Omaha daily bee., 1916-12-13

Eiilu IiluSHpuiS uoNo tiot iSo'
Military operations progress. B.
strokes of the sword at the same tim,
firm foundations for our economi,
needs have been laid. Great stock
OF grain, victuals, oil and other good
fell into our hands in Roumania. Thei
transport has begun. In spite o
scarcity, we could have lived on our
own supplies. but now our safety il
beyond question"
Famine Pursues Entente.
ITO these great events on land.
the chancellor continued, "heroic
deeds of equal importance are added
by our submarines. The spectre oi
famine, which our enemies intended
10 appear before us, now pursues them
without mercy. When after the ter.
nination of the first year Of the war
the emperor addressed the nation in
a public appeal, he said:
Having witnessed such great
events, my heart was filled with awe
and determination
Neither our emperor nor our ma
ton ever changed their minds in this
respect. Neither have they now. The
genius and heroic acts OF our leaders
have fashioned these facts as firm as
iron. II the enemy counted upon the
WEAKNESS Of its enemy, then it was
deceived"
THE Reichstag, by means OF the
national auxiliary war service law,
helped to build new offensive and
defensive bulwark in the midst OF the
great struggle the chancellor con-
tinued. Behind the fighting army
stands the nation at work--the gigan-
tic force of the nation working for the
common aim.
THE empire is not a besieged for
tress, as our adversaries imagined, but
one gigantic and firmly disciplined
camp with inexhaustibie resources.
That is why the German empire
which is firmly and faithfully united
with its brothers-in- n-arms, who have
been tested in battle under the Aus
tro-Hungarian, Turkish and Bull
garian flags. Not confused by asser-
vations, we progressed with firm de-
cision and we thus continue our pro-
gress, always ready to defend our
selves and fight for our nations exis-
tence, for its free future and always
ready to stretch out our hand for
peace.
"Our strength has not made our
ears deaf to our responsibility before
God, before our own nation and be-
fore humanity. The declarations for
mcfly made by us concerning our
readiness for peace were evaded by
our adversaries. Now we have adj
vanced one step further in this direc-
ton
"On August !, 1914. the emperor
had personally to make the gravest
decision which ever fell to the lot OF
a Gcrman---the order for mobiliza-
ton, which he was compelled to give
as a result OF the Russian mobiiiza-
ton. During these long and earnest
years OF the war, the emperor has
been moved by a single thought: How |
peace could be restored to safeguard |
Germany after this struggle in which |
it had fought victoriously.
Peace Offer Made.
Nobody can testify better to this
than |, who bear the responsibility
for all actions of the government.
In a deep moral and religious sense
OF duty towards this nation and be-
yond il, towards humanity, the en-
peror now considers that the mo-
ment has come for official action to-
wards peace.
His majesty, therefore, in complete
harmony and in common with our
allies, decided to propose, to the hos
tile powers to enter into peace ne
gotiations. This morning trans
nitted note to this effect to all the
hostile powers, through the represcn-
tatiyes Of those powers which, are
watching over our interests and
rights in the hostile states. | asked
the representatives of Spain, the
United States and Switzerland to for
ward that note.
THE same procedure has been
adopted today in Vienna, Constan-
tinople and Sofia. Other neutral
states and his holiness the pope have
been similarly informed"
We Raise Question.
After reading the note, the chan
cellor said:
Gentlemen, in August, 1914, our
enemies challenged the superiority of
power in the world war. Today we
raise the question OF peace, which is
2 question Of humanity We await
the answer Of our enemies with that
sereneness OF mind which is guar
anteed to us by our exterior and in.