The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-05-24

tify the terms that it is sought to i'm pose.
 'The German note opens with the state ment that the industrial resources of Germany were adequate before the war Tor the nourishment of a population of 6100o,o00 and it argues as though this were the total for which with diminished resources she will still be called upon to provide.
 This is not the case. The total pop ulation of Germany will be reduced by about 60o0,0Oo persons in the non n-German territories which it is proposed to trans fer. It is the needs of this smaller ag- gregation that we are called upon to consider.
 Complaint is made in the German note that Germany is required to sur render her merchant tonnage existing or in course of construction, and that a prior claim is made upon her shipbulding capacity for a limited term of years No mention, however, is made of the fact that considerable portion of the smaller tonnage of Germany is left to her unim- paired, and it seems to have entirely escaped the notice of her spokesmen that the sacrifice of her larger shipping is the inevitable and necessary penalty im- posed upon her for the ruthless cam paign which in defiance of all laws and precedent she waged during the last two years of the war upon the mercantile shipping of the world.
 ONLY PARTIAL OFFSET
 "As partial offset against the 12, ,75O GOO tons sunk, it is proposed to transfer 100000 tons of German shipping In other words, the shipping which it is proposed to take from Germany consti- tutes less than one-third of that which was thus wantonly destroyed The uni VprSal Sbnrta ep of cl,;.. the reseult not of the terms of peace. but of the action of Germany, and no surprise can reasonably be felt if she is called upon to bear a share-and it is very moderate share of loss for which her own criminal deeds have teen responsible f
 Great stress is laid on the proposal that on the eastern side Germany shall be deprived of the regions specially de- voted to the production of wheat and po- tatoes. This is true. But the note fails altogether to observe that there is noth-s ing in the peace treaty to prevent either the continued production of those com modities in the areas in question, or their importation into Germany. More over, it is fortunate for Germany that those regions have lost none of their productiveness owing to the ravages of war, They have escaped the shocking fate which was dealt out by the Ger man armies to the correspopd ding terri tories in Belgium and France on the west and Poland, Russia, Rumania and Serbia on the east
 Stress is laid upon the proposed re- strictions of the import of phosphates. It is, however, forgotten that Germany has never produced but has always inn ported the phosphates of which she stands in need. Nor is there anything in the terms of peace which will pre- vent or hinder the importation of phos- plates into Germany in the future. $ <
 'The German notes make special com plaint of the deprivation of coal and as- serts that nearly third of the pro- ducton of the existing coal mines will be lost. But it omits to notice that one fourth of the pre-war consumption of German coal was in the territories which it now is proposed to transfer. Further, it fails to take into account the produc ton of Ignite, SO0O0,O0O tons of which were produced annually in Germany be- fore the war, and none of which is de- rived from the transferred territory. s
 WIDER VIEWPOINT SUGGESTED
 But should not the coal situation be viewed from a different and wider stand point? It cannot be forgotten that among the most wanton acts perpetrated by the German armies during the war
 
 her of the coal4 supplies of northern France An entire industry w1s obliter[ ated with a calculation and a savagery which it will take many years to repair. The result has been grave and pro- longed shortage of coal in western Eu- rope. There can be no reason in equity, why the effect of this shortage should be borne exclusively by the allied nations who were it's victims, or why Germany, who deliberately made herself responsi- ble for the deficiency, should not, to the full limit of her capacity, make it good.
 Stress is also laid upon the hardships alleged to be inflicted upon Germany by the necessity of importing in the fu- ture iron ores and zinc. It is not under stood why Germany should be supposed to suffer from conditions to which other countries contentedly submit.
 ''The Allied and Associated Powers can not accept the speculative estimate pre- scented to them in the German note on the future conditions of German industry as a whole. This estimate appears to them to be characterized and vitiated by palpa- ble congregations.
 "Similarly as regards the population of the future no reliance can be placed on the data which are contained in the Ger man note
 "Finally the German note rashly as serts that the peace conditions will log ically bring about the destruction Qoss)' in original numbers CD of several millions of persons in Germany, in addition 10 those who have perished in the war or who are alleged to have lost their lives in consequence of the blockade. Against the war losses of Germany might very fairly be placed the far greater losses which her initiative and conduct Of the war have inflicted upon the Allied coun- tries and which have left an ineffaceaple