Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1917-12-21
RESTORATION
Continued from Page ! J

was an event which would loom large
! in the future. AS for the disposition
| Of the German colonies, the premier
said. that must be settled by the peace
| congress. The future trustees of those
! countries must take into account the
sentiments of the people themselves.
The premier told his hearers that
| a league of nations in which Ger
! many was represented by triumphant
| militarism would be hollow farce.
Great Britain did not enter the war,
he asserted, to increase by yard the
! territory of any one else, but because
of the belief that Britain's honor, the
question of standing by her word, was
! involved.
The next few months, said Mr. Lloyd
| George, would be most trying ones,
as one great power had gone out and
another had not fully come in.
Former Premier Asquith, following
| Mr.. Lloyd George, said the primary
need at this moment was ships for
which the new construction must be
supplied by Great Britain and the
United States. Everything turned on
transportation, he pointed out, and in
every discussion on man power that
must be the dominating factor.
The necessity of sending troops to
Italy and the Russian armistice had
! increased the anxieties of the Allies
I and cast further obligations on them,
| the premier said.
| The pledges given to labor in 1916
regarding men exempted he added,
| would have to he altered or cancelled,
national service, had called a confer
ence for next week to consider the
matter.
Another circumstance which i'm
PEELED the government to make fur
Their demand upon the man power of
the country was that under present
conditions they had been forced to
send men back to the fighting line who
had repeatedly been wounded. That
was unfair and intolerable. while
there were men who had never been
at the front.
"a to future prospects. continued the
premier, ore great power had practi-
cally gone out of the war and another
great power had not fully come in and
therefore the burden on Britain would
be considerable.
Enemy Has Had Difficulties
''But we must not imagine that the
enemy had not had his difficulties"
he said We had proof of that the
other day when facts were given to
us as to the deteriorated physical
quality of the German workers as
result of the blockade imposed by the
British navy. The German workers
have SO deteriorated that the output
Of Germany per man has gone down
by something like SO per cent, compar-
ed with the first year of the war.
What are the prospects? asked the pre-
n Ter Frances losses. no doubt have
been serious: despite the reverses which
Italy has endured. their losses are not to
be compared with those of Austria and.
despite the losses inflicted on us. the per-
manent loss to the British army is not
more than one-fourth or one-ffth the
permanent losses endured by the Ger
mans Ii we take the reserve man power
of the nations allied against Germany it
will be found to be more than twice as
great as that of Germany and her allies"
Since Russia had entered into separate
peace negotiations, Lloyd George declar-
cd, she must pc responsible TOT the pro-
lection Of her own territory and that also
disposed of any question there was about
Consta ntinople. lie continued:
We have conquered no country where
the population belonged to the governing
race. We have not acquired a single
yard OF territory where there is Ger
imam population. With regard to the cap
tured German colonies, the peace confer
ance must settle about them on the prin-
ciple of respecting the desires of the peo-
pie of those colonies themselves. We have
laid that down and we stand by 1t.
We did not enter the war to annex a
single yard of anybodys territory. We
entered the war because we believed that
the honor of Britain was involved in
standing by her word
Prussia Forced War
The premier declared that the war was
forced upon the world by the arrogance
of the military caste in Prussia which,
he added, were prepared to overthrow
their own ruler and set up another VIII
was more in sympathy with their aims.
Until that temper is broken there can