The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1920-01-14
EBERT APPEALS
FOR FAIR PLAY
TO HIS NATION
German President Asks
Press to Cease Campaign
Of V,ilifcation.
WISH TO LIVE In PEACE
Says Cessation of Hostilities
Brings No Material Ad-
vantage to Country.

Berlin, Jan. 13.-Friedrich Ebert,
president OF the republic of Ger
many, today gave his views on the
historic occasion of the treaty of
Versailles coming into force. In IL
he appealed to the press of the
world to cease disseminating dis
trust. suspicion. and hostility and
to help instead to make the world
safe for enduring peace. Here is
his statement:
with all my heart / welcome the
final advent of peace. so long OK
pected and so long delayed. Though
1t is not a peace upon the terms by
which just two years ago almost
to the day President Wilson set
the hearts of enlightened men and
women everywhere ablaze. it is
nevertheless at least a formal ces-
sation of the state of war which
will help men of good will on both
sides and which may turn into real
world peace in the course of time.
Return of World sanity.
In this sense. this day ought to
be the dawn of a period of regen-
Grafton and return of sanity for a
world disorganized and demoralized
through the long orgy of destruc-
ton and lawlessness. 1t ought to
be a solemn reminder that organ
| lied murder must never happen
again. and that insofar as the pres
ent peace settlement fails to satisfy
the just claims of nations. it must
be revised by other means than the
destruction of human lives. and
| with other arguments than guns
and battleships.
1T ought to be the Inauguration of
long era of ever increasing COOP
GRAFTON among the different nations,
whose close interdependence has never
been so evident as in those terrible
days OF universal ruin and misery.
1t will be matter Of the deepest
regret for many people that the state
Of peace proclaimed does not include
| either the United States or Russia.
l sincerely hope that the day when
! those countries also will re-enter into
peaceful relations with Germany and.
as far as Russia is concerned, with
the rest of the world. may be near
at hand.
After the cataclysm through which
the world has gone. the new interna-
tional conditions cannot possibly be
! fixed TO a nicely beforehand.
Sees Endless Chain of Obligations.
To Germany the coming into force
of the peace treaty brings no ma
terial advantage of any kind. save
the long desired return OF her thus
sands of sons held unduly long in
foreign captivity. For her this day
| means the setting into motion of
an endless chain of obligations of
the heaviest kind. including the un-
speakably painful surrender of large
areas inhabited purely or prepon-
dertnaly by German populations to
foreign sovereiSnties
we refuse to be downhearted. In
resuming diplomatic and commercial
| relations with our former enemies
We hope that they will give a chance
TO the new Germany whose present
government. supported by the vast
majority of the people has no de-
! sire but to live in peace with the
rest of the world.
Il therefore beg leave to appeal
to the responsible newspaper men in
all countries to leav the war of
journalism aside and do their part
to make this world safe for peace,
good will and cooperation"