The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-03-17
DEFECTS BAR TO
LEAGUE ENTRY
Never Planned to Have Cove
nant in Preliminaries,
Says Pichon.
MODIFICATION NEEDED
Principles May Be Incorpor-
ated, but He Thinks Such
Action Useless.
BY Std6 Correspondent Of THE SUN.
Copyri0hf 1919. dY yi1kfs ,sSer,,d

Copyr'ohf, 1919: az rights rsSerred.
PARIS, March 16.--Stephen Pichon,
the French Minister of Foreign A.
fairs. made it very clear to day in his
regular weekly statement to the for
eisn journalists that there is to be
another peace treaty, to be known as
the final treaty. and that the document
that is to be signed soon, possibly
within ten days, Is preliminary
treaty with Germany bringing the
state Of war TO an end, and not the
final document, as has been stated re-
Gently in American conference circles.
The Foreign Minister denied that 1t
was the intention Of the Peace Confer
ence TO include the league covenant in
the preliminary treaty, which seems
to establish definitely the position Of
the French Government in this mat
ter. The perplexity OF the situation
still remains, however in the light O..
the Presidents published declaration
on the subject, which NJ. Pichon said
was not made officially and therefore
he could not permit himself TO dis
cuss it.
Notifications Necessary.
Contrary to the accepted ideas here.
he added that there never was a ques-
ton of including the covenant in the
preliminaries Of peace !; besides the prof.
ect was as yet mere scheme and un-
finished: the neutral nations had not yet
been called in and many notifications
were necessary. which would take a
long time. As speed was of the FIRST
importance he could not see how 1t would
be possible to include the league in the
preliminaries.
II was not altogether impossible, he
thought that the principles of the league
might be Incorporated In the prelimi-
raries. but since every body, even the
Germans. sccms to be in accord on the
principles even this action appeared un-
necessary.
Replying to a question whether the
Allies considered the privileges extended
TO the German representatives in Brus-
sels permitting Germany to export and
import certain articles was a virtual
lifting OF the blockade. VI. Pichon re-
piled that no such step was contemplated
by the Allies.
Inc rlHnts SN en- 10 beTTlanN' ne as
serted, to resume trade relations with
certain neutral and allied countries do
not save Germany from falling a victim
to famine. He maintained that the
blockade still was in full force and
would not be removed until after the
preliminary peace treaty had been
signed.
Disposal Of shipping.
AS 10 the ultimate disposition OF the
German shipping that Is to be handed
over to the Allies, Minister Pichon said
the vessels were merely. at the disposal
Of the interallIed economic commission,
but are not the property OF any country
There will be no resumption OF diplo-
matte relations with Germany after the
signing OF the preliminary treaty. said
NJ. Pichon. Germany must wait until
after the final negotiations for this priv
i,ege. There will be nothing. however
to prevent her from resumins her for
mer exterior relations eventually.
The war will continue II the Ger
mans refuse to sign the preliminary
treaty" said NJ. Pichon TO a corre-
spondent who asked what would happen
IL Germany refused to accept the terms
~ Allies