The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-05-24
CHINESE DELEGATES WILL SIGN TREATY,
 WASHINGTON LEARNS
Continued From Page one)

ensure the nourishment of a popula 1 tion of 67,oO0 000 In 1913 the importa tion of foodstuffs amounted in round figures to 100000 tons. Before the
 war a total of 15.0oo,o00 of persons provided for their existence in Ger i ton, either in a direct or in an ind-
 rect manner by the use of foreign raw ma terials.
 According to the conditions of the peace treaty. Germany will surrender her merchant tonnage and ships in course of construction, suitable for overseas trade. German shipbuilding yards will build for five years in the ] first instance tonnage destined for the allied and associated governments Germany will, moreover, renounce her colonies, all her overseas possessions, all her interests and securities in the allied and associated countries, and ,J | their colonies, dominions and protec- torates, will as an installment of the payment for part of the reparation De subject to liquidation and may be ex' l posed to any other economic war meas ure which the allied and associated | powers think fit to maintain, or to 1 take during the years of peace
 LOSE IMPORTANT REGIONS By the putting into force of the 1 territorial clauses of the treaty of peace Germany would lose to the east | the important regions for the produc- tion of corn and potatoes, which would | be equivalent to the loss of 21 per cent | of the total crop of those articles of I food. Moreover, the intensity of our agricultural production would dimin- l ish considerably. On the one hand the 1 importation of certain raw material in- dispensable for the production of ma | nure, such as phosphates, would be ikindered; on the other hand this in dustry would suffer likewise with all l other industries from lack oe coal The | treaty of peace provides for the loss
 of almost third of the production of our coal mines. Apart from this de- crease we are forced for 10 years to deliver enorm ous consignments of coal
 to various allied countries.
 Wherever, in conformity with the treaty, Germany will concede to her neighbors nearly three-quarters of her
 mineral production and more than | three- 1fths of her zinc product.
 After this diminution of her prod
 ucts, after the economic depression caused by the loss of her colonies, of l her merchant fleet and of her posses sons abroad, Germany would not be l in a state to import from abroad suf-
 fcient quantity of raw materials An
 enormous part of German industry
 would, therefore, inevitably be com
 demned to destruction. At the same l time the necessity of importing food
 stuffs. would increase considerably
 whilst the possibility of satisfying that
 demand would diminish in the same proportion.
 WOULD HAVE TO EMIGRATE i At the end of very short time Ger
 many would, therefore not be in a po-
 sition to give bread and work to her numerous millions of inhabitants who
 would be reduced to earning their live | lihood by navigation and by trade 1 Those persons would have to emigrate, l but that is a material impossibility, all i the more so because many countries and the most important ones will op- pose any German immigration. More over hundreds of millions of Germans 1 expelled from the territories of the | powers now atwar with Germany, from l the colonies and territories which Ger
 many must surrender. will return to | their native land.
 1 The putting into execution of the conditions of peace would therefore, ! logically bring about the loss of sew 1 eral millions of persons in Germany. 1 This catastrophe would not be long in | coming about, seeing that the health of 1 the. population has been broken down during the war by the blockade and during the armistice by the aggrava- tion of the blockade of famine. No help. however important, spread over, however long a period in its distribu-
 ton. would prevent these deaths en
 masse. Peace would impose on Ger many numberless human sacrifices that this war of four years and half did not demand of her pride-750, 900 killed. nearly 100000 dead. victims of the blockade. s~
 MEANS DEATH SENTENCE we do not know and indeed we doubt whether the delegates of the ai- lied and associated powers realize the in xri "a I,1 Ia WI Wi