File No. 763.72/3079
The Chargé in Germany (Grew) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 20, 7 p. m.]
4749. Press summary. In an address at Crefeld Sunday last, Stresemann, a prominent National Liberal member of the Reichstag, stated that he had full confidence that the present foreign policy now happily in the hands of Zimmermann would do all it could to meet the arming of enemy merchantmen with the unrestricted use of the submarine regardless of any unauthorized protests of alleged neutrals. Cologne Gazette writes that Stresemann and Scheidemann, men of two extremes, have now expressed agreement that if Germany’s peace offer is rejected the Germans will to the last man fight until the victory is gained. The new auxiliary service will make it absolutely sure that Germany has the superiority in artillery. And then out with the submarines. If there is a German left who still has leanings towards sentimentality after all Germany has experienced, he will set his teeth and be responsive to nothing but the calls of the Fatherland. No American shall then prevent us from forcing the peace which the enemy refused to arrange for by negotiation.
In the Vossische Zeitung Georg Bernhard writes that rejection of the peace offer cannot mean anything else but further battle, heedless and merciless battle; the faint hopes of the enemy are set on England’s starvation plan; it is for Germany then to wield the weapon of starvation against England, and the supreme military command will decide when and how this is to be done. The Socialist Vorwärts deplores this agitation which only goes to show that [Page 104] certain circles in Germany think that the only value of the peace offer lies in its rejection; the premature discussion of its rejection connected with the demand for more severe warfare can produce only an unfavorable impression abroad. Cologne Gazette prints an inspired article:
Of course the foreign press is full of rumors as to Germany’s peace terms, some favorable but others only calculated to sow the seeds of mistrust against the peace offer. Foreign public opinion must deal with these rumors as it sees fit, but for Germany the text of the note itself must be taken as a guide. It says that our own rights and just claims do not conflict with the rights of the other nations and that the proposals which we would bring with us for the negotiations would furnish a suitable basis for the establishment of a lasting peace. These are firm and plain guide posts; nothing more can be offered at the present stage.
Frankfurter has a long editorial advocating the limitation of armaments by universal agreement, to be supplemented by a revision of the laws of maritime warfare effectually insuring the freedom of the seas. Count Reventlow ridicules any such plans for paper treaties involving the surrender of Germany’s power; Germany needs sea power to live, and it is indispensable [for] such sea power that she possess a high-seas fleet of sufficient strength and the coast of Flanders.