The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-03-05
FOCH AND ERzBERGER
AS VERBAL OUEl|ST
First INSIDE Story of Trevcs Nego-
s5}ssssr AStiak''k yrsss., ~, ss5. z.
.,--y mistce Comes to Light.
HEADED BARGAISERS
Marshal And Matthias However. De-
ciared Away Diguified and Courte-
! ous--KocluiscI,e Zeitung's Revcia-
| tions.

Berlin. March marshal Foch and
DR.. Matthias ErIberger are revealed
as two brilliant verbal duelists. two
hard headed. yet always dignificd and
courteous barsalners, In the first ''in~
side" story of the Treves negotiations
for a. renewal of the armistices. pub
ltShed by the koelnische Zeitung
The article, which quotes the nego-
tiators directly shows that in many
a minor point Marshal Foch gener-
ously yielded to the persistent Ger.
man pleas, while not budging one inch
on the essential points. 1t shows the
German commissioners hedging, evad-
ing, pleading. and holding out, at
every turn. AT one time IL shows
Erzberger protesting against the
word order" on the ground that 1t
was against the German national
honor" to be ordered" to do any
thing. Foch's answer 10 this protest
Is one of the particularly interesting
bits of the historic repartee.
At the very outset OF the session,
which took place on tho day before
/ the renewal in January, Erzberger,
chairman Of the German commission,
sought to create a favorite psycholo-
gical setting by delivering the fol-
ipWluE IltLie speech.
An measures had been taken to
! insure the quickest possible reply
from the German government TO our
report But telegraphic communica-
ton with Berlin was partly disturbed
yesterday, 70 that the transmission of
my messages was delayed
"Eesides. the government in Bcr-
/ lin was confronted with the task of
making decisions of great domestic
political Importance.
The leader OF the Spartacus group.
| Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxem-
bourg, the commuuistic theoretician
land agitator, have been killed in Ber-
lin"
| Made Deep Impression.
! This news made "Nisihly deep inn
preston on all the allied officials
/ the koelnischo Zeitung's account as
serts but Marshal Foch was prompt
in getting down 10 business. Said he.
We ru> ush quickly. The ar
misticc .omorrow morning. /
must Civ tders TO the troops in
good time
Then began discussion of article
! g. providing for nishing by the
Germans of agricultural implements
las substitute for rolling stock not
promptly surrendered under previous
claus
Erzbereer: The article IL unsccep-
table. What you demand is simply
|, impossible Even the attempt would
destroy German agriculture wreck the
new harvest and sacrifices our people
to death by starvation"
FochT-"Quite as 1t with us. but
France has stolen no machines. AZ
ter all we only demand the return
of what you have taken from us"
A. Al a -
theft of the machines. He spoke
throughout of destroyed machinery
But cannot and shall not sign i'm
possible demands" said he. Ho pleaded
for time to submit facts and figures
and refused to have a definite date
set.
Foch: But without figures and
data we cannot get along Deliver
half of the machines at once and the
rest later"
Erxberxer That Ia Impossible
too"
! .. Foch: Deliver. At leas, one third
of the total at once"
Ffsbsrger That la impossible also
Nor would it he practicable for
France. Until March !. you win need
no harvesting and moving machines
but you will need ploughs and such
Hike. We arc here, are we not, TO do
practical work 2"
Foch Acquicesce~.
Toch: quite right Let US say
then. One-third of the total at once
aud then a possible exchange in the
delivery OF individual kinds of ma
Ichinery."
General Won winterfield: THE
machinery TO be delivered by US must
be now or at least In excellent CON
EDITION. This riqurss far reaching
consideration of the labor question.
Foch: Very well, then. let us say.
In principle not absolute delivery
OF onc-third by March T..
After consideration further quib-
bling. an agreement IL reached. Ar
ticle Four is then taken UP dealing
with tho control Of Russian prisoners
OF war in Germany. ~.s =
| Erxberger: 1T is against national
honor that the system OF repatriation
should be ordered by the allies.
Here form, must be found which ex-
presses the mutual understanding. At
/ least, the word regulated must be
substituted for ordered"
! Foch: we are still at war. and In
war there is no such thing as mutual
understanding. However, the seat of
the commission proposed Will he In
Berlin. There are. therefore, to be
luTGCl NEGOTIATIONS WIFI tue EoNeEH-
/ rnent in Berlin. So we shall say 'regu-
lated instead OF ordered.
At this iunctare Erzherser made
new play for allied sympathy by en-
phasizing there was a common foe
Bolshevisn. He said: Agreed. The
object OF this clause is common TO all
of us. and. In. fact, 10 the whole world.
namely: The combating OF Boil
sheyisn.
However, the whole stipulations
regarding Russian prisoners are bear
inc for Germany only IL at last the
tate OF German prisoners is to be
determined on. ! cannot return TO
Berlin without a declaration on this
subject"
| Foch; y am prepared to speak
about this later"
| Here ends the Goelnische Zeitung's
account.
, LAUNCHING OF SHIP
FOLLOWED BY A DEATH
: