The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-03-29

many is exactly what happened in the
case Of Russia. We could not make
up our minds as to Russia. We could
not decide who were our friends in
Russia. We could not satisfy our
selves what to do and in the end
Russia disappeared in chaos The dis
ease which is attacking Germany may
or may not be the same as the Rus
sian disease. Not improbably Bolshe
vism in part at least is a sheer Slav
phenomenon, but it is no less sure
that the German disease is following a
course revealing exactly the same
symptoms in something like the same
time.
have said an this with reference
to the German domestic condition be
cause ] am anxious that my American
readers should understand how great
ly Germany has changed between the
nth of November and the 18th Of
March. We have now in fact to specu-
late as to whether there is any author
ity capable of signing the name of
Germany to the Peace of Versailles.
We have to calculate as. to whether
the German representatives If not in
the case of the preliminaries of peace
which will be signed in Paris at least
in the case of the definitive text will
not simply declare their inability to
sign such a document and invite the
Allies to occupy Germany and enfore
their terms if they choose, hoping, as
| have said before, that while dis
order grows in Allies countries as a
result of the necessity of new military
effort and Allied troops are corrupted
by German propaganda their presence
will protect German factories and
towns from the violence of a revolt
ton.
The simple truth is that Germany
remains today as great mystery as
in 1916 of 1916. 1t remains as great
a peril not in military sense, but
in an economic sense in moral sense.
Russia is in chaos. If to 10000 coo
Russians there are added 100000
Germans If we have a quarter of bill
lion people in Europe given over to
the production of anarchy, will not the
peril of contagion be as great as was
the old danger of invasion? And if
even now we intervene to save what
is left of order in Germany and we
do save Germany how shall 40,000,000
OF Frenchmen in the future defend
themselves against 100000 of Ger
mans when Germany has regained her
health and absorbed the Austrian
Germans?
Having said all this I desire now
to pass to the simple and practical
question of the changes in Germany's
political frontiers which are envisaged
in the first draft of the preliminary
peace terms. Germany is to lose out
right Alsace-Lorraine, with an area
which together with that of the Saar
coal district slightly exceeds 5000
square miles and an ante-war popula-
ton OF 2.25O,OOO She is to lose the
Danish speaking portion of Schleswig
with upwards of 1000 square miles
and approximately 100000 people, al
though the question of the extent of
the area and of the number Of peo-
pie taken will depend upon the vote
of the inhabitants and some of the
southern districts including the city
of Flensburg may choose to remain
German. She is to lose her province
of Posen practically entire, with an
area OF II 900 square miles and pop
ulation of 100000 together with a
strip of Upper Silesia which will con-
tain several thousand square miles
and 100000 people.
In sum Germany will lose thus out
right between 10000 and $4,000 square
miles approximately 10 per cent. of
her old area with something like s.
100000 of people or about per cent.
Of her ante war population. This last
will possibly, but not surely, be off
set by the gain incident to the union
of the German speaking districts of
Austria with the German Empire
These include the old divisions of
Lower Austria, Upper Austria, Salz-
burg. Styria, Carinthia, at least half
of the ,'yrol and the Vorarlberg with