Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1919-06-05
GERMANY CAN'T
FULFILL TERMS
Rantzau Declares 1t Is Beyond
Country's Power.
SENDS NOTE TO THE ALLIES
Declares "More Deeply We Penetrate
Spirit of Treaty the More Con-
WINGED We Become of lmpossi-
biity of Carrying 1t Out"

biity of Carrying 1t Out"
WASHINGTON, June 2.-Execution OF
the peace treaty as framed by the YER
sailles conference is declared to be
more than the German people can
BEAR by Count Won Brockdorff- Rant
Eau, head of the German peace delega-
ton, in a note to the associated gov
ernments outlining the German coun-
ter-proposals.
Count Brockdorff- RantZau in his
note, the text of which was, made pub
lie by the state department, further
asserts:
"The more deeply we penetrate into
the spirit of this treaty, the more con-
WINGED we become of the impossibjlity
Of carrying it out"
Text of Statement.
81 have the honor to transmit to you
herewith the observations of the Ger
man delegation on the draft treaty of
peace. We came to Versailles in the
expectation of receiving peace pro-
posal based on the agreed principles.
We were firmly resolved to do every
thing in our power with a view Of full
filling the grave obligations which we
had undertaken.
1--WE hoped for the peace Of justice
which had been promised to us. We
were aghast when we read in docu-
ments the demands made upon us CD
the victorious violence of our enemies.
''The more deeply we penetrate into
the spirit of this treaty the more con-
WINGED we become of the impOssiblllty
of CARRYING it out. The executions of
this treaty are more than the German
people can bear.
Must Give German Soil.
with a view to the re-establish-
ment of the Polish state we must re-
nounce indisputably German territory,
nearly the whole Of the province of
West Prussia, which is preponderantly
German; Of Pomerania, Danzig, which
is German to the core. We must let
the ancient HanSe town be trans
formed into a free state under Polish
suzerainty
"We must agree that East Prussia
shall be amputated from the body of
the state, condemned to a lingering
death and robbed of it's northern pOr
ton, including Mcneil, which is purely
German. We must renounce Upper
Silesa. for the benefit of Poland and
Czecho-SlovaHa, although it has been
in close political connection with Ger
many for more than $50 years, is in
istinct with German life, and forms the
very foundation of industrial life
throughout east Germany.
Belgium to Get Share.
Preponderantly German circles
(Kreise) must be coded to Belgium
without sufficient guarantees that the
plebiscite which is only to take place
afterward will be independent The
purely German district of the Saar
must be detached from our empire and
the way must be paved for it's subse-
quent annexation to France, although
we owe her debts in coal only, not in
men.
"Although the eXaction of the cost
of the war has been expressly re-
nounced, as yet Germany, thus cut in
pieces and weakened, must declare
herself ready in principle to bear all
the war expenses of her enemies,
which would exceed many times over
the total amount of German state and
private assets. Tie German people
would be condemned to perpetual
slave labor.
No Protection for Germans.
SIN spite of the exorbitant demands,
the reconstruction of our economic life
is at the same time rendered impOs-
sible. We must surrender our mer-
chant fleet. We are to renounce all
foreign securities. We are to hand
over to our enemies our property in all
German enterprises abroad, even in
the countries Of our allies.
Gwen after the conclusion of peace
the enemy states are to have the right
of confiscating all German property
No German trader in their countries
will be protected from these war meas
ures. We must completely renounce
our colonies, and not even German
missionaries shall have the right to
follow their calling therein. We must
renounce the realization OF all our