Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-09-16
All Papers Look With Skep-
ticlsm Upon Emperor
Charles Plan.
Initiative Should Have Been
Left to Entente Allies,
One Holds.
Another Says Move win Be
Construed as Weakness of
l.. Central Powers.
~ the Associated Press.


tria's peace note was handed to
the entente representatives at Bern.
Switzerland, at /. o'clock Saturday
afternoon. according to the Vossische
Zeitung of Berlin. The note was
simultaneously presented at Berlin.
Sofa and Constantinople, and was
brought to the knowledge of neutral
powers.
The note, in which Austria-Hu
gary invites the belligerents to con-
ference for discussion Of the possi-
Utilities Of peace. was dispatched by
Baron Burian, the Austro Hungarian
foreign minister. on the order OF En-
peror Charles. the Cologne Voiks Eel
tnng declares.
Sees Little Hope Of Success.
The peace initiative should have
been left to the entente allies, ac-
cording to the Tages Zeitung OF Ber-
lin. which comments on the Austrian
peace note.
The fate Of all previous announce
ments as TO readiness for peace and
q conciliatory spirit on the part OF
the central powers does not encour-
age great hopes that this offer will
meet with greater success" the
newspaper says. 1T must naturally
encounter great skepticism on our
part"
after our experiences hitherto
With peace proposals" says the . L9kal
thoroughly skeptical."
Calls It "Risky Step"
Austria's move may prove quite a
'risky STEP" says the Neueste Mach
richten of Berlin. The Boersen lei
tung places no very great hope in
the offer, and the Berlin Post fears
the offer will again be interpreted by
entente countries as weakness and q
sign of impending collapse, as well
as a begging for peace. on the part
of the central empires.
"A discussion of the timeliness OF
tho Austrian step is useless" says the
Vorwaerts. "Once it was made with
out the German government taking a
similar step, there is nothing for Ger
many to do but to give its adhesion.
That is the only way of preventing
harmful effects and permitting the
good effects to be fully developed
Austria's peace tentative will be well
coined by the widest circles of the
German people. and many hopes will
be placed in it. but it Is necessary to
utter a warning against overhasty
optimism
Obstacles Mountain High.
Through the fault of both sides
obstacles to. peace have been piled
Kreuz Zeitung- which fears that the
Austrian note will be futile and may
{ even lead to a result opposite to that
intended.
' "Ail the i'll success which similar
! stops by the central powers have en-
/ countered from the entente allies has
not taught the Austro-Hungarian
cabinet anything" says the Taeg-
]ische Rundschau. 1T is absolutely
inconceivable what motive induced
the Austro- Hungarian government
now officially to repeat the step
taken in the letter to Prince Sixtus.h
The Deutsche Zeitung says: The
, i'll success which has hitherto attend
ed our peace offers does not encour-
, age us to hope for much from Count
of the peace idea. That. of course,
should not prevent the German gov
4, eminent from examining the Austro-
Hungarian note benevolently and
thoroughly"
No interruption to War.
AMSTERDAM. September Is (by
the Associated Press).-The Aus
trian proposal, which is announced
in an official communication tele-
graphed here from Vienna. suggests
that there be no interruption of the
war, and that the discussions would
go only SO far as considerered by the
participants to- offer prospects Of
success
The proposal calls for all the bel
1iEerents to send delegates for ''con-
fidential and unbinding discussion on
the basic principles for the conclu-
sion of peace.r in a place in a neu-
trail country and at near date that
would yet have to be agreed upon"
The proposal says the conference
would be one of delegates who would
be charged to make known to one
ernments regarding those principles
and to receive analogous communica-
tfons. as well as to request and give
frank and candid explanations on all
those points which used to DO pre-
cisely defined"