Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1918-10-31
peace negotiations.
Disposal of Navy Unsettled

~ HoVttiS s.4
The article dealing with the disposi.
ton of the German navy apparently
has not been completed and is still the
subject of discussion in the supreme
war council The only suggestion con.
tanned in the tentative terms, reaching
Washington is that all submarines in
the Mediterranean must be surrendered
and that II Of every type of subma-
rine now in the Teutonlc navics shan
be delivered over.
Great Britain is said to be insistent
that Germany shall be required to sur
render practically her entire high seas
fleet, and this is the proposal now be.
ing debated in the war council al Yer
sailles. The attitude Of presidnt Will
son toward this proposition never has
been disclosed.
There is no mention Of Helgoland or
the kiei canal in the terms SO far for
warded, although it has been suggest
ed that both these German naval
s~trongholds should be delivered to the
allies as a guaranty against the re.
newal of hostilities by the Huns
and as an earnest of good faith in
carrying out peace terms.
President i'll Close Touch
lnasmuch, however. as the terms re-
oeived in Washington are not repre-
scented as complete and are outlined as
merely tentative, pending the receipt
of the opinion thereon Of President
Wilson, it is expected the conditions of
an armistice eventually presented to
Germany will be much more compre.
hensive.
The president has been in almost
constant cable communication with
Colonel House for the last 60 hours
and it is believed the discussion of the
terms between the allies and the Unit
ed States is rapidly coming to a head.
There is every reason to believ the
allies will be in position to communi-
cate the armistice terms to Germany
within the next few days, unless a
p~ostponement should be deemed ad-
visable in view of considerations now
Beginning to develop.
AH"'tA htiA i iA5ht desperate
These considerations pertain to the
situation of Austria-Hungary and Tur-
key. The Ottoman government is re.
ported to have asked separate peace
terms from the allies; II Vienna, in
the note to the state department yes
terday clearly indicates a desire to get
out of the war as soon as possible,
independent of whatever course Berlin
may elect to pursue.
The Austrians now are in a des-
parate plight, with the italians de,
m%olishing their armies and taking
prisoners in unprecedented numbers
while the Dual Monarchy is being con
sumed within by the daily mounting
flames of insurrection and revolution.
Some administrator officials are of
the opinion the president will send an
other note to Austria Of the character
he dispatched to Berlin when he re-
ferred 20 Teutonic peace proposals to
the allies. iii any event, he will refer
the Austrian appeal for an immediate
and independent armistice to the allies,
including the Czecho.Slovaks council
and the Jugo.Slav committee, in CON
formity with his notice to Vienna that
the Austrian subject nationalities must
be given independence.
1000, 900 Allied Troops Released
With Austria and Turkey out of the
war, Germany will confront the choice
of accepting the allied armistice terms,
however severe they may be, or con
tinuing the battle a while longer hem
med in by enemies and amidst over
whelnling odds. 1t is not doubted
that peace terms imposed upon Austria
will provide for operation of allied
armies in that country against the
Germans. Peace with Turkey and
Austria would release more than 1,000,-
900 allied troops. which could be mass
ed in Austria against Germany. In
such a situation Germany, it is believ-
ed, would hasten to capitulate.
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