The daily banner., 1919-05-16
LIE IF WE SIGN,
EBERT ASSERTS
GeTnan President Calls Treaty
Terms UnIeC0nCiiable.
REPROtCSEs Mr. WILSON
Germany is Not Ready to Make Final
Decision on the Treaty, He indi-
Gates.

Berlin, May 16.-Friedrich Ebert,
the German president, in statement
made in the Vorwearts, has reiterated
his opposition to the peace terms sub
mitted by the entente.
He calls them unrecOncilaDle WIN
conscience and reason and insists the!
must be drastically and fundamentally
corrected Practical negotiations were
necessary, he declared, and these
would quickly result in the attainment
of a worthy peace, if return We're
made to the fourteen points.
"As long as our remnant of hope re-
mains that reason viii triumph, con-
tinued Herr Ebert, eve will not speak
our last word, but should it prove this
mailed-fist peace is to be imposed
upon us, we shall have 70 take our de-
cisiOns.
..Taday I still hope the attempt VIII
not be made. to extort from the Ger
man nation an assent which would be
nothing but lie born of desperation.
s. s'We must Keep faith with our coun-
trymen who are threatened with sep
aratiOn by foreign violence, and be
ready to carry 'out the hardest re-
solve"
In statement given on Sunday
Herr Ebert says:
"The German people have demolisb
ed the rule of autocracy and political
mendacity at home, but it has not un-
dertaken this job in order to enable
this same antiquated system elsewhere
TO dictate the future of the world in a
grossly. exaggeratedNform.
Germany laid down her arms and
armament six months ago. Therefore,
she is now all the more effectively ar
mored morally when she faces world
of foes in defense OF those arms. She
has seized and unfnrled a new banner
on which is inscribed President Will
sons fourteen points, which the presi-
dent apparently has deserted.
"She, therefore. hopes that the
American people will correctly grasp
and interpret the deeper Significance
of the new spiritual struggle upon
which we are now entering.
I, At another point Herr Ebert said
the ominous quiet produced shv the
first announcement Of the peQce terms
was a most characteristic Indication
of their effect on the German people,
"For the moment" he continued,
1--WE were all crushed. We had a feel
ing as if we had been stunned by a
blow from a heavy club, momentarily
para1yzing all mental action. The
blow found the German people unpre-
pared, and, Therefore, its effect was
all the greater"
break of psychic furor Teutonicus'
. within a few days and that the wrath
of the soul Of the people when 1t
reached the boiling point would know.
no bounds asa result of the deep d ss-
appointment and anger born of fury
and just indignation.
"The peace draft laid before u.s." he
said, produced an, equal feeling of
horror and revuIsion 1t not only Sig.
nifies distortion but-the complete mega
tion OF the fourteen points enunciated
by President Wilson, the realization of
whose program we took for granted
Ia faith to which we were entitled on
the strength Of Secretary Of State Ian
Asing's note of November 5.
Before me lies pamphlet discuss,
ing President Wilson and peace of
Justice 1t deals with his senate mes
sage of January %, 1917, In which he
refe1; to the need of peace without
victthy.
president Wilson says: The victor
must not. force his conditions on the
vanquished This would mean peace
asserted under humiliation. under
force and intolerable sacrifice and
leave nothing definite: it would leave
a sting, revenge. bitterness. giving
such a peace an Insecure foundation
Only peace between equals can Ell
lure"