supply of coal can be guaranteed; but the total coal computed to exist in the Saar mines would represent a hundred times the maximum French demands.

The population of the Saar district is peculiarly uniform and has been attached to Germany for over a thousand years, during which period France has possessed it for not more than 68 years. The people to-day are as German as they were a hundred years ago, when they demanded to be reunited with Germany, but on account of the coal mines they are put under an abnormal and unfavorable form of government; and since the armistice they have begun to learn what they will have to suffer.

All this is to compensate France for the coal destroyed in the north; but such a question can only be settled on an economic basis, not by tearing away a nationally undisputed territory and degrading the league of nations by involving it in the transaction. The German Government declines to make any reparation in the form of punishment, and still more emphatically declines to pass on to individual parts of the population the punishment intended for the whole of the community. The annexation of the Saar district to France would mean the creation of another Alsace-Lorraine, and Germany claims that the whole question must be reconsidered.

The fifth section, dealing with Alsace-Lorraine, insists that for the most part this district is German, but admits that according to present conceptions of right an injustice was committed in 1871 when the people were not consulted. Germany has therefore promised reparation, but it would be no reparation to cede Alsace-Lorraine with its immensely increased economic wealth to France at

once.

A vote must be taken allowing a choice between union with France, union with Germany as a free State, and complete independence. Even if the population should decide for France, the present conditions must be modified as to the dating back of the cession and the question of nationality; and if France is to take over the results of German effort she must equally take over a proportionate share in the German debt.

A short sixth section declares that Germany has never intended to shift the frontier with Austria by force, but can not pledge herself to oppose a possible desire of German Austria to be united with her.

A long and important seventh section deals with Germany's eastern frontiers. Germany has agreed to the creation of an independent Polish State, but the terms of the treaty include in it a number of totally German towns and extensive German tracts of land for military or economic reasons without regard to nationality or to history.

It is claimed that this particularly applies to Upper Silesia, which has had no connection with the Polish Empire since 1163. The wishes of the inhabitants have been clearly expressed by the elections of the Reichstag in 1903 and 1907, when the majority voted for German rather than Polish deputies. In 1919, when the Poles proclaimed their abstention from voting, 60 per cent of possible voters voted for German candidates.

With regard to language, the parents of less than 22 per cent of the school children have declared themselves in favor of education

in a non-German language under the new provisions, and the Polish dialect spoken by a considerable part of the Upper Silesians is really a mixed language, and does not represent a mark of nationality.

Upper Silesia owes everything to Germany, and Germany can not dispense with Upper Silesia, while Poland does not really need it. The Upper Silesian coal has supplied almost the whole industry of eastern Germany, and last year the output was 43,500,000 metric tons. Poland at the same period used about 10,500,000 tons, and the Polish output was nearly 7,000,000. Half the deficit came from Upper Silesia, the remainder from the mines now in Czecho-Slovakia, but the new Poland could probably supply herself with all the coal she needs.

German conditions for working-class life are incomparably better than those in Poland, and the cession of Upper Silesia, to which Germany can not consent, would be as disadvantageous to its own population as to the rest of mankind.

The Province of Posen can not be regarded as indisputably Polish. Germany is prepared to cede such parts as are truly Polish, but the proposed frontiers are based on obsolete strategic, not national, considerations.

As to West Prussia, the treaty gives almost the whole of it, and even a part of Pomerania, to Poland. West Prussia is claimed as old German territory on which the Polish dominion of 300 years has left little trace. In the district assigned directly or indirectly to Poland, it is claimed that the population includes about 744,000 Germans against 580,000 Poles and Cassubians (who are not to be identified with the Poles), and the German population is of far greater economic and cultural importance.

Germany can not consent to the severance of East Prussia, with its German population of 1,500,000, from the German Empire. A connecting bridge_must absolutely be preserved, but Germany is ready to cede to Poland such west Prussian territories as are indisputably Polish.

The cession of Danzig, a purely German town, is claimed to be in direct opposition with President Wilson's principles. To make it a free city and to surrender certain of its rights to Poland would lead to violent opposition and a continuous state of war in the East. Danzig must remain with the German Empire. But Germany is ready to make Memel, Königsberg, and Danzig free ports in order to secure to Poland the promised access to the sea, and to grant special transit facilities under specified conditions reciprocally applied.

In the southern parts of East Prussia a plebiscite is demanded; but these districts are not indisputably Polish, and the fact that a nonGerman language is spoken in certain regions is in itself of no impor

tance.

In regard to Memel and the adjoining districts, even the Lithuanian-speaking inhabitants have never shown any desire to separate from Germany, and the delegates state that in the whole territory there are about 68,000 Germans, as against about 54,000 Lithuanianspeaking inhabitants, who generally also speak German. Memel in particular is claimed as a purely German town, and Germany therefore declines to cede this territory.

If any German territory is ultimately ceded to Poland, Germany must protect its former nationals. This is all the more necessary

because the Poles have not so far shown themselves trustworthy protectors of the national and religious rights of minorities.

The Germans further protest against the regulations as to change of nationality and against the lack of security for German interests in the districts affected; and they demand a commission to assess damages caused by recent Polish disturbances.

In the eighth section the German delegates agree to the holding of a plebiscite in Slesvig, although this point was not mentioned by President Wilson. They protest, however, against the delimitation of the voting districts and propose another boundary and a different system of voting and control for the plebiscite.

A short ninth section accepts the dismantling of Heligoland, but insists on any measure necessary for the protection of the coast and port in the interest of the population.

The tenth section deals with the colonies. The delegates maintain that the demand that Germany should relinquish all her rights and claims is an irreconcilable contradiction of point 5 of President Wilson's address to Congress of the 8th January, 1918, which promised a free, sincere, and impartial settlement of colonial claims.

Germany's claim is based on the fact that she has acquired them lawfully and developed them laboriously. The possession of them will be even more necessary to her in the future than in the past, as, owing to the low rate of exchange, she must obtain raw material from her own colonies. She further requires her colonies as a market and as settlements for a part of her surplus population.

As a great civilized nation, the German people have the right to cooperate in the joint task of mankind, in which they have already achieved great things. The interests of the colored population of the colonies speak for Germany remaining in possession of them, for the German administration has abolished abuses and introduced peace, order, justice, health, education, and Christianity.

Germany has clearly looked after the interests of the natives. She has refrained from militarizing them and has adhered to the principle of the open door. The demand that the colonies should be renounced is therefore considered unjustified.

Without modifying this position, the delegates further point out that the conditions under which the cession is demanded are unacceptable in detail, particularly as to State and private property and compensation: and they claim that any mandatory power should pay all expenses incurred by the German Empire, and that the territory should still be responsible for liabilities incurred.

They therefore make a counterproposal that an impartial hearing of the colonial question should take place before a special committee. Germany claims that though justified in demanding the restoration of her colonies, she is ready to administer them according to the principles of the league of nations if a league is formed which she can enter at once as a member with equal privileges.

The eleventh section agrees to the renunciation of German rights and privileges regarding Kiaochow and Shantung, with certain stipulations as to compensation.

Section 12 deals with Russia and the Russian States. Germany does not claim or propose to interfere with any territory which belonged to the former Russian Empire. The peace of Brest-Litovsk has already been renounced in the armistice. But Germany can not

recognize any right on the part of Russia to demand restitution and reparation, and it is only able to recognize the relevant treaties and agreements if their contents are known, and if they do not prove to be unacceptable.

CHAPTER III.-German rights outside Europe.

The German delegates complain that, according to the draft treaty, Germany is to have no rights whatever in Europe outside her own frontiers.

If Germany is to continue to exist, the realization of these terms is impossible. Germany must have the use of shipping, but she is called upon to deliver up her entire overseas fleet with all tonnage which happened to be in enemy harbors at the beginning of the war. Further, the Allies refuse to recognize the decisions of German prize courts, or to consider German claims for damages, while German seaports are deliberately weakened by a number of claims so that a reconstructed German mercantile fleet will encounter totally unfair conditions in traffic.

The German submarine cables are to be taken away. Germany's foreign trade is to be excluded from all kinds of activity. Germany is called upon to violate the Egyptian right to self-determination by recognizing the British protectorate. All concessions and privileges acquired in Russia since August, 1914, are annulled, and many other foreign rights are left in jeopardy. The Allies have proposed economic and financial provisions which put Germany under a continued disadvantage, and they reserve themselves the right to take exceptional war measures in regard to German rights, properties and interests abroad, so that German citizens will be placed in an unbearable state of uncertainty.

The German delegates can not reconcile such provisions with the principles of impartial justice. They may offer great advantages to rival merchants, but they do nothing toward repairing the damage which Germany has undertaken to make good. It is only natural that the German people should now believe that the Allies intend to stamp out German commercial competition. The German delegates lay great stress on the necessity of granting full and reciprocal freedom of action whenever possible, and outline the proposals repeated in the following chapter.

CHAPTER IV.—Reparation.

Germany accepts the obligation to pay for all damages sustained by the civil populations in the occupied parts of Belgium and France, inasmuch as she brought upon them the terrors of war by a breach of international law through the violation of Belgian neutrality. She opposes reparation to other occupied territories in Italy, Montenegro, Serbia, Roumania, and Poland, as no attack in contradiction. to international law was involved. She voluntarily concedes responsibility for Belgian loans, but claims that the Allies have far exceeded in the categories of damages named in the draft treaty the agreements entered into at the armistice, especially in holding Germany responsible for lesses to civilians outside the occupied terri

tories, to the States themselves, to military persons, and in losses caused by Germany's allies.

Germany contests certain specific responsibilities, particularly as to the costs of an army of occupation, which she considers both unnecessary and uneconomic. She can not accept the reparation commission as outlined, as the giving of such dictatorial powers would mean a renunciation of sovereignty. The commission would be both party and judge, and the greater part of the reparations could only be collected by force. A German commission is therefore proposed for cooperation with this commission, any disagreement to be finally decided by a mixed court of arbitration under neutral presidency.

Germany is anxious to cooperate in the restoration of France and Belgium, to which end proposals will shortly be made. She recognizes the principle that her taxation shall be not less heavy than any allied State, but predicates her whole attitude as to reparations upon the acceptance of her general proposals, on the ground that she can bear the heavy burdens imposed only if her territory is not divided up, her industrial as well as her food basis not destroyed, and her overseas connections, colonies, and mercantile fleet retained. Also territories separated from her should pay their proportionate share of the war debt.

Germany agrees to issue, four weeks after peace, Government bonds for twenty billion marks gold, payable before the 1st May, 1926, and for the remainder of the reparations to draw up deeds for annual payments without interest, beginning the 1st May, 1927, the total not to exceed one hundred billion marks, including repayments to Belgium, deliveries of materials during the armistice, and other concessions required. The annuity to be paid each year is to be fixed as a distinct percentage of Germany's revenues, that for the first 10 years not to exceed a billion marks annually.

Ton for ton replacement of shipping can not be accepted, as this is entirely beyond Germany's reduced production power and would destroy the German economic system. She agrees, nevertheless, to construct an even greater tonnage and over a longer period than stipulated. The demand for the surrender of fishing vessels is impossible, owing to their supreme value for the food supply of Germany, and especially as 146 of the 210 fishing boats are demanded. The surrender of the whole overseas merchant fleet is unacceptable, and not over 10 per cent of the river tonnage can be given over.

Germany acknowledges the principle of placing her resources directly in the service of reparation, but only in so far as not to infringe on her economic sovereignty. To this end they propose a German commission parallel to the reparations commission, the two to work out details in cooperation. The requisition of materials shall be carried out, however, in such a way as to avoid the disorganization of German economic life; restitutions must be made first of all from free stocks; the time limits in certain instances must be increased.

Germany agrees, if her situation permits, to export to France coal equal to the difference occasioned by the destruction of the French mines, the maximum to be 20,000,000 tons for the first five years and 5,000,000 tons thereafter. In order, however, to expedite the reconstruction of the French mines, Germany asks to be allowed to devote her skill to this work. She is unable to accord the options for coal