File No. 763.72119/148
The Ambassador in Germany (Gerard) to the Secretary of State
[Received May 31, 10.05 a. m.]
3939. The Pan-Germanistic press will not listen to any talk of mediation by America. Kreuz Zeitung surmises that English influences are back of the present peace movement and that the President will propose terms acceptable to the Allies, but which Germany will be bound to reject, the result being that all the blame will fall on Germany. Cologne Gazette thinks that the President’s speeches are without any practical basis and are only to be considered in the light of internal politics.
Georg Bernhard in Vossische Zeitung writes that he does not expect the President to take any immediate action, but that peace will come when the German harvest is gathered in and England and France are forced to acknowledge that the pedagogism of reducing Germany by starvation cannot be realized; the fruits of toil, [of] battle, of victory, will ripen with the fruits of the field.