Jasper County Democrat, Volume 20, Number 77, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 December 1917 — KAISER PLANNING FOR PEACE [ARTICLE]

KAISER PLANNING FOR PEACE

Is Now Seeking an Agreement With the Lenine Agents in Russia. London, December 2 3. —A dispatch to the Exchange Telegraph from Copenhagen says: “The Beliner Zeitung says Emporer William has informed his government that he contemplates going to Brest Litovsk if the diplomats arrive at an agreement, in which case he will endeavor ,to assemble all the sovereigns and regents of Europe in a peace conference, as was' done after the Napoleonic wars. The emporer is credited as having said that body wants peace and that the future offers so many great tasks that all states must .co-operate in them.’’

Amsterdam, December 23. —A dispatch received here from Best-Lit-oivsk, Russia, dated Saturday, says' “Today at 4 o’clock in the afternoon the peace negotiations were begun at a solemn sitting. . “Dr. von Kuehlmann, German foreign minister, was unanimously elected chairman. He made the most important speech before* the delegates, saying in part: “ ‘ln viw of the situation, it will be impossible in the course of these deliberations to prepare an instrument of peace elaborated in its smallest details. What I have in mind is to fix the most important principles and conditions upon which peaceful and neighborly intercourse, especially in the cultural nomic sense, can be speedily resumed and also to decide upon the best means of healing the wounds caused by the war.’ “The German foreign minister proposed the following rules, which were adopted: “Questions of precedence will be decided according to the alphabetical list of the represented powers. “Preliminary sittings will be presided over by the chief representative qf each olf the five powers in rotation. “The following languages may be used in the debate—German. Bulgarian, Russian and Turkish. “Questions interesting only part of the represented powers may be discussed separately. “Official reports of the proceedings will be drafted jointly. “At von Kuehlmann’s suggestion the chief Russian delegates stated the chief principles of the Russian peace program in a long speech, which coincided on the whole with the well known resolutions of the workmen’s and soldiers’ deputies. “The delegates of the central powers declared their intentions to begin on the Russian program. The result of their labors will be discussed at the sitting.’’