Arizona republican., 1917-09-01
LATE CHANCELLOR
 |NFL|CTS \ ROAST
 ON 0UR MR. GERARD
Republican A. p. Leased Wire1

BERLIN, Aug. 3O.-Via London, Aug. 31.)-Dr. von Bethmann- Holl- veg the former imperial chancellor, today asserted that it was his impress sion that James w. Gerard, former ambassador to Germany in writing his revelations of Germany's war aims, gave a somewhat free rein to his i'm agination.
 The statement of the former chan cellor was the result of his reading in a London newspaper Mir. Gerad'S yer sion of a conversation with him last January in which it was alleged that Germany's peace terms were set forth. Tn his published report of this par ticular conversation" Dr. von Beth | mann Hollweg said to the Associated Press today, MT. Gerard attributed | utterances to me which may have been made in other quarters in Germany and to which he frequently referred in | the course of our conversation, but which were not my own. This applies especially to his reference to Ger | many's alleged intentions to seize | Liege and Namur, and of Germany's | plans to take possession of the Belgian ports and railways and to establish | military and commercial dominion of | that country.
 l T never unfolded such war aims to | Mr. Gerard In the course of my
 several conversations with him, as
 also in our discussion last January l | invariably referred to my reichstag | speeches in which I stated that Ger many would exact positive guarantees l that Belgian territory and politics 4 would not in the future be exploited as a menacing factor against us. I did not make any statement as to the
 nature of these guarantees.
 l Tn the progress of our conversation l Mr Gerard suggested that the realiZa- tion of far-reaching aspirations in
 Belgium would give King Albert
 merely a sham authority and asked
 whether it would not be better for Germany to forego such plans and in-
 stead of them. endeavor to acquire
 Liege, which MT. Gerard thought pos l sible of achievement.
 Perhaps this suggestion was a bait | intended to provoke a reply from me.
 If so the attempt failed. In all my
 discussions with the ambassador on
 this subject I referred to my public
 utterances in which I emphasized that
 I was endeavoring to procure a peace | that would permit us to live in cordial and neighborly relations with Belgium.
 MT. Gerard's memory would seem also to have served him faultlessly
 when he wrote down what was said about Russia. He dealt but superfi-
 cially with Germany's eastern war aims, observing that the United States | interest in this direction was very linn
 ited and that Germany undoubtedly would have a free hand there For Rumania and Serbia he also revealed very slight sympathy. MT. Gerard did | ,At r.1,f tot, h,,t .,fy nf 10
 statements concerning these countries
 which he attributed to me-"
 The former chancellor then ob-
 served When diplomats undertake
 to exploit their official career for jour
 nalistic purposes they are very apt to
 be misled into putting into the mouths
 of foreign statesmen utterances which either are the creation of an ample
 imagination or are based on faulty
 memory. Discussion of political opin-
 ions is bound to be transitory and
 fleeting.''
 The former chancellor then touched
 upon what he regarded as the ethics o1
 MT Gerards disclosures as compared
 with the European idea: You Amer
 jeans are an impetuous people" he
 said. You do not seem to permit ever your retiring diplomats to observe the
 traditional silence. nor have you the
 patience to abide the postmortem pub lication of their memoirs Sir Edward Goschen (former British ambassador
 to Germany and Austria) or Jules , Cambon (former French ambassador , to Germany, the United States anC Spain) probably could excel MT. Ger ard in revelations of entertaining dip lomatic history and gossip. Count vol !. Bernstorff (former German ambassa | 1 ff hn TTnif taf I i'm, agine, might startle us with the diar! of his Washington experiences. Tn Europe, however. it would seen that publica ton of such matters b, l common consent is postponed to late Continued on Page Three)