Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 248, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 October 1918 — TEXT OF GERMANY’S REPLY [ARTICLE]

TEXT OF GERMANY’S REPLY

, London, Get. 21. The text of the German note, as received by wireless, is as follows: ,In accepting the proposal for an evacuation of occupied territories the. German government has started from the assumption that the procedure of, this evacuation and of the conditions of An armistice should be left to the military advisers and that the actual standard of power on both sides in the field has to form the basis for arrangements safeguarding and guaranteeing this standard. Must Save “Germany’s Honor* The German government suggests to the president that an opportunity should be bi ought about for fixing the details. It trusts that the president of the United States will approve of no demand which would be irreconciliable with the honor of the-* German people, and with opening a way to a peace of justice.

Defends German’s Course The German government protests against the reproach of illegal and inhumane actions made against the German land ansea forces and thereby against the German people. For the covering of a retreat destructions will always be necessary, and they are carried out insofar as is permitted by international law. The German troops are under most strict instructions to spare private property and to exercise care for the population to the best of their ability. Where transgressions occur in spite of these Instructions, the guilty are being punished. Proposes Neutral Inquiry Section 4. The German government further denies that the German navy in sinking ships has ever purposely destroyed lifeboats with their passengers. The German government proposes with regard to all those charges .that the facts be cleared up by neutral commissions, Order*, to U-Boats n order to avoid anything that might hamper the work of peace, the German government has caused orders to be dispatched to all submarine commanders precluding the torpedoing of passenger ships without, however, for technical reasons, being able to guarantee that these orders will reach every single submarine at sea

before its return/ As a fundamental condition for peace the president prescribes the destruction of every arbitrary power that can separately, secretly and of its own single choice disturb the peace of the world. To this the German government replies: Hitherto the representation of the people in the German empire has not been endowed with an influence on the formation of the government; Allege Government Change The constitution did not provide for a concurrence of presentation of the people in decisions of peace and war. These conditions have just now undergone a fundamental change. A new government has been formed in complete accordance with the wishes (principle ?) of the representation of the people, based on equal universal, secret, direct franchise.

Claim Majority Rule The leaders of the great parties of the reichstag are members of this government. In the future no government can take or continue in office without possessing the confidence of a majority of the reichstag. Curb War Lord’* Power The responsibility of the chancellor of the empire to the representation of the people is being legally developed and safeguarded. The first act of the new government has been to lay before the reichstag a bill to alter the constitution of the empire so that the Consent of the representation of the people- is required for decisions on war and peace. The permanence of the new system is, however, guaranteed not only by constitutional safeguards, but also by the unshakable determination of the German people whose vast majority stands behind these reforms and demand their energetic continuance. Say Question I* Answered The question of the president — with whom he and the governments associated against Germany are dealing—is therfeore answered in a clear, unequivocal manner by the statement that the offer of peace and an armistice has come from a government' which is free from any arbitrary and irresponsible influence, is supported by the approval of an overwhelming majority of the German people. SOLF.