Jasper County Democrat, Volume 21, Number 59, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 October 1918 — BERLIN’S REPLY IS CONFESSION OF ATROCITIES [ARTICLE]

BERLIN’S REPLY IS CONFESSION OF ATROCITIES

Torpedoing of Passenger Boats Is Ordered Stopped, Says Doctor Sols. TROOPS TO SPARE TOWNS Declare* Government Is Informed ami the Kaiser Shorn of His Power —Washington Officials Call - Note an Awkward Attempt to Accept Wilson’s Terms. London, Oct. 22.—8 y smashing forward without mercy or pause along the 230-mlle front from the Dutch frontier to the Meuse, Marshal Foch is seeing to it that if there Is to be an armistice the German chiefs In the field will have nothing to say about it except, “Yes, sir." Everywhere betvyeen the Holland border and the north of Reims fresh advances' were scored by the allies in the last 24 hours.

Washington, Oct. 22.—Germany’s reply to President Wilson ns received by wireless is regarded here as an awkward attempt to accept the terms for ap armistice laid down by President WIIBOQ. It is believed to be certain that th© wireless version is garbled to an extent, and officials will await the arrival of the official text before reaching conclusions. : The general impression seems to be that it at least does not close tho door to further exchanges. Upon the exact language of the official text whether the president will consent to propose an armistice to the allied powers. Atrocity Denials Immaterial. Denials of the Germans that atrocities have been commltteed are immaterial. The important thing is that atrocities now apparently have been ordered stopped. As to negotiations for a permanent peace with the German government as now constituted, that Is a question aside from a cessation hostilities under conditions Imposed by the allied commanders In thC field. Before such negotiations are entered into the president and the allied governments must be satisfied that the German war lords are powerless to reassume control, if they now actually are out of control. Accepts Wilson’s Conditions. The German reply received in London by wireless and transmitted here says Germany accepts President Wilson’s conditions for an armistice. It declares Germany now has a parliamentary form of government. It adds that orders have been given submarine commanders not to sink passenger steamers henceforth. The reply also says Germany agrees with the president that the military leaders shall arrange an armistice and the terms for the evacuation of occupied territories. Denial Is made that the Germans have been necessa-i rily destructive in retiring from occupied territory. Claims People Now Rule.

It Is admitted the German people previously had no word in making war and peace. The new government recently formed under Prince Maximilian, the reply says, is responsible to the relchstag and is supported by th© German people and It is this government with which thC president is deal- • ing. The new government; it is declared, has undertaken to alter th© constitution of the German empire to give the representatives of the people power over the government. Senator Hitchcock of Nebraska,, chairman of the senate foreign relations committee, said that, while the German government apparently has accepted all the requirements laid down by President Wilson, he did not believe the reply would lead to an immediate armistice. Lodge Withholds Comment Senator Lodge of Massachusetts, the Republican leader, and other senators reserved comment until the official text of the reply Is received. Senator Hitchcock said: “The note appears to be an acceptance of the president’s stipulations. In my judgment, however, it will not lead to an armistice* immediately. I think the military authorities will probably make conditions so hard that Germany will hesitate to accept them and that this will lead to a delay in negotiations over an armistice. In the meanwhile the war will go on. “As far as the change in the German constitution is concerned the president’s demands have apparently heen poet,, although .Gerjpany ayolds

fetatlhg tKat n was (Tone at the'prestident’s request and seeks to give the Impression that it was done upon the (demands of the German people.” Text of the Note. London, Oct. 22.—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*hssumption that the procedure of ithfs evacuation and of the conditions of an armistice should be left to the Judgment of the military advisers and that the actual standard of power on [both sides in the field has to form th* basis foi arrangements safeguarding and guaranteeing this standard. “The German government suggests to the president that an opportunity should be brought about for fixing the details. “It* trusts that the president of the •United States will approve of no demand which would be irreconcilable -with the honor of the German people and wltrf opening a way to a peace of Justice. Protests Atrocity Charges. “The German government protests against the reproach of illegal and inhuman actions made against the German tend and sea forces and thereby against the German people. For the covering of a retreat destructions will always be necessary and they are carried out in so far 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 ; pccur In spite of these instructions the

guilty are punished. “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. “In 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: New Government Held in Accord. “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. “The leaders of the great parties of the relchstag are members of this government. In the future no government can take or continue in offlee without possessing the confidence of a majority of the relchstag. “The responsibility of the chancellor of the empire to the ♦epresentation of the people is being legally developed and safeguarded. The first act of the new government has been to lay before the relchstag a bill to alter the constitution of the empire so that the consent of the representation of the people is required for decision on war anfi peace. Backed by People, Claim. “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 demands their energetic continuance. “The question of the president—with whom he and the governments associated against Germany are dealing—is, therefore, 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.”