to France. The American proposal was rejected and it is the belief of the Department of State that the policy adopted by France thereafter (involving the occupation of the Ruhr) was based upon the report of M. Dariac. This report has not been published, either in this country or in France.

At the time the Dariac report was made Allied forces had occupied Dusseldorf, Duisburg, Ruhrort, and the neighboring regions upon the failure of Germany to meet the requirements of the reparations ultimatum of March, 1921. The report urges that the French must keep hold on the industries of the Rhine district—“we cannot dream of abandoning this pledge,”—and that the province must be set up as an autonomous state under French and Belgian protection. It claims that while the German state is unable to pay its debt the German industrialists are perfectly well able to do so and can be compelled to pay by suitable pressure. “We can cut them in two…and utterly disorganize their industry.“ For this the continued occupation of the Rhineland is essential. “So long as we maintain our present position on the Rhine we shall constitute a constant menace for the ten or twelve masters…of Germany.”

“The feature of this region,” says the Report in describing the Ruhr,” is its very accentuated industrial character, which makes of it a pledge in our hands of quite the first importance for the recovery of the sums which Germany has undertaken to pay us. In existing circumstances, indeed, the Ruhr, and in particular the region of Dusseldorf, Duisburg, Ruhrort, which we are occupying, and which forms its head, constitutes the principal element of German wealth, which is based entirely on iron and coal, their transformations and their derivatives. The majority of the great German consortiums have been formed there, have their headquarters and their establishments there, and the ten or twelve' industrialists who direct them rule, directly or indirectly, but absolutely, the economic destinies of Germany.”

The industrialists referred to are the Stinnes, the Thyssens, the Krupps, the Haniels, the Kloeckners, the Funkes, the Man