The theocrat. [volume] (Zion City [i.e. Zion], Ill.) 1914-1949, 1919-04-19
HUGE INDEMNITY TO BE DEMAN-
DED OF GERMANY

There are probably but few people in the
United States who have not thrown down
their newspapers in disgust occasionally
within the past month while seeking vainly
to acquire a definite idea of the course of
events at the peace conference in Paris
One editorial writer speaks of the cabled
reports as a mass of violent contradc-
tons" another refers to them as having
the permanence and substance of dew-drops
IN july" still another refers to ''the re-
markable twists and contradictions of the
Official peace conference news"
The fact of the matter is that very little
information has been given out officially,
and the foreign newspaper correspondents
stationed at Paris have been making des-
perate efforts to get something through to
their papers and let the managing editors
know that they were still on the lob. How
ever, out of all the mass of material appear
ing under front page headlines, purporting
to keep the public posted on the various
stages of the peace conference, a few state
ments appear now and then which seem to
have material weight.
On April IA, President Wilson issued the
following statement:
In view of the fact that the questions
which must be settled in the peace with
Germany have been brought so near to COM
plete solution that they can now quickly be
put through the final process of drafting
those who have been most constantly in
conference about them have decided to ad-
wise that the German plenipotentiaries be
invited to meet the representatives of the
associated belligerent nations at Versailles
on April rs.
Ibis does not mean that the many other
questions connected with the general peace
settlement will be interrupted or that their
consideration, which has long been under
way, will be retarded.
"On the contrary, it is expected that rapid
progress will now be made with those ques-
tons, so that they may also presently be
expected to be ready for final settlement
1T is hoped that the questions most di-
rectly affecting Italy, especially the Adriatic
questions, can now be brought to speedy
agreement
THE Adriatic question will be given for
the time precedence over other questions and
pressed by continual study to its final stage
The settlements that belong especially
to the treaty with Germany will in this way
be got out of the way at the same time that
all other settlements are being brought to
a complete formulation
1T is realized that though the process
must be followed, all the questions of the
present great settlement are parts of "a
single whole"
The next question which arises is this:
Will Germany meekly accept the allied peace
terms, or will the plenipotentiaries refuse to
sign the document laid before them? If
they balk, what will be the next step? Will
Germany throw up the sponge, like Hun
gary, and follow her example by Joining
her fortunes with the Russian soviet govern
ment?
We have been told repeatedly, within the
past three weeks, that President Wilson
was contending for terms which Germany
could meet and was using all his influence
against trying to force something upon the
defeated foe which was beyond all bounds
of practicability.
William Philip Simms tells us that Prem
Ter Clemenceau, on the other hand, undaun-
ted by charges of imperialism, has continued
to fight for what the French regard as
adequate reparation from Germany He
has backed up his arguments by the most
startling figures, indicating that Frances
national debt is more than $40,O00,000000
1t is shown that it is not only necessary for
the French government to meet expenses,
but to pay off this national debt
Professor Henry Truchy, the famous
French economist, asks: "Is it fair to force
future generations of French to pay the
debts of a war begun by the Germans, when
the Germans themselves are exempted"
Premier Lloyd George, the other day, was
represented as yielding, in a measure, to
President Wilson's views on the amount of
indemnity to be demanded This immedi-
ately stirred up furore in Parliament. A
telegram, signed sby $40 members of the
House of Commons = much more than a
majority = Immediately was sent to him,
Z demanding that he make out bill against
Germany for the full cost of the war and
compel the German government to acknowl-
edge it, and not until then discuss ways and
means for its payment. The premier, who
prominently is fighter, immediately found
1t necessary to return to London.
Henry M. Hyde, in a wireless dispatch
to the Chicago Tribune, the other day, said
that the English people cannot reconcile
themselves to the fact that, after they and
the other European nations have sacrificed
SO much more in blood and treasure, Presi-
dent Wilson should insist upon plavinp what