Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1919-05-28
DEMAND PART Of
MERCHANT FLEET
TO DlsARM SHIPS
Wants No Territorial Changes
Until People Are Consult
ed; Declare Some Nations
. Entered War to Gain More
Land, in Counter Proposal
to the Allies.

Berlin, May 27.-(By the Associat-
ed Press)-Germany's counter pro-
posals to the terms of the peace trea-
ty presented to her plenipotentiaries
at Versailles include the following
points. according to an unofficial
offers to disarm: all of her battleships,
on condition that a part of her mer-
camille fleet be restored to her; she
proposes that there be no territorial
changes without consultation of the
populations affected:
The cession of upper Silesia and
the claims to East Prussia. West
Prussia and Memel are emphatically
rejected; ~
Want Danzig Free Port.
1t is stipulated that Danzig shall
become a free port and the river
Vistula neutralized;
Occupied territory is to be evacuat-
ed within six months; if the League
of Nations is established with Ger
many as a member. Germany shall
continue to administer her colonies in
accordance with the principles of the
league as its mandatory;
Germany offers to pay twenty bill
lion marks in gold by the year 1926
as indemnity and to make annual pay
ments from 1927 onward ito a total
not in excess of one hundred billion
marks in gold.
1t was expected today that the
counter proposals would be officially
made known on Wednesday.
The reply complains that might
before right" dominates the whole
Allied treaty.
Objection is expressed to the de-
mand that Germans be surrendered
for trial in enemy courts, the reply
contending that. an impartial author
j%,, 1T 1,@ ~,<o Iss,Ia
all violations of international law by
whoever committed.
It is declared that although the
speech made by President Wilson In
October. 1916, recognizes that. re-
sponsibility for the war rested on the
entire European system, the 1eaty
requires Germany to acknowledge
BILE for all damage suffered in oppos-
ing countries 1t is asserted that 1t
Is incontestible that some Of the AL
lied and associated powers, such az
italy and Pun sania,, entered the war
Tor tilessatkg b AXE 9 oissesir..itorial conquest.
y II No Basis Of Right. 49, # 4
The German counter proposals ar
que that there is no basis Of right for
thes obligation to make compensation
which is to be imposed on Germany
Complaintaiss made that the amount OF
compensation is to be fixed by a hos
tile commission whose powers would
enable it to administer Germany as a
bankrupt state. This. it is declared, is
incompatible with the innate right OF
nations.
The statutes of the League of Ma
tions, it is further asserted, contradict
numerous assertions made by men
opposed to Germany and the league
is a mere continuation of the enemy
coalition. 1t is added that there is nc
Isoo< 80 r %
tions and that in it's, present form the
league re-establishes in effect the al.
lance of 1915.
Talk of Destruction.
The reply maintains the treaty
shows Germany as a nation which is
simply to be destroyed and adds:
This is complete reputation Of
the idea that every nation has a right
to existence and violates the right OF
self determination"
The statement details long objec.
tions to the PROPOSED treatment of the
Saar region. Eupen, Malmedy, Moros.
net and Alsace and the eastern from.
tiers and urged that the worst mani.
festation of the disregard of the right
of self determination is the separation
of Danzig from the German empire
Other abrogations of this right, as cit.
ed in the, statement, include the re.
fusal to allow the millions of, Germans
in German Austria to unite with
Austria, while other millions of Ger.
mans are forced to remain under the
new Czecho-S -Slovak state.
The counter proposals 'reiterate thu
declaration that the draft of the peac.
treaty is in sharpest contradiction tt
the basis of right for a lasting peace
''of a right which was agreed upon
1t says that the treaty involves de-
struction of German economic life
and subjects the German people to /:
financial slavery unparalleled in tn,
history of the world"
If such treaty came into force, i
is declared, it would mean a fresl
catastrophe for the whole world. TIL,
German statement adds:
"A dying philosophy Of imperialisti,
and capitalistic tendencies 10 her,
celebrating Its last terrible triumph
$3.50 We appeal to the innate righ
of men and nations, under which tn,
British state developed, the Dutcl
people liberated themselves, the Nortl
American nation established its inde
pendences and France shook off it
absolutism. The sustainers OF q, sacred
tradition cannot refuse 1t to peopl,
which has just won the power to liv,
according to its own free will"
.BOLSHEVISIS