Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-06-10
If Germany Had Written
The Treaty of Peace

T r the doctrine, with what measure We
mete it shall be measured to you
- again." were vigorously applied to
Germany, the peace terms against which
she now protests would appear, in COM
parison with those which she herself con-
templated and actually imposed, amazing for
their mildness. Where the Allies seek mere
reparation for wanton damage and injury,
Germany would have demanded the pound
of flesh cut from her victims very hearts.
Not indemnity alone, but destruction as we'll
would have been her aim. Witness the treaty
which with the connivance of Lenine and
Trotzky, she thrust upon hapless Russia
Treaty" she termed it; but in truth 1t
was death warrant for Russia's liberty and
very life, an order to rend the nation limb
from limb that Prussianism, already gorged,
might have greater spoils. So, too, with the
treaty at Bucharest which was bayoneted
upon fallen Rumania-as utterly shameless
a piece of robbery as was ever conceived.
That a victorious Germany would have
dealt in just this wise with France, Britain,
the United States and all others, is not for
a moment to be doubted. Repeatedly ana
in most explicit terms German leaders avOW-
ed policies which pointed straight in that
direction In the earlier stages of the war
the closely-informed Won Bernstorff, then
German ambassador at Washington, outlined
what he considered likely terms to France,
as follows:
Call French colonies and northwest
ern France to be taken by Germany; an
indemnity of two billion dollars; all
German goods to enter France free for
twenty years without reciprocity for
French goods entering Germany; no re-
cruiting to be allowed in France for
twenty-five years, all French fortresses
to be destroyed; all German patents in
France to be protected, without reel
procity for French patents n Germany;
France to cut herself adrift from Russia
and Great Britain
That this was not the viewpoint and pur-
pose of an individual merely or Of small
militaristic circle is evident from petition
which was presented to the Imperial Chan
cellor in May, 1915, by the leading indus
trial and commercial associations of the en-
pire, six of them, representing a wide con-
sensus of opinion.
Belgium" the document ran, must
be placed under German law in order to
secure Germany's naval, military and
economic power in the future, especial
ly towards England AS for France,
1--WE cannot allow our opponents to retain
Verdun and Belfort, and the western
slopes of the Vosges which lie between
these two points. By acquiring the line
of the channel Germany would obtain
not only the ore deposits of Briey, but
also the coal districts of the Depart
ment du Nord and of the Department
Pas de Calais And again, ''The pos
session of the French shore and coast
districts up to the Somme must be con-
sidered question of life and death
for Germany's. future position on the
sea, for we must have access to the At
lantic The hinterland, which would
have to be acquired at the same time,
must secure the fullest economical and
strategical exploitation of the newly &C
quired channel ports.
To this same effect, in June, 1915, spoke
&ho Of fIn 1Iyiu tioo
thinkers who might have been supposed to
represent enlightened conscience rather than
military mania. Said those intellectuals:
''We must ruthlessly weaken her
(France), both politically and eeonom-
ically, and must improve military
and strategic position with regard to her.
For this purpose it is necessary, in our
opinion, radically to improve our west
ern front from Belfort to the coast. Part
of the north French channel coast we
must acquire, if possible. in order to be
strategically safe regards England
and to secure better access to the
ocean"
By being "strategically safe" these wise
men of Prussianism evidently meant being
able to press to its farthest goal the rapacious
ambition which had forced the war upon Eu-
rope and the world. For there was no re-
spect in which Germany was not altogether
safe to ply honest trade the earth around
and to go prosperously forward with those
arts Of peace on which nations wax truly
great. But no! The supermen would not
rest content with common rights and oppor-
tunities. To their imperial spirits the COS
pei of live-and-let-live seemed the dregs of
mediocrity. Theirs was the doctrine Of live
and conquer, tyrannize and crush. "On1y
one is master. That is l. Who opposes me,
l will break to pieces" Thus declared Will
liam Hohenzollern; thus did Prussianized
Germany regard the world: and in this very
spirit would the peace treaty have been writ
ten, had Germany welded the pen.
1t is well to keep the record clearly in
mind at this juncture, when the air hangs
heavy with German denunciation of the AL
lied terms. Let none urge that with what
N"casure of barbarous hate the enemy would
now mete if he could, so should it be meas
ured to him by the upward-looking nations
of fhe earth But neither let it be argued
Iii0I because the terms presented him are
stern they are unjust. Justice never a
lachrymose lady-not even when she calls
mercy into conference, as she always needs
must do to reach her own higher and bet
te~ mind. It would be wrong and it would
be foolish to seek to crush out the life Of
the German people. But would it not be
wrong and foolish NOT to crush out the life
Of German militarism? Never so long as
that monsters heart is left beating will
peace and freedom be secure. If amendments
will make the treaty more workable, more
safeguarding or more just, by all means let
them come. But the chains for Prussian-