The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1917-01-05
ALLIES REFUSE TO
TREAT WITH GERMANY
No Peace Possible Without Full Repair
ation--Germany's Peace Offer Called
Attempt to Justify New Crimes"
Paris, Dec. 80.

Il
1ective note of the entente allies, re-
jecting Germany's peace proposals,
which was handed by Premier Brand
to William G. Sharp, the American
Ambassador, today:
"The allied Governments OF Belgl-
UNI, France, Great Britain, Italy, ia
pan. Montenegro, Portugal, Rumania,
Russia and Servia, united for the de-
Tense 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 proposition of peace
which was addressed to them on be-
half of the enemy Governments
through intermediary of the United
States, Spain, Switzerland and Hol-
land. Before making any reply, the
allied Powers desire particularly to
protest against the two essential as
sertions of the note of the enemy
Powers that pretend to throw upon
the allies responsibility for the war
and proclaim the victory Of the Cen
trail Powers.
1.-THE allied Governments cannot ad-
nit an affirmation doubly inexact and
which suffices to render sterile all
tentative negotiations. The allied ma
tions have sustained for 80 months
a war they did everything to avoid.
They have shown by their acts their
attachment to peace. That attach
ment is as strong today as it was in
1914. But it is not upon the word OF
Germany, after the violation of its
engagements, that the peace broken
by her may be based.
"Mere Suggestion Not An Offer Of
Peace"
"A mere suggestion, without a
statement Of terms, that negotiations
should be opened, is not an offer Of
peace. The putting forward by the
Imperial Government of sham pro-
posal lacking all substance and pre-
cision would appear to be less an Of
fer of peace than war maneuver.
It is founded on calculated misrepre-
sentation of the character of the
struggle in the past, and the present
and ten future.
"As for the past, the German nots
takes no account of the facts, dates
and figures which establish that the
war was desired, provoked and de-
clared by Germany and Austria Hun
gary.
"At the Hague conference it was a
German delegate who refused all pro-
posals for disarmament. In July,
1914, it was Austria-Hungary, who,
after having addressed to Servia an
unprecedented ultimatum, declared
war upon her in spite of the satisfac-
ton which had at once been accorded.
"The central Empires then rejected
all attempts made by the entente to
bring about pacific solution of a
purely local conflict. Great Britain
suggested conference; France pro-
posed an international commission;
the Emperor of Russia asked the
German Emperor to go to arbitra-
ton and Russia and Austria Hungary
came to an understanding on the eve
of the conflict. But to all these eff
forts Germany gave neither answer
nor effect.
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 that necessity knows no
law
"At the present moment these sham
offers on the part of Germany rest
on the war map of Europe alone,
which represented nothing more than
a superficial and passing phase of the
situation and not the real strength of
the belligerents. A peace concluded
upon these terms would be only to the
advantage of the aggressors, who,
after imagining that they would reach
their goal in two months, discovered
after two years that they could never
attain it.
"As for the future, the disasters
caused by the Germany declaration of
war and the innumerable outrages
committed by Germany and her al
lies against both belligerents and neu-
trails, demand penalties, PREPARATION
and guarantees. Germany avoids
mention of any of these.
an reality these overtures made by
the central Powers are nothing more
than calculated attempt to influence
the future course of war and to end it
by imposing German peace. The
object of these overtures is to create
dissention in the public opinion in the
allied countries. But that public
opinion has, in spite of all the sacri-
fees endured by the allies, already
given its answer with admirable firm
ness and has denounced the empty pre-
tense of the declaration of the enc
my Powers.
Shave Object of Stiffening Opinion. I"
''They have the further object of
stiffening public opinion in Germany
and in the countries allied to her and
all severely tried by their losses, worn
out by the economic pressure and
crushed by the supreme effort which
has been imposed upon their inhabi-
tants.
"They endeavor to deceive and in
timidate public opinion in neutral
countries, whose inhabitants have long
since made up their minds where the
initial responsibility lies and are far
too enlightened to favor the designs
Of Germany by abandoning the de-
tense Of human freedom.
"Finally, these overtures attempt
to justify in advance in the eyes of