New-York tribune., 1919-05-26
the circuitous way Of the peace nego-
tiations, the German government is not
of mind to object to this.
Resist Loss of Saar Basin

Ol nina 10 OBJECT TO tnlS.
Resist Loss OF Saar Basin
"But this willingness Of the German
government does not extend to those
territories OF the empire which are not
undoubtedly inhabited by population
of foreign extraction. Above it all, it
deems it to be inadmissable that by the
treaty of peace German populations
and territories should be bartered about
from sovereignty to sovereignty as if
they were mere cha,rels and pawns in
game for the purpose Of giving guar
antee for financial or economic claims
Of the adversaries Of Germany.
"This especially holds good Of the
Saar basin. Nobody denies that an I'M
alloyed German population is living
here. In spite of this the draft of the
treaty of peace provides for a transfer
of sovereignty over this partly Prus-
sian, partly Bavarian territory to
France, which needs must lead up to a
complete coalescence with regard to
the management of customs, the coin
age, administration, legislation and
jurisdiction, or which, at the very least,
will in all these respects put an utter
end to the contact Of the Saar district
thorities Of the occupying powers can
not be ignorant Of the fact that the
whole population is resisting with the
utmost determination such a severing
from the old home country. The few
persons pretending to think otherwise,
because they either fawn upon the
existing power or hope to secure for
themselves illicit gains, do not count.
Return Made Dependent
'It would be all to no purpose to OBJ
ject that the occupation is only meant
to last for fifteen years, and that on
the expiration of this day a plebiscite
Is to decide on the future nationality,
for the return Of the territory to Ger
many has been made dependent on the
German government then being able
to bny within short delay all tho coal
mines of thu territory from the French
government against (word obscure) in
gold, and If payment cannot no af-
fected the country is finally to pass
over to France, even though the popu-
latlon should unanimously have voted
for Germany Considering the finan-
Clal and economic conditions of the
treaty, 1t appears TO be impossible that
Germany would within fifteen years
have the requisite quantity Of gold at
her disposal; moreover, even should
the gold be in the possession of Ger
many, the Inte1allied Reparation Com
mission, which then would still be
reigning over Germany, would hardly
permit such use of the gold TO be
made In the history of modern times
there will probably exist no instance
whatever that one civilized power has
obliged another TO surrender its na-
tinnal (word obscure) to foreign sway
as En- equivalent for a sum Of gold.
Admit Compensation Due
AIn the public opinion Of the hostile
countries the cession Of the Saar Basin
is represented as being just compen-
satlon for the devastation of mines in
Northern France The German dele
cation acknowledge that France must
be compensated for these damages.
They also admit that compensate in
money alone would not meet the pres
ent impaired economic position of
France. The claim to compensation in
kind being thus acknowledged as iusti-
fieds such compensation In kind should
an dean be effected In another way
than by submitting a territory to a
foreign rule which, notwithstanding