The Chattanooga news. [volume] (Chattanooga, Tenn.) 1891-1939, 1919-03-26
WILSON AT WORK
ON new PLANS
Endeavors to Secure Peace
Between Allies and Gen.
traI Powers.
MEETS COMPLICATIONS
Knottiest Problem Faced IN
Conference Was That On
Reparation.
lRv John Edwin Neyin.)I

4.
to carry on the fight for confirmation
Of sure treaties with Germany ana
Austria Hungary, President Wilson 1h
now understood to be working r.tn9;;
cof>aletion of a general docusncut t3|
81 s. peace between the allies an&
Y the central powers. Alreaqy'
tantial progress has been made
e his direction.
s fany questions involve all OF the
9 tions of the German alliance, maxi
Gig It possible to draw up treaty
: mich could be subscribed to by the
central powers. This would enable
the allied armies to be demobilized at
the same time and obviate discrim-
nations against which the Italians
have been complaining.
The change of program followed
tfe/ meeting Of President Wiiscn'
Premier Lloyd George, Premier Cie-
menceau and Premier Orlando, at
which confidential reports on tne
Hungarian situation were sbmittcu.
II No Great Delay.
1t is officially declared In botn;
American and British circles tnaI
there is no reason to assume a change
of program will entail any great dc-
lays.
Examination of reports made1 by
the committees on reparation and
war responsibility showed intertwin-
ing problems which it was almost in1-
possible to separate.
1t was then decided to group all of
the problems in a general treaty Tor
submission to all the powers in
v0lved.
Inasmuch as the United States was
making war only against Germany
and Austria Hungary the treaty
signed by the American commission
ers and submitted to the United
States senate for ratification will af-
feet only these two nations.
However, as the league of nations
constitution is to be an integral part
of the first peace treaty thereby in
vclving mandatories affecting states
created from parts of the present
Turkish empire, and as the United
States is sponsoring the league, 1t
will be necessary for Bulgaria and
Turkey to write into the treaty their
acceptance of the principles Of the
international society.
This would compel the United
States to accept the Turkish and Bull
garian signatures to the compound
document.
The knottiest problem engaging the
attention of the president ard ms
premiel.s today was reparatioYf1 ROM
fCsernany. Premier ClemenceaiT is
still insistent that the largest pos
sible amount be exacted. This is ad-
mittedly a great obstacle inasmuch
as the attitude of both the Ameri-
cans and British is opposed to the
complete stripping of Germany. The
British and Americans hold that Ger
many should be compelled to make
complete payment without being
thrown into bankruptcy
Anglo American Position.
The Anglo American position might
be stated as follows:
Germany must be left with suf-
ficient earning powers to pay. al
though she must be compelled to pay
as much as her capacity admits"
The surrender of German territory
is another complication which is in
creasing the difficulty of securing a
successful agreement. However, sub
stantial progress has been made on
this question, also.
a
"Parisian White House"-the resi-
dence of President Wilson.
While there is a division of opinion
| as to the length of time it will re-
quire to carry out the new program.
! it is understood that the president is
most hopeful that everything will be
completed, including the signature to
| the first treaty, before the end of
! n rptprn To thD
United States and summon an extra
session of congress by the middle OF
! May in order to complete appropria-
| ton bills, or at least continue the
resolutions making current appro-
priations available for the coming
| fiscal year before the new appropria-
| tions are required July l.
The decision to make a compound
| treaty has aroused keen interest in
! all circles. One of the chief causes
leading to the change of program was
| the unrest and disorder in Hungary
| 1t is officially stated that the prcsi-
| dent and the premiers are taking up
| the hardest problems first, leaving
| the minor ones to be worked out
| later. Already the conferees have
/ debated the new western frontier OF
4 germany anu lldNC IiC -
port of the reparation committee in
a general way.
/ 1t is believed that there will be 1o
| formal announcement until the WORK
! in hand is completed.
At the meeting on Tuesday the
president and the premiers discussed
with Marshal Foch on the military
situation in Russia.
80 tgCinnppc
watching the Hungarian situation
| closely. While the bolshevik dis
1 orders there menace to some extent
| the completion of the peace treaty
| officials are inclined to believe that
/ the situation will work out satisfac-
torily in the end.
Reparation for Damages.
Paris, March 24.-(A. PIN the
absence of official communique, the
public has learned little about the
meetings of the premiers and the
! president. but there is reason to be-
| lieve that repaTation for war dam
ages was the first serious problen
/ they sought to solve. All the dat9
/ on the British, French and American
| positions on this question was before
them at the first meeting Tuesday
II is understood the data showed
| agreement on virtually all feature:
except the total amount which thu
experts were unable to agree upon
| Even the textual draft of the repara'
tion articles of the peace treaty arr
ready with blank space waiting fol
| the insertion of the amount.
Main Problem-Frontiers.
After settling the reparations ques
ton, the premiers and the presiden
will consider the remaining main oh
stacles-the Franco-German frontie
along the Rhine. With these ques
tions determined. the American del
egation believes a prompt conclusion
of the peace treaty by the end Of th'
. | 4.