The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1917-01-03
ALLIES Reject
PEACE PROPOSAL
Entente Declares Germany
Must State Terms.
OFFICIAL TEXT OF REPLY
Ten Foes Spurn Offer of Teutons as
I~nsincere and Characterize Same as
the Central Powers.

War Maneuver In Their Answer 20
the Central Powers.
Paris, Jan. 2.-Ten entente govern
ments, replying in one note to German
offers OF peace, declare their refusal
TO consider Germany's '%insincere and
Ineffective proposition for a confer
ence."
Demands for reparation, as stated in
speeches by premiers of the allied ma.
tons, are reiterated in the note. Bel
GUM, especially, seeks safeguards for
the future. The suggested conference,
without conditions, is not a peace of
fer, the entente holds, but is a war
maneuver designed for its effect on
home and neutral opinion. A partial
text of the note follows:
"The allied governments of Belgium,
France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan.
Montenegro, Portugal, Roumania, Rus
STA and Serbia, united for the defense
of the liberty of their peoples and
faithful to engagements taken not to
lay down their arms separately. have
resolved to reply collectively to the
pretended propositions OF peace which
we're addressed to them on behalf of
the enemy governments through the
intermediary of the United States,
Spain, Switzerland and Holland. Be
fore making any reply the allied pow
ORG Anufrn mo rffaftla r1u 90 nrnfngt
against the two essential assertions of
the note of the enemy powers that
pretend to throw upon the allies re-
sponsibility for the wal and proclaim
the victory of the central powers
Are Suspicious Of Germany.
THE allied governments cannot ad-
NIT an affirmation doubly inexact and
which suffices to render sterile all ten
tative negotiations. The allied nations
have sustained for thirty months a
war they did everything to avoid.
They have shown by their acts their
attachment to peace. That attachment
is as strong today as IL was in 1914.
But Ii is not upon the word of Ger.
many, after the violation of its en-
gagements. hat the peace broken by
her may be based.
"A mere suggestion, without a state
ment Of terms, that negotiations
should be opened, is not an offer of
peace. The putting forward by the
imperial government of a sham pro-
posal lacking all substance and pre-
cision would appear to be less an Of
fer of peace than a war maneuver. Ii
is founded on calculated misinterpre-
tation of the character of the struggle
in the past, the present and the flu
ture.
AS for the past, the German note
takes no account o the facts, dates
and figures which establish that the
war was desired. provoked and declar-
ed by Germany and Austria Hungary.
Refers to Belgian Invasion.
Belgium was invaded by an en-
pire which had guaranteed her neu-
trality and which had the assurance
to proclaim that treaties were scraps
of paper and hat necessity knows
no law
Fully conscious of the gravity of
this moment. but equally conscious of
its requirements. the allied govern
ments. closely united to n another
and in perfect sympathy with their
people, refuse to consider a proposal
which is empty and i%nsincere.
Once again the allies declare that
no peace is possible so long as they
have not secured reparation for violat-
ed rights and liberties, the recognition
of the principle of n~ationalities and
of the free existence of small states;
so long as they have not brought
about a settlement calculated to end
once and for all, forces which have
constituted a perpetual menac to the
nations and to afford the only effective
guarantee for the future of the
world"