The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-06-17

ated and destroyed.
 That is why the allied and associ- ated powers have insisted as car dinal feature of the treaty that Ger many must undertake to make repara- tion to the very uttermost of her power. for reparation for wrongs in- flicted is of the essence of justice That is why they insist that those in- divfduals who are most clearly re- sponsible for German aggression and for those acts of barbarism and inhu- manity which have disgraced the Ger man conduct of the war must be handed over to justice. which has not been nleted out to them at home.
 That too. is why Germany must submit for a. few years to certain spe- cial disabilities and arrangements. Germany has ruined the industries, the mines and the machinery of neigh boring countries, not during battle. but with the deliberate and calculated purpose of enabling her own indus tries to seize their markets before their industries could recover from the devastation thus wantonly inflicted upon them
 Germany has despoi1ed her neigh bors Of everything she could make use of or carry away. Germany has de- stroyed the shipping of all nations on the high seas, where there was no chance of rescue for their passengers and crews.
 SOMEBODY MUST SUFFER
 "Tt is only justice that restftu-
 tion should he made and that
 these wronEed peoples should be
 safeguarded for time from the
 competition of nation whose in-
 dustries are intact and have even
 been fortified by machinery stolen
 from occupied territories. If these
 things are hardships for Germany,
 they are hardships which Germany
 has brought upon herself. Some
 body must suffer for the conse-
 quences of the war. Is it to be
 Germany or the peoples she has
 wrongede
 Not to do justice to all concerned would only be to leave the way open to fresh attacks. If the German peo- pie themselves, or any other. nation, ave to be deterred fron following the footsteps of Prussia; 1T mankind is to be lifted out of the belief that war for selfish ends is legitimate to any state; if the old era is to be left be- hind, as well as individuals, are to be brought beneath the reign of law; even if there is to be eariy reconcilia- ton and appeasement, it will be Da- cause those responsible for concluding the war have had the courage to see that justice is not deflected for the sake of convenient peace.
 Tt is said that the German revolu- ton ought to make difference and that the German people are not re- sponsible for the policy of the rulers whom they have thrown from power The allied and associated powers rec ognize and welcome the change It represents a great hope for peace and new European order in the future
 "Rut it canot affect the settle
 ment of the war itself. The Ger
 man revolution has stayed until
 the German armies had been de-
 feated in the field and all hope of
 profitfnG by n war of conquest
 had vanished. Throughout the
 war, as before the war, the Ger
 man people and their representa-
 lives supported the war, voted the
 credits, subscribed to the war
 loans, obeyed every order, how
 ever savage, of their government.
 They shared the responsibility for
 the policy of the government, for
 at any moment. had they wilIed it,
 they could have reversed it. Had
 that policy succeeded, they would
 have acclaimed it with the same
 enthusiasm with which they well
 comed the outbreak of the war.
 They cannot now pretend, having
 changed their rulers after the war
 was lost. that 1t is justice that
 they should escape the conse-
 quences of their deeds.
 A PEACE OF RIGHT
 The allied and associated powers therefore, believe that the peace they have proposed is Fundamentally peace of justice. They are no less certain that it is peace of right on the terms agreed. There can be no doubt as to the intentions of the allied and asso- ciated powers to base the settlement of Europe on the principle of freeing op- pressed peoples and redrawing nation al boundaries as far as possible, in ac- cordance with the will of the peoples concerned, while giving to each the facilities to live an independent ma tional and economic life.
 These intentions were made clear not only in President Wilson's address to Congress of January 8, 1918. but in the principles of settlement enunciated in his subsequent address, in which it was the agreed basis of the peace. The memorandum of this point is at- tached to this letter.
 Accordingly the allied and asso- ciated powers have provided for the reconstruction of Poland as an inde- pendent state, with free and secure access to the sea-. All territories inhab- ited by indubitably Polish populations have been accorded to Poland. The ter ritories inhabited by German majori- ties, save for a few isolated towns. and for colonies established on land recent ly forcibly appropriated and situated in the midst of indubitably Polish ter ritory have been left to Germany Wherever the will of the people is in doubt plebescite has been provided for.
 DANZIG A FREE CITY
 "Danzig has been constituted as free city, so that the inhabitants will be autonomous. and do not come under Polish rule or form any part of the Polish state. Poland has been given certain economic rights in Danzig, and the city itself has been severed from Germany, because in no other way was it possible to provide for that free and