New-York tribune., 1919-02-16

indemnity should he paid and that no
territory should be ceded to the vic
tors
Protests Against "Slavers"
He continued:
"If we rebuild what has been de-
stroyed by us in territories we occu-
pied we will do so by our free labor
We protest against the slavery now
being imposed on German prisoners of
war
"Our adversaries owe their victory in
large measure to war, not military,
but economic. 1t follows, therefore,
that the final peace must not only be
q political peace, but to a large meas
urc an economic peace. We hope,
therefore, that the decision of the
Paris economic conference viii be aban-
doned Any differcntial treatment,
even Of temporary nature. of Ger
many in the domain Of commerce and
transport would not be acceptable to
US
The Foreign Minister said that the
Germans needed to revise their notions
regarding German commercial policy,
which, he declared, had been associated
with narrow and bureaucratic views in
the Foreign Ministry. He said it was
his intention to introduce experienced
business mon into the ministry. Free
dom of trade, the minister said, had
freedom of the seas as its essential
condition. and as far as Germany was
concerned this point in the programme
OF President Wilson was Of the highest
Importance.
Wants Colonies or No League
"Moreover' the Foreign Minister
continued, Germany cannot enter q
league Of nations without colonies. We
approve the plan of international con-
troll over tropical colonies on the con-
ditiOn that all the colonial powers also
submit to this proposal and that Ger
many receive her approximate portion
of colonial products.
con the other hand, we must expect
to lose some valuable portions of our
national territory. | refer to Alsace-
Lorraine Violence is now being done
TO the rights of the present population
Of Alsacc-Lorraino The French troops
Of occupation regard the country as
definitely conquered and are driving
out or arresting all those clements in
whom they sec an obstacle to their
I impcrialstic designs. They are also
suppressing the rights Of the people to
use their own language by forcing
! them TO adopt the French tongue"
"From the fact that the peace con
ference has come to no definite con-
clusion regarding the fate of Alsace-
Lorraine, we draw the conclusion that
we are competent to intervene in favor
of its rights, so that its voice may be
heard in the determination of its des-
tiny
Condemns French Plan
Count Won Brockdorfr Rantzau CON
demned the alleged French plan TO joir
the Saar territory to Alsace- Lorraine
and compared it ''to the old German
expansionist aims upon Longwy anc
BrieY basins" He considered it unde-
sirabe that Germany and France
should continue to regard themselves
as hereditary enemies adding:
"The peace conference Will have The
task of creating guarantees which viii
have the effect Of making such a state
OF things appear nonsensical, but le
no one try to snatch from us portion!
OF our national territory which we re
gard as Of vital importance"
In appealing for a United Germany
and the reunion of Germany and Aus
tra the Foreign Minister said:
"lf we now find each other again w
shall only be correcting the mistake
made at the time the empire wa
founded The peace conference viii
assuredly not refuse its sanction t.
the rectification of this mistake Of tn