Arizona republican., 1916-12-16
DUMA AGAINST ACCEPTANCE IF
 GERMANS PLAN
Republican A. p. Leased WireJ

L
 LONDON Dec 15.-A dispatch to Reuters Telegram company from Pet rograd says:
 "The duma passed unanimously resolution against the acceptance of the German peace proposals after spirited speech by the minister of for eign affairs"
 The text of the resolution as received here follows:
 "The duma. having heard the state ment by the minister of foreign af- fairs, unanimously favors a categori cal refusal by the allied governments to enter. under present conditions. into any peace negotiations whatever.
 Tt considers that the German pro- posals are nothing more than fresh proof of the weakness of the enemy and a hypocritical act from which the enemy expects no real success, but by which 1t seeks to throw upon others the responsibility for the war and for what happened during it, and to eX- culpate itself before public opinion in Germany.
 The duma considers that a prema- ture peace would not only be a brief period of calm. but would involve the danger of another bloody war and a renewal of the deplOrable sacrifices by
  peace will be possible only after de- cisive victory over the military powers of the enemy and after definite renun- cation by Germany of the aspiration which renders her responsible for the world war and for the horrors by which it has been accomplished
 NJ. Pokrovsky, in his speech to the duma. said:
 "In addressing you immediately ly~upon having been appointed minister of for eign affairs. I am not in a position to give you a detailed statement on the political situation, but feel constrained to inform you without delay and with the supreme authorization of his i'm perial ma jesty of the attitude of the Russian government regarding the ap- plicaUOn of our enemies. Of which you have heard through news telegrams- Word of peace coming from the side which bears the whole burden of re- sponsibility for the world conflagration. which it started and which is unpar- alleled in the annals of history, how ever far back one goes, were no sur prise to the alleis.
 Tn the course of the two and one half years of war. Germany has more than once mentioned peace. She spoke of p to her armies and her people each time she entered upcn Q military oper- ation which was To be decisive. After each military success she put out feelers for a separate peace on one side and another. and conducted a prOpa igaada in the-nsgtral -lsFess--An these efforts have met with calm and de termined resistance by the allied powers.
 Seeing now that she is powerless to make a break in our unchakeable al- liance Germany makes an official pro- posal to open peace negotiations. In substnace. the German proposal con tains no tangible indications regarding the nature of the peace which is de- sired by the enemy armies which rev astated and occupied Belgium. Serbia and Montenegro and part of France. Russia and Rumania.
 "The Austro Germans have just pro- claimed an illusory independence for part of Poland and by this they are try ing to lay hands on the entire Polish nation. The motives of the German step will be shown more clearly if one takes into consideration the domestic condition of our enemies Without speaking of the unlawrul attempts to force the population of Russian Poland to take arms aginst it's own country, it will suffice to mention the introduce ton of general forced labor into Ger many to show how hard is the situation of our enemies.
 "To attempt at the last moment to profit by their fleeting territorial con- quest before their domestic weakness was revealed-that was ihe real meaning of the German proposal. In (Continued on Page TwO)