Courier Democrat., 1917-01-04
Entente Declares Germany Must
State Terms.
OFFICIAL TEXT OF ANSWER
Ten Foes Spurn Offer Of Teutons as
Insincere and Characterize the
Same as War Maneuver.

Paris, Jan. 2.-Ten entente govern.
ments, replying in one note to German
offers of peace, declare their refusal
TO consider Germanys "insincere and
ineffective proposition for confer
ence."
Demands for reparation, as stated in
speeches by premiers OF the allied ma
tions, 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 it's 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
sia 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
pretended propositions of peace which
were 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
ers desire particularly to protest
against the two essential assertions of
the note of the enemy powers that
pretend to throw upon the allies re-
sponsibility for the war and proclaim
the victory of the central powers.
Are Suspicious Of Germany.
THE allied governments cannot adj
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 it was in 1914.
But it is not upon the word of Ger.
many, after the violation Of its en-
gagements, that the peace broken by
her may be based.
"a mere suggestion, without 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 All Of
fer OF peace than a war maneuver. 1t
is founded On calculated misinterpre-
tation of the character OF the struggle
in the past the present and the fu-
ture.
"As for the past, the German note
takes no account Of 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 We're scraps
of paper and that necessity knows
no law
"FIlly conscious of the gravity of
this moment, but equally conscious of
it's requirements, the allied govern
ments. closely united to one another
and in perfect sympathy with their
people, refuse to consider proposal
which is empty and insincere.
"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 nationalities 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 perpetual menace to the
nations and to afford the only effective
guarantee for the future of the
world"