The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1919-05-16
GERMANY Rejects
THE PEACE TREATY
Say Acceptance Would
Make People a Nation
OF Slaves.

Paris. May 13-The heads of the
the parties of the center have in
formed Chancellor Schiedemann that
their parties will withdraw their rep
resentativcs from the Government in
case the Cabinet decides to sign the
peace treaty, according to a dispatch
from Berlin received here by way of
Basic.
The Socialist Vorwaerts. in COM
menting on this action. says 1t is the
first step toward a Cabinet crisis.
Berlin. Monday, May 12-The de-
claration by Chancellor Scheidemann
in the National Assembly to-day that
the peace terms were unacceptable"
brought the members of the Assembly
and those in the press gallery to their
feet in a hurricane of cheers and APP
plause.
The Chancellor reached the climax
of his statement on the peace terms
ten minutes after he began. The
Chancellor paused in his address and
then Numbered out the word which
announced the German Government
rejection of the Versailles conditions.
With the exception of the indie
pendent Socialists. led by Hugo
Haase. all factions of the assembly
arose and cheered vociferously. The
assembly Is sitting temporarily in the
assembly hall of the University of
Berlin. on Inter den Linden.
After the Chancellor's speech, the
leaders of the various parties, with
fhe exception of the Haase group.
made speeches in which they declar-
ed they backed up the government.
The Chancellor described the peace
treaty as "a dreadful and murderous
document" He said It would make
an enormous Jail of Germany in
which 0.O00, 900 persons would have
TO labor for the victors in the war.
The Chancellor said German trade
would be strangled should the peace
terms be accepted.
He criticised President Wilson and
said that the President by his atti-
tude had deceived the hopes of the
German people.
Turning Point for Nation.
Chancellor Scheidemann said that
the occasion was the turning point
i'm the life of the German people.
as the Assembly was to decide the at
stitude toward what our adversaries
call peace conditions"
THE representatives of the nation,
he continued, meet here as the last
band of the faithful assemblies when
the fatherland is in the greatest dan
ger. All have appeared except the
representatives of Alsace-Lorraine
who have been deprived of the right
to be represented here just as you
are to be deprived of the right to
exercise in free vote the right of
characterization.
And | see among you the repre-
sentatives of all the German races
and lands, the chosen representatives
of the Rbineland. the Sarre. East
Prussia, West Prussia, Posen, Silesia,
Danzig and Memel. Together with
the deputies of the unmenaced re-
gions, | see the deputies of the men
aced provinces, who IL the will OF our
enemies becomes law, are to meet for
the last time as Germans amongst
Germans.
81 know | am one in heart with
YOU in the gravity and sanctity OF
this hour which should be ruled by
only one idea-that we belong to one
another and must stand by one an
other, and that we are one flesh and
one blood and that whoever tries to
sever us is driving a murderous
knife into the living body of the Ger
man people.
"To keep out nation aliye-that
and nothing else-is our duty We
are pursuing no nationalistic dreams.
No questions of prestige and no
thirst for power have part in our
deliberations. Bare life is what we
must have for our land and nation
to-day while everyone feels throt-
Ting hand at his throat
LET me speak without tactical
considerations The thing which Is
at the basis of our discussion Is this
thick volume in which 100 sentences
begin Germany renounces. This
dreadful and murderous volume by
which confession our own unworthl-
ness, our consent to pitiless disrup-
ton. our agreement to helotry and
slavery, are to be extorted-thA book