New Britain herald., 1919-05-23
HUNS FACE INDUSTRIAL RUIN AND STARVATION, VON BROCKDORFF-RAN NTZAU TELLS ALLIES AS H
 MAKES PLEA FOR MODIFIC CATION OF PEACE PA
Council of Four, in Lengthy Reply, Scores Diplomatic Victory by Ripping His Argu] ments to Shreds With Statement of Facts

sentatives Score Repeatedly and
 Bring Out Facts Showing Term
 of Treaty, in Many Instances, Dc
 Not Change Pre-War Conditions O
 Trade or Home Economies.
 Paris, May 23.-The note from & Count von Brockdorff- Rantzau, head& of the German peace delegation a W Versailles regarding the economid effect of the peace treaty dated a Versailles, May 13, was made public& today. It reads: M
 MT. President: In conformityl with my communication of the 9th# instant, I have the honor to presend to your excellency the report of theM economic commission charged withM the study of the effect of the condi- & tions of peace on the situation of theN German population. r
 Germany Is Industrial State. "In the course of the last two gem erations, Germany has become trans E formed from an agricultural state toH r an industrial state. As long as she was an agricultural state Germany could feed 40, ,00O, 900 inhabitants. Tn her quality of an industrial state, she could ensure the nourishment of E 67,000,000. In 1913, the importation of foodstuffs amounted, in round fig- ures, to 12,000,000 tons. Before the war, a total of 15,0O0,000 of persons provided for their existence in Ger many by foreign trade and by navi- gation, either in a direct or an in direct manner, by the use of foreign raw material.
 Will Lose All Tonnage
 According to the conditions of the treaty of peace, Germany will sur render her merchant tonnage and ships in course of construction suit able for overseas trade. German ship building yards will build for five years, in the first instance, tonnage destined for the allied and associated govern ments. Germany will moreover re- nounce her colonies, all her overseas possessions, all her interests and se- curities in the allied and associated countries and in their colonies do- minions and protectorates; will, as an installment of the payment for part of the reparation, be subject to li- F quidation, and may be exposed to any other economic war measure which the allied and associated powers think fit to maintain or to take during the years of peace.
 Agricultural Regions Gone.
 By the putting into force of the territorial clauses of the treaty of peace, Germany would lose, to the East, the most important regions for production of corn and potatoes, which would be equivalent to the loss of 21 per cent. of the total crop of those articles of food. Moreover, the intensity of our agricultural produc- ton would diminish considerably. On the one hand, the lack of importation of certain raw material indispensable to the production of manufactures. such as phosphates, would hinder this industry, which also would suffer like all other industries from lack of coal. The treaty of peace provides for the loss of almost a third of the produc- tion of our coal mines. Apart from this decrease, we are forced, for ten years, to deliver enormous consign- ments of coal to various allied coun- tries. Moreover, in conformity with the treaty, Germany will concede to her neighbors nearly three-quarters of her mineral production and more than three-ffths of her zinc produc- ton.
 Nation Would Be Ruined.
 After this diminution of her prod ucts, after the economic depression caused by the loss of her colonies, of her merchant fleet, and her posses sions abroad, Germany would not be in a state to import from abroad sufficient quantity of raw materlal. A great part of German industry would, therefore, inevitably be condemned to destruction"
 At the same time, the necessity of importing foodstuffs would in crease considerably, while the possi- bility of satisfying that demand would diminish in the same proportion.
 Starvation Looms Up.
 At the end of a very short time Germany would therefore, not be in a position to give bread and work to her mum erous millions of inha bitants who would be reduced to earning their livelihood by navigation and by trade. Those persons would have to emigrate but that is a material inn possibility, all the more because many countries and the most impor- tant ones will oppose any German im- migration. Moreover hundreds of millions CD of Germans expelled from the territories of the powers now at war with Germany, from the