Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-10-08
LONDON PRESS IS
SKEPTICAL ABOUT
GERMANY'S OFFER

LONDON, Oct. 7.-Distrust Of Ger
many's intentions and skepticisms as 10
the result of peace overtures of the CEN
trail powers are reflected in comments
by the newspapers here.
The Mail will have nothing to do with
Gernany's offer, which it says means
not peace but trtckery."
I'm Prince Maximllian's Speech" the
newspaper continues, there is not a
word of repentance for crimes Germany
has committed. He offers
proposals which are less than the con-
ditions that will be imposed by the al
lies as preliminaries to any discussion
at all.
I'VE did not allow Bulgaria to tell US
what to do. We told her what she had
to do. We intend to act precisely in the
same way with Germany and Austria.
eff the German people wish to know
what guarantees President Wilson and
the allies require they may be embodied
in two words, unconditional surrender.
Germans must leave territories they
have occupied, restore the property
they have stolen, pay for all the dam
age they have done and surrender for
trial by the. allies, the great criminals
of the war" ..t-
The Mail+ssays there are about 500
of these, beginning with the emperor.
1t also declares that Germany will not
be given back her colonies.
This method of approaching peace
is the method of a people trying to
strike a bargain, and the peace that is
coming is not going TO be a bargain
peace" says the Telegraph
The newspaper sees a marked change
in Germany's attitude as to certain
matters in dispute, but declares the
proposals as a whole to be impossible.
Even the most strongly pacitist ele-
g., Il A. nNwwy lr1 Nw,A sd he
demand for the evacuation of France
and Belgium" 1t says, 'aS a condition
precedent to negotiation, and Prince
Macmillan knows that in asking for
man armies are in France and Belgium
he, is asking for an imposibility.
Negotiating under such circum-
stances would be an admission of Ger
many's superiority and concede the loss
of the war by the nations who are aim
ing to break German militariSm- For
this reason we cannot believe the peace
offer to be seriously meant"
The newspaper repudiates the idea of
trying to reach an, understanding as
to indemnity for Belgium 1t says:
at is a requirement of simple justice
that Germany meet the account which
will be presented her for the devaSta-
ton and plundering of Belgium. There
are no fundamental changes in the Ger
man administration. Only a few men
have shifted, and the kaiser and those
who rule him are still the real rulers
of Germany"
Admitting that the latest German
peace move is the most important of
any thus far made and confident that
the allies will give the closest atten-
ton to it, the Chronicle says they will
find it insufficient.
mo statesman who believes in the
policy Of trying to end war
once and for all can be content with
anything less than the final and I'M
equivocal elimination of the Potsdam
war makers" it continues. There must
Ee restitution. reparation and guaran-
tees Ind the criminals who launched the
war must be so Enthusiastically beaten
that never afterward doubt may be
raised as to wEo won it and who lost
It. The chancellor's promise that an eff
regarding an indemnity to Bel
GUM is not enough for our purpose. 1t
is indispensable that in Belgium's casa
70 equivocation should remain. Germany
must say outright: L did wrong and 1
undertake as far as possible to pay for
It. Prince Maximilians standpoint
seems essentially different from what Is
vital to us. Germany has undergone
neither change of outlook nor change of
heart which alone can permit world
peace to be permanent '..
Perhaps the most welcome feature
Of Gerrnany's hastily arranged move
is that it can only be a measure of her
necessity" says the Times.
After reviewing the chancellorS
speech. the Times declares it to be
"ambi guons and disingenuous stuff. -
and asks: "Will Germany ever realize
there is only one way for her, namely,
by deeds and not words? 1t is far too
late to talk ofaa basis for peace nego-
tiations. The determination of the al
lied peoples is that the defeat of those
who made war shall be complete and
absolute. That task they have under
taken and it shall be performed to the
very end, and there will be no peace
until Germany has surrendered without
conditions to terms which leave her not
without a will, but without
power to break it,"