OCR Text |
Show All Nation Demands Complete Surrender By Uniud Pr.... WASHINGTON, Oct 22. Germany must come to military term with Marshal Foch. Thu waa the outstanding; feature of developments here up to noon today, following the receipt of the latest reply to President Wilson. The next logical step appeared to be an announcement from Foch of the term on which he would consider an armistice possible. Whether the president will request Foch to make this statement at this time is purely problematical. It is believed in military circles that Foch's minimum term will . include allied occupation of Metz, Strassburg and Cobleiu. Meantime, public pressure from the entire naion in the form of telegrams and editorial opinion waa combined with the strongest demands from congress, expressed Ijr members individually, that unconditional surrender be made the only basis for further negotiations. , CAUTION NEEDED Ifl HANDLMG SITUATION ARISING FROM NOTE By Associated Press. WASHINGTON. Oct. 22. Tho official text of Germany's latest note to President Wilson was received by cable today at the Swiss legation. Frederick Oederlin, the Swiss ehorge, arranged to deliver it to Secretary Lansing as soon as it could bo decoded. The charge's appearance at tho atate department waa delayed for several hours as tho task of decoding and translating proved to be long and tedious. Considerable differences in verbiage may be shown and it is understood the official toxt will clear up certain obscure 'passages in tho wireless version received yesterday; By Robert J. Bender ' Unit.d Press Staff Correspondent. WASHINGTON, Oct. 22. President Wilson will act with extreme caution and probably equal deliberation in handling the situation arising from the latest German peace response. The Missouri test "show me" will be applied to the reply to the president's demands before further steps are taken. Time alone can tell as to the efficacy of Germany's restraining orders to her submarines and her troops, and the closest scrutiny must be made, it was pointed out, of the new German government to see whether it measures up to requirements set by the president at Mount Vernon. The official lextof the German note has been received by the Hwiss lega-jtion lega-jtion and "ia now being decoded. It will be delivered by Secretary 1-anMng shortly. j- If the reply standa the test, peace 'maneuvers will pass from diplomftlir to military control, and Marshal Foch ,will taJte the wheel from the presi-jdent. presi-jdent. President Wilaon's course hes been jto determine definitely Germany's ac-Iceptance ac-Iceptance of the American terms laid ' down .in his several speeches and jthen turn the whole Job over to Koch jto conclude. AVOID TRICKERY. j A pause in the next etepMs nei-es-jftltateri by the need for carefully checking up on the German declaration declara-tion of intentions to preclude any I trickery. Also exchanges ft opinion (already tinder wsy must he carried j on between the government and the a 1 1 les. And f u rt he r. t he reaction of the American people to the latest German note must be taken Into ac-j ac-j count. It is deemed likely, however, that after the president has an opportunity opportu-nity to study the official text of the iGerman note some indication will be given out as to his attitude. Mean- time, many in congress apd the press I 'of this and allied nations demand an I end to the parley and application of ! "unconditional surrender." Intimates of the president see In .Germany's latest move an abject confession con-fession of d ef ea t and cu I pa b i 1 i t y to which the government would .submit only In the hope of obtaining a tolerable- peace, or, fail ins that, securing intense populsr determination of her people to fight against "extermination." "extermina-tion." IS GERMANY SINCERE? President Wilson's Jabors during the present peace drive have been to prevent pre-vent the pa n -German junkers from convincing the (srman people that military leadership alone ran enable Germany to survive. This idea on (Continued on page 3L CAUTION NECESSARY IN HANDLING OF HUN WEST x i Continued from page 1.) of President Wilson's terms. However-Hitchcock However-Hitchcock did not think it would result immediately In an armistice, aa he expects ex-pects General Foch to demand such har. i.rm that flermany will delay negotiations. As for the changes In the German constitution, the foreign relations chairman felt tho Germans had met the president's requlrementa. BORAH EXPRESSIVE. I Senator McCumJer characterised tha answer as "camouflage." Senator Borah called Soif a liar, ex- ; claiming: "They don't know what a free government Is." Senator Lodge, Republican leader, withheld comment pending closer study of the German note. Senator Thomas said the president should refer Germany to Foch for further fur-ther negotiations. He felt Germany's denial of atrocities orsnded the whole note as false. 0 Senator A ah u rat saw trickery In the Hun response, describing It as cunning, cun-ning, shrewd, subtle and ingenious. The Teuton disclaimer regarding brutalities. bru-talities. Ashurtt said, reminded him of a convicted criminal standing under the gallows and proclaiming for himself him-self a certificate of good chaiacter. a serious blow In the event of an Aua-trifin Aua-trifin defection, diplomats say. While admitting the conciliatory tenor of the German note, entente diplomats dip-lomats re nut Inclined to weloome an armistice without ironhound guarantees guaran-tees dictated by alil-d military representatives repre-sentatives at Versailles. Allied diplomats diplo-mats are eager that the war should end at an - early date, but only on terms which amount to a German surrender, sur-render, either forced by more fighting or agreed to through an armlatlce. They do not welcome or seriously consider con-sider any armistice proposal which inflicts in-flicts less stern terms upon Germany s military establishment. OFFICIALS SKEPTICAL As to the alleged constitutional changes pointed to by Solf in his note of yesterday, diplomats are skeptical. That Germany ia on the road lo a real political reform la not doubted, but time must elP" before permanent changes are effected in th constitution. constitu-tion. It ia aald. Neutral diplomats, while naturally not spe-nklng for publication, express the view that Germany is sincerely desirous de-sirous of peace. They expect the allies to follow President Wileoo's load in meeting the preacnt peace offensive. By the German reply it Is now up to President WHeon to either recommend to the able that an armistice be considered con-sidered or rejected, they say. They do not believe he will go much further without bringing the allies in. pointing out that thua far the Interchange has hen confined entirely to Berlin and j Washington. It Is possible that Preei- dent Wtlaon will ask the allied military commanders for a atatoment as to the advisability of ah armistice and as to what terms they think desirable from the allied point of view. Such a move would tend to create a greater allied unity In the political strategy of the war toward which President.Wlleon is now making determined effofts .behind the scene. UP TO FOCH. Senator Hitchcock, chairman of the foreign relations committee, declared he believed the note was an acceptance I ; r the president's part will figure la the forthcoming action. As to the question of German sincerity sin-cerity In wanting peace. It can be said that some persons close to the president presi-dent and atate department viewed the German reply as acceptance of the president's terms of evacuation. They said frankly that there was no doubt In their minds that Germany was both el in -ere and desperate In her attempt to get peace. Incidentally, they pointed to Herr Harden' speech In Berlin, wherein be was applauded when he declared tha emperor must Submit to tha inevitable and become the nation's first cltlsen, stripped of his former autocratic power. Harden has been the most Independent of German writers, writ-ers, and the government for some reason rea-son has never dared suppress him en-I en-I tireiy. according lo state department I authorities. HUN AONHT a--ftWLTi ; Germany's attempted Justification of her wanton acts of cruelty and de-jatruction de-jatruction on land and sea stirred re-j re-j eentinent here. Rut authorities said that in the same breath she apparently met the prt sldent's requirements by claiming to have ordered these practices prac-tices stopped. Hr'e jt WM eld that she virtually admitted guilt thereby. Miliary men and others say that while there may be trickery in Germany's Ger-many's recent maneuvers, the millt.iry-economic millt.iry-economic situation confronting her Is so bad that there ran now be no question ques-tion that she Is making a sincere drive for peace. From he president down, ell are satisfied sat-isfied to leave In the hands of Koch adjustment of any armistice. Under the conditions for this laid down by President Wilson. Foch Is able to calculate cal-culate tho comparative advantages of ceasing or continuing to fight. His a ill be the problem of determining whether the chance of malting a big hag of the Germans retreating lo their ' frontiers warrants continued pressure J by the allies, or whether. If the German Ger-man army can withdraw with comparatively com-paratively small losses, an armtstloe Is advisable now to save human lives. READY TO DEMOBILIZE. That the Germans are preparing not only for complete withdrawal, but actual ac-tual demobilisation, of Ihe armies, is Indicated in a dispatch to this government govern-ment today from Copenhagen, which announced that reaabls newspapers there printed German dispatches that German railroads have been aeked to preiare fur a demobilisation order. Other dispatches show that Germany has been prepared for some time to go far toward peac and has for some weeks known the hopelessness of her dreams of victory and conquest. One of these, received through official channels from Copenhagen, quotes informal. in-formal. on direct from reliable sources lit Berlin, which said: "Ludendorff admitted the game la lost and sent a telegram to the kaiser the latter part of September saying he could not hold the wst front longer than fourteen days. Ludendorff has hat his nerve and raa no longer sleep well." PRIDE IS POCKETEO. Diplomatic comment, whlie guarded, has practically agreed that Germany had pocketed her pride In the lateet note. But some expressed the view that her eitreme humility looked suspicious sus-picious and that if Germany were actually ac-tually in the dire straits which such a note might indicate, she would never admit it to the allies Kntente military men also pointed to the fart that Germany Is conducting her retirement without great losses In men and supplies and In perfect order. They dowbt if her military situation le eo weak as Is generally supposed, although the fact that the allied strength grows daily, while tho German Ger-man army diminishes probably plays a part la prompting tne present desperate desper-ate attempt for an early peace. Austria s Imminent col lapse eras pointed to as another factor which le prompting the German move for an j early peace. Morale, which is growling grow-ling weaker In Germany, would receive |