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and wrote the book which he called with some irony, "The Economic Consequences of the Peace." Not, you see, "The Economic Consequences of the War."

The argument of the book is that the Peace was made by three men, Clémenceau, Lloyd George, and Wilson, shut off from the currents of life, pursuing separate purposes, fighting for their own, tricking each other and composing such a treaty as must presently become a danger to civilization. After analyzing the economic structure of Europe before the war and describing, in memorable and malicious words, the meetings of the masters of the world, Mr. Keynes takes up the Treaty. Thus:

"Two rival schemes for the future polity of the world took the field,—the Fourteen Points of the President, and the Carthaginian Peace of M. Clémenceau. Yet only one of these was entitled to take the field; for the enemy had not surrendered unconditionally, but on agreed terms as to the general character of the Peace."

This is the accusation, clear and neat and amply justified: that Germany asked for an armistice and for peace negotiations on the basis of the Fourteen Points and that, with two reservations, the Allies and Associated Powers entered upon negotiations on this basis, the whole Peace Conference being described in advance as an effort to apply the Fourteen Points. Mr. Keynes unblushingly asserts that Germany was betrayed, for after she had been rendered harmless by the Armistice, the Fourteen Points were abandoned and their only further appearance was when phrases were injected into Carthaginian terms to deceive Mr. Wilson. Mr. Keynes believes that this was an act of perfidy, comparable to the violation of Belgium at the beginning of the war.

The Treaty impoverishes Germany and compels her to pay an enormous sum to the Allies under the general head of Reparatians. Mr. Keynes makes two points in this, the longest section of his book. The first is that the addition of separation allowances and war pensions to the burden which Germany must pay to the Allies is unjust because it violates Mr. Wilson's point for "no punitive damages, no contributions," and because the Allies' specific reservation on this point held Germany responsible for damage to civilians due to German "aggression by land, by sea, and from the air.” His second