The daily times., 1921-08-19
PRESERVE Our RIGHTS
The Republicans Have Not
Taken tho Democrats Into
Their Confidence Regarding
Negotiations for Peace with
Germany, and Try to With
hold information.
Times. J
(By David Lawrence).
Copyright, 1921, by The Daily
Times

Times)
Washington, Aug. 1S.-A special
agreement in the nature of a protocol
will preced the formal negotiation of
of a treaty of peace with Germany
This agreement may not be submit
ted to the Senate 1t will be a sort
of modus vivendi or temporary ar
rangement which will permit com
mercial relations with Germany to be
resumed Immediately and enable the
President to issue his long delayed
proclamation of peace
The agreement will be brief in
character and along general lines. 1t
will preserve Americas rights under
the armistice and subsequent treaties
closing the European war and will
form the basis for a formal treaty
eventually to be negotiated.
The United States government has
made special request of the German
government that the exchanges with
that government with respect to the
agreemen shall be kept absolutely
secret.-The reason for the injunction
of secrecy is not divulged here.
Members of the Senate Foreign Re
lations Committee have learned in
formally of the progress of hte ex-
changes between the German govern
ment and our State Department and
they predict that the formula adopted
by President Harding and Secretary
Hughes will be received with salts
faction because for the next three to
six months at least America will be
able to send consuls into Germany
and establish commercial relations
while the more tedious task of meti-
culously safeguarding America s
rights under the many economic
clauses of the Versailles treaty will
be carried on. Eventually the new
treaty with Germany will of course
have to be submitted to the Senate.
Politically speaking, the postpone
ment of formal peace negotiations
with Germany will assist President
goes on the bitterness over the old
treaty fight may gradually vanish and
if it is found essential to paraphrase
whole sections of the Versailles trea-
ty opposition may not be as strong
as it would be now from those Sen
ators who have announced that not a
particle of the Versailles treaty will
they ever approve.
The Department of State maintains
its cloak of secrecy on the theory
that the negotiation Of a modus Wv
endi is not necessarily a public af-
fair. Many such agreements or con-
ventions have been negotiated in the
past like the Lansing-Ishii agreement
for instance which remained a mys-
terry until the day the text was for
mally agreed upon and announced.
Word received here from Berlin in
dicates that the Germans approve of
the American plan and that the Ger
man Reichstag is being consulted so
that all political parties there will in
a sense be committee to the pledges
made in the special agreement with
the United States. 1t will be recalled
that China and Germany have a spe-
cial agreement too inasmuch as China
refused to ratify the Versailles treaty.
Germany however in negotiating a
special agreement with China absol-
utely declined to reafirm in general
terms the Versailles treaty since it
meant another Acknowledgement OF
responsibility for the war and, it was
stated officially by the German gov
ernment, such an act might prejudice
Germany's chances to get the YER
sailles pact revised. There is hint
that similar bitches have occurred
in the negotiations with the United
States which have already taken