New-York tribune., 1919-05-31
Beyond Strength Of Ger
man People, but We Will
Disarm if Given Place in
League Teutons Reply
Want Economic Equality
Reciprocity With All Ma
tions Demanded; Won't
Sign, Asserts ''Tageblatt"

BERLIN, May 80 (By The Associated
Press) ).-The German delegation, in its
covering note" to the peace confer
snce, has informed the Allied and asso-
,iated powers that 1t is impossible for
Germany to carry out the peace terms
rhe note said:
I'VE came to Versailles expecting
to receive peace proposal framed
according to the agreed basis. We
had firm resolve to do everything
in our power to fulfil the heavy OBJ
legations assumed by US. We hoped
for the peace Of right, which had been
promised us. We were shocked when
we read in that document the de-
mands which the victorious might of
our opponents had set forth. The
more we studied the spirit of the
treaty the more we were convinced
of the impossibility of carrying it
out. The demands in this treaty go
beyond the strength of the German
people.
demands Plebiscite
"In accordance with President Will
sons fourteen points, no territory
ought to- be severed from Germany
without plebiscite Of all male and
female subjects over twenty years of
age, voting secretly, and no plebis-
cite taken until all troops are re-
moved from the disputed territory,
which should be placed under the
authority of neutral subjects"
The note declares that people must
not be transferred from one sovereign
ty to another for the sake of timber
and zinc, and offers to supply Belgium
with timber, instead OF giving up ter
ritory. 1t also repeats the offer previ-
ously made regarding the Saar Valley
and points out that the French mines
will be completely restored in ten
years, while the transference of the
mines as the Entente proposes will
give a hundred times the French pro.
duction.
Willing to Disarm
Germany is willing to agree to the
stipulations regarding hel
aerial and naval forces, con
tanned in the draft of the peace treaty
provided that she is permitted to entel
the. league of nations on an equal foot
ing Immediately upon the signing O
peace and particularly that she be per
mitted to share in the complete equal
ity and reciprocity of all nations in th
economic domain.
This declaration is contained n tn
randum embodying the counter pro
posals to the peace terms. At the sam
time, it is declared, the German dele
cation holds to it's idea of the super
ority Of it's own draft of proposals fo
league Of nations.
While the German government, ii
agreeing to accept the stipulations re
ferred to, is thus ready TO disarm be
fore the other powers, the memorandum
adds, the government must on tn
other hand demand a transit:ona
period, during which it may keep tn
troops necessary for the maintenance
of internal order.
OdyS UCIMouy w OH CISu
The belief that Germany will sig
anyhow" despite the expressions c
her leaders, is based wholly on falls
Interpretation of the facts, the "Tagt
blatt' says in discussing the peae
situation.
"In the same measure as the Germa
people no longer desire to surroun
themselves with illusions" the pape
says, at is urgently desirable that tn
Allied countries also be robbed of the
illusions. They must be told repeated
that the German government and til
German peace delegation are one
the determination not to sign the A
lied terms in their present form"
The "Tageblatt" expresses the hor
that the Allied leaders in Paris wi
gauge the situation more correctly the
the utterances of the Allied pre-:
would indicate. Any inclination
disregard the German counter or,
posals, failure to take them serious
or refusal to negotiate it says, wou
be founded on the inability of the A
lies to realize the actual conditions.
Demands Fourteen Point Peace
"The theme of President Wilson
very ticklish one," was a statemel
made by Count Won Brockdorff- Ran
Eau, chief of the German peace del
cation, at Versailles, according to tt
correspondent of the "Deutscl
zeitung," "for Mr.. Wilson is tt
father of our surrender of arms. tt
German people counted on him, al
has voluntarily made itself defencele
on his fourteen points. Our counte
proposals we're based on them"
The correspondent represents tt
count as critical, If not unfriendl
toward America. He quotes him
saying that if "the present terms a
enforced, the conclusion must be draw
that all declarations during the WI
especially those of President Wilso
were nothing less than military ru
which deceived the German people a
government" II,