Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-06-17

meath the reign OF law, even IL there Is
90 be early reconciliation and appease
ment, it will be because those respon
sible for concluding the war have had
the courage to see that justice is uot
detected fof the sake Of a convenient
peace.
| ut is said that the German revolu
tion ought to make difference, and
that the German people are not respon a
sible for the policy of the rulers whom
they have thrown from power, The
Allied and associated powers recognize
and welcome the change. 1t represents
a great hope for peace and new Eu =
ropean order in the future.
People Supported War
"But it cannot affect the settlement
of the war itself. The German revo =
luton was stayed until the German
armies had been defeated in the field
and all hope Of profting by a war
of conquest had vanished. Throughout
the war. as before the war, the German
people and their representatives sup
ported the war, voted credits, subscribe {
to the war loans, obeyed every order
however savage, of their government.
They shared the responsibility for the
policy of the government. for at any
memcnt, had they willed it, they could
have reversed It. Had that policy sue =
ceedcd they would have acclaimed it
With the same enthusiasm with which
they welcomed the outbreak of the war.
They cannot now pretend, having
changed their rulers after the war was
lost. that it is justice that they should
escape the consequences Of their deeds.
The Allied and associated powers
therefore believe that the peace they
have proposed is fundamentally a peace
Of justice. They are no less certain
that it is peace of right on the terms
agreed. There can be no doubt as to
the intentions Of the Allied and as
sociated powers to base the settlement
of Europe on the principle of freeing
oppressed peoples and redrawing ma
tional boundaries as far as possible, in
accordance with the will of the peoples
concerned, while giving to each the fa :
cilities to live an independent national
and economic life.
"These intentions were made clear
not only in President Wilson's ad-
dress to Congress OF January s. 1918,
but in the principles of settlement
enunciated in his subsequent addresses,
which was the agreed basis of the
peace. A memorandum on this point
is attached to this letter.
"Accordingly the Allied and asso =
ciated powers have provided for the re
constitution of Poland as an independ- :
ent state. with free and secure access
to the sea. All territories inhabited by
indubitably Polish populations have
been accorded to Poland. All terrific
ries inhabited by German majorities,
save for few isolated towns and for
0n1noioC h1,shol lonl lv
forcibly appropriated and situated in
the midst of indubitably Polish terri
tory have been left to Germany.
Wherever the will of the people is in
doubt plebiscitc has hepn provided for.
Danzig Free City
"Danzig has been constituted as a
free city. so that the inhabitants will
be autonomous, and 60 not come under
Polish rule or form any part of the
Polish state. Poland has been given
certain economic rights in Danzig. and
the city itself has been severed from
Germany, because in no other way was
it possible to provide for that free and
secure access to the sea which Ger
many has promised to concede.
THE German counter proposals en-
tireiy conflict with the agreed basis of
peace. They provide that great ma
iorities of indisputably Polish popula
ton shall be kept under German rule.
They deny secure access to the sea to
nation of over 20,000.0 900 people.
whose nationals are in majority all
the way to the coast. in order to main
tain territorial connection between Fast
and West Prussia. and whose trade has
always been mainly seaborne.
''Thpv cannot therefore he accented
by the Allied and associated powers.
At the same time. in certain cases. the
German note has established a case
for reCtification which will be made.
and in view of the contention that upper
Slesia. though inhabited by two to-
one majority of Poles Il $50, ,006 to
$50 900. German census of 1910,
wishes to remain part of Germany.
they are willing that the question of
Germany or of Poland should bo de-
termined by the vote of the inhabitants
themselves.
Saar Basin Proposal
In regard to the Saar Basin. the
regime proposed by the Allied and As
sOciated powers is to continue for fif-
teen years. This arrangement they
considered necessary. both to the gen
eral scheme for reparation and in order
that France may have immediate and
certain compensation for the wanton de
struction of her northern coal mines.
The district has been transferred not
to French sovereignty. but to the con
troll of the league Of nations. This
method has the double advantage that
involved no annexation. while it gives
possession of the coal field to France and
maintains the economic unity of the
district. so important to the interest
of the inhabitants.
'At the end of fifteen years the
mixed population, which in the mean
time will have had control of its own