Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong died at age 82.
Like all real Communist leaders he was responsible for seas of blood being shed, in his case in China. His long rise to power featured a very prolonged contest with Chiang Kai-shek, whom he outlived by one year.
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China signed the Boxer Protocol, one of China's "Unequal Treaties".
SETTLEMENT OF MATTERS GROWING OUT OF THE BOXER UPRISING (BOXER PROTOCOL)
The Plenipotentiaries of Germany, His Excellency M. A. Mumm von Schwarzenstein; of Austria-Hungary, His Excellency M. M. Czikann von Wahlbom; of Belgium, His Excellency M. Joostens; of Spain, M. B. J. de Cologan; of the United States, His Excellency Mr. W. W. Rockhill; of France, His Excellency M. Paul Beau; of Great Britain, His Excellency Sir Ernest Satow; of Italy, Marquis Salvago Raggi; of Japan, His Excellency M. Jutaro Komura; of the Netherlands, His Excellency M. F. M. Knobel; of Russia, His Excellency M. M. de Giers; and of China, His Highness Yi-K'uang, Prince of the First Rank Ching, President of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and His Excellency Li Hung-chang, Earl of the First Rank, Su-i, Tutor of the Heir Apparent, Grand Secretary of the Wen-nua Throne Hall, Minister of Commerce, Superintendent of the Northern Ports, Governor-General of Chihli, have met for the purpose of declaring that China has complied to the satisfaction of the Powers with the conditions laid down in the note of the 22d of December, 1900,[3] which were accepted in their entirety by His Majesty the Emperor of China in a decree dated the 27th of December, 1900 (Annex No. 1).
Article I a
By an Imperial Edict of the 9th of June last (Annex No. 2), Tsai Feng, Prince of the First Rank Ch'ün, was appointed Ambassador of His Majesty the Emperor of China, and directed in that capacity to convey to His Majesty the German Emperor the expression of the regrets of His Majesty the Emperor of China and of the Chinese Government for the assassination of His Excellency the late Baron von Ketteler, German Minister.
Prince Ch'ün left Peking the 12th of July last to carry out the orders which had been given him.
Article I b
The Chinese Government has stated that it will erect on the spot of the assassination of His Excellency the late Baron von Ketteler a commemorative monument, worthy of the rank of the deceased, and bearing an inscription in the Latin, German, and Chinese languages, which shall express the regrets of His Majesty the Emperor of China for the murder committed.
Their Excellencies the Chinese Plenipotentiaries have informed His Excellency the German Plenipotentiary, in a letter dated the 22nd of July last (Annex No. 3), that an arch of the whole width of the street would be erected on the said spot and that work on it was begun the 25th of June last.
Article II a
Imperial Edicts of the 13th and 21st of February, 1901 (Annexes Nos. 4, 5, and 6), inflicted the following punishments on the principal authors of the outrages and crimes committed against the foreign Governments and their nationals:
Tsai-I, Prince Tuan and Tsai Lan, Duke Fu-kuo, were sentenced to be brought before the autumn Court of Assizes for execution, and it was agreed that if the Emperor saw fit to grant them their lives, they should be exiled to Turkestan and there imprisoned for life, without the possibility of commutation of this punishment.
Tsai Hsün, Prince Chuang, Ying Nien, President of the Court of Censors, and Chao Shu-Chiao, President of the Board of Punishments, were condemned to commit suicide.
Yü Hsien, Governor of Shanhsi, Chi Hsiu, President of the Board of Rites, and Hsü Cheng-yu, formerly Senior Vice-President of the Board of Punishments, were condemned to death.
Posthumous degradation was inflicted on Kang Yi, Assistant Grand Secretary, President of the Board of Works, Hsü Tung, Grand Secretary, and Li Ping-heng, former Governor-General of Szu-ch'uan.
An Imperial Edict of February 13th, 1901 (Annex No. 7), rehabilitated the memories of Hsü Yung-yi, President of the Board of War, Li Shan, President of the Board of Works, Hsü Ching-cheng, Senior Vice-President of the Board of Works, Lien Yuan, Vice-Chancellor of the Grand Council, and Yuan Chang, Vice-President of the Court of Sacrifices, who had been put to death for having protested against the outrageous breaches of international law of last year.
Prince Chuang committed suicide the 21st of February, 1901, Ying Nien and Chao Shu-chiao the 24th, Yü Hsien was executed the 22nd, Chi Hsiu and Hsü Cheng-yu on the 26th. Tung Fuhsiang, General in Kan-su, has been deprived of his office by Imperial Edict of the 13th of February, 1901, pending the determination of the final punishment to be inflicted on him.
Imperial Edicts dated the 29th of April and 19th of August, 1901, have inflicted proportional punishments on the provincial officials convicted of the crimes and outrages of last summer.
Article II b
An Imperical Edict promulgated the 19th of August, 1901 (Annex No. 8), ordered the suspension of official examinations for five years in all cities where foreigners were massacred or subjected to cruel treatment.
Article III
In order to make honorable reparation for the assassination of Mr. Sugiyama, chancellor of the Japanese Legation, His Majesty the Emperor of China by an Imperial Edict of the 18th of June, 1901 (Annex No. 9), appointed Na Tung, Vice-President of the Board of Revenue to be his Envoy Extraordinary, and specially directed him to convey to His Majesty the Emperor of Japan the expression of the regrets of His Majesty the Emperor of China and of his Government at the assassination of the late Mr. Sugiyama.
Article IV
The Chinese Government has agreed to erect an expiatory monument in each of the foreign or international cemeteries which were desecrated and in which the tombs were destroyed.
It has been agreed with the Representatives of the Powers that the legations interested shall settle the details for the erection of these monuments, China bearing all the expenses thereof, estimated at ten thousand taels for the cemeteries at Peking and within its neighborhood, and at five thousand taels for the cemeteries in the provinces. The amounts have been paid and the list of these cemeteries is enclosed herewith (Annex No. 10).
Article V
China has agreed to prohibit the importation into its territory of arms and ammunition, as well as of materials exclusively used for the manufacture of arms and ammunition.
An Imperial Edict has been issued on the 25th of August, 1901 (Annex No. 11), forbidding said importation for a term of two years. New Edicts may be issued subsequently extending this by other successive terms of two years in case of necessity recognized by the Powers.
Article VI
By an Imperial Edict dated the 29th of May, 1901 (Annex No. 12), His Majesty the Emperor of China agreed to pay the Powers an indemnity of four hundred and fifty million Haikwan Taels. This sum represents the total amount of the indemnities for States, companies or societies, private individuals, and Chinese referred to in Article VI of the note of December 22nd, 1900.
(a) These four hundred and fifty millions constitute a gold debt calculated at the rate of the Haikwan Tael to the gold currency of each country, as indicated below:
1 Haikwan Tael = Marks 3.055
= Austro-Hungarian Crowns 3.595
= gold Dollar 0.742
= Francs 3.750
= Pound Sterling 0 3s. 0d.
= Yen 1.407
= Netherlands Florin 1.796
= gold Ruble (17.424 dolias fine) 1.412
This sum in gold will bear interest at 4per cent per annum, and the capital shall be reimbursed by China in thirty-nine years in the manner indicated in the annexed plan of amortization (Annex No. 13).
Capital and interest will be payable in gold or at the rates of exchange prevailing on the dates at which the different payments fall due. The amortization will begin on the 1st of January, 1902, and will end at the close of the year 1940. The amortizations are payable annually, the first payment being fixed on the 1st of January, 1903.
Interest will run from the 1st of July, 1901; but the Chinese Government shall have the right to pay off within a term of three years, beginning January 1, 1902, the arrears of the first six months, ending the 31st of December, 1901, on condition, however, that it pay compound interest at the rate of 4 per cent per annum on the sums the payments of which shall have thus been deferred. Interest shall be payable semiannually, the first payment being due on the 1st of July, 1902.
(b) The service of the debt will be effected at Shanghai, in the following manner: Each Power will be represented by a delegate on a commission of bankers authorized to receive the amount of interest and amortization which shall be paid to it by the Chinese authorities designated for that purpose, to divide it among the interested parties, and to give a receipt for the same.
(c) The Chinese Government shall deliver to the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps at Peking a bond for the lump sum, which will subsequently be converted into fractional bonds bearing the signatures of the delegates of the Chinese Government designated for that purpose. This operation and all those relating to the issue of the bonds will be performed by the above-mentioned Commission, in accordance with the instructions which the Powers shall send their delegates.
(d) The proceeds of the revenues assigned to the payment of the bonds shall be paid monthly to the Commission.
(e) The revenues assigned as security for the bonds are the following:
1. The balance of the revenues of the Imperial Maritime Customs, after payment of the interest and amortization of preceding loans secured on these revenues, plus the proceeds of the increase to five per cent effective of the present tariff on maritime imports, including articles hitherto on the free list, with the exception of rice, cereals, and flour of foreign origin, as well as of gold and silver, minted or unminted.
2. The revenues of the native customs, administered in the open ports by the Imperial Maritime Customs.
3. The total revenues of the gabelle [salt tax], exclusive of the fraction previously set aside for other foreign loans.
The raising of the present tariff on imports to five per cent effective is agreed to on the conditions mentioned below.
It will be put in force two months after the signing of the present protocol, and no exceptions shall be made save for merchandise shipped not more than ten days after that date.
1°. All duties on imports levied ad valorem shall be converted as far as possible and as soon as may be into specific duties. This conversion will be made in the following manner: The average value of merchandise at the time of its unloading during the three years 1897, 1898, and 1899, that is to say, the market price less the amount of import duties and incidental expenses, shall be taken as the basis for the valuation of merchandise. Pending the result of the work of conversion, duties shall be levied ad valorem.
2°. The beds of the rivers Peiho and Whangpu will be improved with the financial participation of China.
Article VII
The Chinese Government has agreed that the quarter occupied by the legations shall be considered as one specially reserved for their use and placed under their exclusive control, in which Chinese shall not have the right to reside and which may be made defensible.
The limits of this quarter have been fixed as follows on the annexed plan (Annex No. 14):
On the west, the line 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
On the north, the line 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.
On the east, Ketteler Street: 10, 11, 12.
On the south, the line 12–1, drawn along the outer base of the Tartar wall, taking in the bastions.
In the protocol annexed to the letter of the 16th of January, 1901,[4] China recognized the right of each Power to maintain a permanent guard in the said quarter for the defense of its legation.
Article VIII
The Chinese Government has consented to raze the forts of Taku and those which might impede free communication between Peking and the sea. Steps have been taken for carrying this out.
Article IX
The Chinese Government has conceded to the Powers, in the protocol annexed to the letter of the 16th of January, 1901, the right to occupy certain points, to be determined by an agreement between them, for the maintenance of open communication between the capital and the sea. The points occupied by the Powers are:
Huang-tsun, Lang-fang, Yang-tsun, Tientsin, Chum-liang, Ch'eng, Tang-ku, Lu-tai, Tang-shan, Lan-chou, Chang-li, Ch'in-wang tao, Shan-hai kuan.
Article X
The Chinese Government has agreed to post and to publish for two years in all district cities the following Imperial Edicts:
(a) Edict of the 1st of February, 1901 (Annex No. 15), prohibiting forever, under pain of death, membership in any anti-foreign society.
(b) Edicts of the 13 and 25 February, 29 April and 19 August enumerating the punishments inflicted on the guilty.
(c) Edict of the 19th August, 1901, prohibiting examinations in all cities where foreigners were massacred or subjected to cruel treatment.
(d) Edict of the 1st of February, 1901 (Annex No. 16), declaring all governors-general, governors, and provincial or local officials responsible for order in their respective districts, and that in case of new anti-foreign troubles or other infractions of the treaties which shall not be immediately repressed and the authors of which shall not have been punished, these officials shall be immediately dismissed, without possibility of being given new functions or new honors.
The posting of these edicts is taking place progressively throughout the Empire.
Article XI
The Chinese Government has undertaken to negotiate such amendments to the treaties of commerce and navigation as the foreign Governments have considered desirable, as well as other points bearing on commercial relations, with the object of facilitating these.
At present, and as a result of the stipulations contained in Article VI concerning the indemnity, the Chinese Government agrees to assist in the improvement of the courses of the rivers Peiho and Whangpu, as stated below.
(a) The works for the improvement of navigation in the Peiho, begun in 1898 with the cooperation of the Chinese Government, have been resumed under the direction of an international Commission. As soon as the administration of Tientsin shall have been handed back to the Chinese Government, the latter will be able to have a representative on this Commission, and will pay each year a sum of sixty thousand Haikwan Taels for continuing the works.
(b) A River Board, charged with the management and control of the work of straightening the Whangpu and improving the course of that river, is hereby created.
This Board shall consist of members representing the interests of the Chinese Government and those of foreigners in the shipping trade of Shanghai. The expense to be incurred for the works and the general management of the undertaking is estimated at the annual sum of four hundred and sixty thousand Haikwan Taels for the first twenty years. This sum will be supplied in equal portions by the Chinese Government and the foreign interests concerned. Detailed stipulations concerning the composition, duties, and revenues of the River Board are embodied in Annex No. 17.
Article XII
An Imperial Edict of the 24th of July, 1901 (Annex No. 18), reorganized the Office of Foreign Affairs, (Tsungli Yamen), on the lines indicated by the Powers, that is to say, transformed it into a Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Waiwu Pu), which takes precedence over the six other Ministries of State. The same Edict appointed the principal members of this Ministry.
An agreement has also been reached concerning the modification of Court ceremonial as regards the reception of foreign Representatives and has been the subject of several notes from the Chinese Plenipotentiaries, the substance of which is embodied in a memorandum herewith annexed (Annex No. 19).
Finally, it is expressly understood that as regards the declarations above set forth and the annexed documents emanating from the foreign Plenipotentiaries, the French text alone is authoritative.
The Chinese Government having thus complied to the satisfaction of the Powers with the conditions laid down in the above-mentioned note of December 22nd, 1900, the Powers have acceded to the wish of China to terminate the situation created by the disorders of the summer of 1900. The foreign Plenipotentiaries are therefore authorized to declare in the names of their Governments that, with the exception of the legation guards mentioned in Article VII, the international troops will completely evacuate the city of Peking, on the 17th September, 1901, and, with the exception of the localities mentioned in Article IX, will withdraw from the province of Chihli on the 22d of September.
The present final Protocol has been drawn up in twelve identic copies and signed by all the Plenipotentiaries of the Contracting Countries. One copy will be given to each of the foreign Plenipotentiaries, and one copy will be given to the Chinese Plenipotentiaries.
Peking, 7th September, 1901.
[For Germany:]
A v Mumm[seal]
[For Austria-Hungary:]
M. Czikann[seal]
[For Belgium:]
Joostens[seal]
[For Spain:]
B J de Cologan[seal]
[For the United States]
W. W. Rockhill[seal]
[For France:]
Beau[seal]
[For the United Kingdom:]
Ernest Satow[seal]
[For Italy:]
Salvago Raggi[seal]
[For Japan:]
Jutaro Komura[seal]
[For the Netherlands:]
F. M. Knobel[seal]
[For Russia:]
M. de Giers[seal]
[For China:]
Yi-K'uang[seal]
Li Hung-chang[seal]
Annexes to the Final Protocol
Vice President Roosevelt traveled to Buffalo where he met with the President, the Cabinet, various Senators and Congressmen and the press.
Last edition:
The James Gang was disastrously shot up in their attempt to pull off a bank robbery in Northfield Minnesota. Three were killed outright, others wounded, with arrests following, with posses being made up principally of local volunteers.
Frank and Jesse James escaped, but the raid was the end of the gang.
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You know the drill.
Republicans will claim he's "trolling". MAGA will say "watch the libs, har, har, har, pass me my twelfth Bud. . . " Mike Johnson will claim he was too busy to notice. John Barrasso will look like he's badly constipated.
The Trump will do it.
J. D. Vance will claim it's a good idea, while going back to spruce up his resume for his inevitable Starbucks job application.
Seriously, he's either completely insane, or crying out for intervention.
This is not normal. Trump is not normal. He's not alright.
Last edition:
The following was posted by Assistant Secretary of Defense, Sean Parnell:
Included in that set of views, for some, is the concept that Christians can help bring about the Second Coming and, in some quarters, that the United States is a nation directly charged with a Devine Mission.
The military is definitely suffering right now, with some elements of the Navy having morale problems and a war going on which the administration repeatedly claims we've won, but which drags on. The current hope is that economic sanctions will bring Iran to its knees but none of the predictions about the war have proven correct so far.
Not one.
One way to definitely end the war would be to commit ground troops. It'd also be a bloody mess.
These recruiting blurbs do not indicate a commitment to inserting ground troops, but they do demonstrate a frightening mix of religion with foreign policy. We are not Crusaders and frankly Crusaders would have regarded American Evangelicals as weird heretics. The fact that the government sends out a message like this should be alarming, and it should be offensive to Christians, Muslims and Jews, all of whom regard Isaiah as a prophet.
Indeed, when Isaiah spoke those words, he wasn't asking to be sent into combat. He was being sent as a prophet.
The military should never be committed to an immoral cause, but we should not imagine that every time it has been committed the commitment met Christian standards. None of the military actions taken during the Second Trump Administration do. They most particularly do not under the reconsideration of the Just War Theory made by Pope Leo.
What Parnell did here is wrong on so many levels. Christians should be horrified.
It was Labor Day in the U.S.
I would have been 13 years old. We probably went dove hunting, and maybe fishing.
Soviet Air Force Lieutenant Viktor Belenko defected with his Mig 25 to Japan. He would receive asylum in the United States, where he lived for the rest of his life, during which he constantly feared being assassinated by the Soviets/Russians. He died in 2023 in Illinois at age 76.
The Mig 25 was widely feared by Western nations and the defection was a windfall and a deflation as the plane turned out to be much cruder than imagined. For a time there was suspicion that the defection was itself a deception operation by the Soviet Union.
I recall this event occurring.
Vietnam disclosed the names and fates of twelve Missing In Action aviators who had been killed after being shot down during the Vietnam War.
Last edition:
U.S. Secretary of State James F. Byrnes delivered the speech "Restatement of Policy on Germany" in Stuttgart, Germany. The speech signaled a radically revised vision for postwar Germany, abandoning the late Roosevelt policy and particularly the Morgenthau policy, and indicating to the Germans that they would be able to rebuild a modern state.
It was a stunning, and brilliant, reversal of a policy that would have relegated Germany to rural poverty which, given its dense population, would have resulted in a major shift towards communism. It also indicated to the Germans that there was hope of putting the recent Nazi past behind them and that they'd be able to rejoin the Western World.
He stated:
General McNarney, ladies and gentlemen:
I have come to Germany to learn at first hand the problems involved in the reconstruction of Germany and to discuss with our representatives the views of the United States Government as to some of the problems confronting us.
We in the United States have given considerable time and attention to these problems because upon their proper solution will depend not only the future well-being of Germany, but the future well-being of Europe.
We have learned, whether we like it or not, that we live in one world, from which world we cannot isolate ourselves. We have learned that peace and well-being are indivisible and that our peace and well-being cannot be purchased at the price of peace or the well-being of any other country.
I hope that the German people will never again make the mistake of believing that because the American people are peace-loving, they will sit back hoping for peace if any nation uses force or the threat of force to acquire dominion over other peoples and other governments.
In 1917 the United States was forced into the first World War. After that war we refused to join the League of Nations. We thought we could stay out of Europe's wars, and we lost interest in the affairs of Europe. That did not keep us from being forced into a second world war.
We will not again make that mistake. We intend to continue our interest in the affairs of Europe and of the world. We have helped to organize the United Nations. We believe it will stop aggressor nations from starting wars. Because we believe it, we intend to support the United Nations organization with all the power and resources we possess.
The American people want peace. They have long since ceased to talk of a hard or a soft peace for Germany. This never has been the real issue. What we want is a lasting peace. We will oppose harsh and vengeful measures which obstruct an effective peace. We will oppose soft measures which invite the breaking of the peace.
In agreeing at Potsdam that Germany should be disarmed and demilitarized and in proposing that the four major powers should by treaty jointly undertake to see that Germany is kept disarmed and demilitarized for a generation, the United States was not unmindful of the responsibility resting upon it and its major Allies to maintain and enforce peace under law.
Freedom from militarism will give the German people the opportunity, if they will but seize it, to apply their great energies and abilities to the works of peace. It will give them the opportunity to show themselves worthy of the respect and friendship of peace-loving nations, and in time, to take an honorable place among members of the United Nations.
It is not in the interest of the German people or in the interest of world peace that Germany should become a pawn or a partner in a military struggle for power between the East and the West.
Twice in our generation, German militarism and Nazism have devastated the lands of German neighbors. It is only fair and just that Germany should do her part to repair that devastation. Most of the victims of Nazi aggression before the war were less well off than Germany. They should not be expected by Germany to bear, unaided, the major costs of Nazi aggression.
The United States, therefore, is prepared to carry out fully the principles outlined in the Potsdam Agreement on demilitarization and reparations. However, there should be changes in the levels of industry agreed upon by the Allied Control Commission if Germany is not to be administered as an economic unit as the Potsdam Agreement contemplates and requires.
The basis of the Potsdam Agreement was that, as part of a combined program of demilitarization and reparations, Germany's war potential should be reduced by elimination and removal of her war industries and the reduction and removal of heavy industrial plants. It was contemplated this should be done to the point that Germany would be left with levels of industry capable of maintaining in Germany average European living standards without assistance from other countries.
The plants so to be removed were to be delivered as reparations to the Allies. The plants to be removed from the Soviet zone would go to the Soviet Union and Poland; and the plants to be removed from the western zones would go in part to the Soviet Union but in the main to the western Allies. Provision was also made for the distribution of Germany's foreign assets among the Allies.
After considerable discussion the Allies agreed upon levels to which the principal German industries should be reduced to carry out the Potsdam Agreement. These levels were agreed to upon the assumption that the indigenous resources of Germany were to be available for distribution on an equitable basis for all of the Germans in Germany and that products not necessary for use in Germany would be available for export in order to pay for necessary imports.
In fixing the levels of industry, no allowance was made for reparations from current production. Reparations from current production would be wholly incompatible with the levels of industry now established under the Potsdam Agreement.
Obviously, higher levels of industry would have had to be fixed if reparations from current production were contemplated. The levels of industry fixed are only sufficient to enable the German people to become self-supporting and to maintain living standards approximating the average European living conditions.
That principle involved serious hardships for the German people, but it only requires them to share the hardships which Nazi aggression imposed on the average European.
The German people were not denied, however, the possibility of improving their lot by hard work over the years. Industrial growth and progress were not denied them. Being obliged to start again like the people of other devastated countries, with a peacetime economy not able to provide them more than the average European standard, the German people were not to be denied the right to use such savings as they might be able to accumulate by hard work and frugal living to build up their industries for peaceful purposes.
That was the principle of reparations to which President Truman agreed at Potsdam. And the United States will not agree to the taking from Germany of greater reparations than was provided by the Potsdam Agreement.
The carrying out of the Potsdam Agreement has, however, been obstructed by the failure of the Allied Control Council to take the necessary steps to enable the German economy to function as an economic unit. Essential central German administrative departments have not been established, although they are expressly required by the Potsdam Agreement.
The equitable distribution of essential commodities between the several zones so as to produce a balanced economy throughout Germany and reduce the need for imports has not been arranged, although that, too, is expressly required by the Potsdam Agreement.
The working out of a balanced economy throughout Germany to provide the necessary means to pay for approved imports has not been accomplished, although that too is expressly required by the Potsdam Agreement.
The United States is firmly of the belief that Germany should be administered as an economic unit and that zonal barriers should be completely obliterated so far as the economic life and activity in Germany are concerned.
The conditions which now exist in Germany make it impossible for industrial production to reach the levels which the occupying powers agreed were essential for a minimum German peacetime economy.
Obviously, if the agreed levels of industry are to be reached, we cannot continue to restrict the free exchange of commodities, persons, and ideas throughout Germany. The barriers between the four zones of Germany are far more difficult to surmount than those between normal independent states.
The time has come when the zonal boundaries should be regarded as defining only the areas to be occupied for security purposes by the armed forces of the occupying powers and not as self-contained economic or political units.
That was the course of development envisaged by the Potsdam Agreement, and that is the course of development which the American Government intends to follow to the full limit of its authority. It has formally announced that it is its intention to unify the economy of its own zone with any or all of the other zones willing to participate in the unification.
So far, only the British Government has agreed to let its zone participate. We deeply appreciate their cooperation. Of course, this policy of unification is not intended to exclude the governments not now willing to join. The unification will be open to them at any time they wish to join.
We favor the economic unification of Germany. If complete unification cannot be secured, we shall do everything in our power to secure the maximum possible unification.
Important as economic unification is for the recovery of Germany and of Europe, the German people must recognize that the basic cause of their suffering and distress is the war which the Nazi dictatorship brought upon the world.
But just because suffering and distress in Germany are inevitable, the American Government is unwilling to accept responsibility for the needless aggravation of economic distress that is caused by the failure of the Allied Control Council to agree to give the German people a chance to solve some of their most urgent economic problems.
So far as many vital questions are concerned, the Control Council is neither governing Germany nor allowing Germany to govern itself. A common financial policy is essential for the successful rehabilitation of Germany. Runaway inflation accompanied by economic paralysis is almost certain to develop unless there is a common financial policy directed to the control of inflation. A program of drastic fiscal reform to reduce currency and monetary claims, to revise the debt structure, and to place Germany on a sound financial basis is urgently required.
The United States has worked hard to develop such a program, but fully coordinated measures must be accepted and applied uniformly to all zones if ruinous inflation is to be prevented. A central agency of finance is obviously necessary to carry out any such program effectively.
It is also essential that transportation, communications, and postal services should be organized throughout Germany without regard to zonal barriers. The nationwide organization of these public services was contemplated by the Potsdam Agreement. Twelve months have passed and nothing has been done.
Germany needs all the food she can produce. Before the war she could not produce enough food for her population. The area of Germany has been reduced. The population in Silesia, for instance, has been forced back into a restricted Germany. Armies of occupation and displaced persons increase demands while the lack of farm machinery and fertilizer reduces supplies. To secure the greatest possible production of food and the most effective use and distribution of the food that can be produced, a central administrative department for agriculture should be set up and allowed to function without delay.
Similarly, there is urgent need for the setting up of a central German administrative agency for industry and foreign trade. While Germany must be prepared to share her coal and steel with the liberated countries of Europe dependent upon these supplies, Germany must be enabled to use her skills and her energies to increase her industrial production and to organize the most effective use of her raw materials.
Germany must be given a chance to export goods in order to import enough to make her economy self- sustaining. Germany is a part of Europe and recovery in Europe, and particularly in the states adjoining Germany, will be slow indeed if Germany with her great resources of iron and coal is turned into a poorhouse.
When the ruthless Nazi dictatorship was forced to surrender unconditionally, there was no German government with which the Allies could deal. The Allies had temporarily to take over the responsibilities
of the shattered German state, which the Nazi dictatorship had cut off from any genuine accountability to the German people. The Allies could not leave the leaders or minions of Nazism in key positions, ready to reassert their evil influence at first opportunity. They had to go.
But it never was the intention of the American Government to deny to the German people the right to manage their own internal affairs as soon as they were able to do so in a democratic way, with genuine respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.
The Potsdam Agreement, concluded only a few months after the surrender, bound the occupying powers to restore local self-government and to introduce elective and representative principles into the regional, provincial, and state administration as rapidly as was consistent with military security and the purposes of the military occupation.
The principal purposes of the military occupation were and are to demilitarize and de-Nazify Germany but not raise artificial barriers to the efforts of the German people to resume their peacetime economic life.
The Nazi war criminals were to be punished for the suffering they brought to the world. The policy of reparations and industrial disarmament prescribed in the Potsdam Agreement was to be carried out. But the purpose of the occupation did not contemplate a prolonged foreign dictatorship of Germany's internal political life. The Potsdam Agreement expressly bound the occupying powers to start building a political democracy from the ground up.
The Potsdam Agreement did not provide that there should never be a central German government. It merely provided that for the time being there should be no central German government. Certainly this only meant that no central government should be established until some sort of democracy was rooted in the soul of Germany and some sense of local responsibility developed.
The Potsdam Agreement wisely provided that administration of the affairs of Germany should be directed toward decentralization of the political structure and the development of local responsibility. This was not intended to prevent progress toward a central government with the powers necessary to deal with matters which would be dealt with on a nation-wide basis. But it was intended to prevent establishment of a strong central government dominating the German people instead of being responsible to their democratic will.
It is the view of the American Government that the German people throughout Germany, under proper safeguards, should now be given the primary responsibility for the running of their own affairs.
More than a year has passed since hostilities ceased. The millions of German people should not be forced to live in doubt as to their fate. It is the view of the American Government that the Allies should, without delay, make clear to the German people the essential terms of the peace settlement which they expect the German people to accept and observe. It is our view that the German people should now be permitted and helped to make the necessary preparations for setting up a democratic German government which can accept and observe these terms.
From now on thoughtful people of the world will judge Allied action in Germany not by Allied promises but by Allied performances. The American Government has supported and will continue to support the necessary measures to de-Nazify and demilitarize Germany, but it does not follow that large armies of foreign soldiers or alien bureaucrats, however well motivated and disciplined, are in the long run the most reliable guardians of another country's democracy.
All that the Allied governments can and should do is to lay down the rules under which German democracy can govern itself. The Allied occupation forces should be limited to the number sufficient to see that these rules are obeyed.
But the question for us will be: What force is needed to make certain that Germany does not rearm as it did after the first World War? Our proposal for a treaty with the major powers to enforce for 25 or even 40 years the demilitarization plan finally agreed upon in the peace settlement would have made possible a smaller army of occupation. For enforcement we could rely more upon a force of trained inspectors and less upon infantry.
For instance, if an automobile factory, in violation of the treaty, converted its machinery to the production of weapons of war, inspectors would report it to the Allied Control Council. They would call upon the German Government to stop the production and punish the offender. If the German Government failed to comply then the Allied nations would take steps to enforce compliance by the German Government. Unfortunately our proposal for the treaty was not agreed to.
Security forces will probably have to remain in Germany for a long period. Now, I want no misunderstanding. We will not shirk our duty. We are not withdrawing. We are staying here.
As long as there is an occupation army in Germany, the American armed forces will be part of that occupation army.
The United States favors the early establishment of a provisional German government for Germany. Progress has been made in the American zone in developing local and state self-government in Germany, and the American Government believes similar progress is possible in all zones.
It is the view of the American Government that the provisional government should not be hand-picked by other governments, but should be a German national council composed of democratically responsible minister presidents or other chief officials of the several states or provinces which have been established in each of the four zones.
Subject to the reserved authority of the Allied Control Council, the German National Council should be responsible for the proper functioning of central administrative agencies. Those agencies should have adequate power to assure the administration of Germany as an economic unit, as was contemplated by the Potsdam Agreement.
The German National Council should also be charged with the preparation of a draft of a federal constitution for Germany which, among other things, should insure the democratic character of the new Germany and the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all its inhabitants.
After approval in principle by the Allied Control Council, the proposed constitution should be submitted to an elected convention for final drafting and then submitted to the German people for ratification.
While we shall insist that Germany observe the principles of peace, good-neighborliness, and humanity, we do not want Germany to become the satellite of any power or powers or to live under a dictatorship, foreign or domestic. The American people hope to see peaceful, democratic Germans become and remain free and independent.
Austria has already been recognized as a free and independent country. Her temporary and forced union with Germany was not a happy event for either country, and the United States is convinced that it is in the interest of both countries and the peace of Europe that they should pursue their separate ways.
At Potsdam specific areas which were part of Germany were provisionally assigned to the Soviet Union and to Poland, subject to the final decisions of the Peace Conference. At that time these areas were being held by the Soviet and Polish armies. We were told that Germans in large numbers were fleeing from these areas and that it would in fact, because of the feelings aroused by the war, be difficult to reorganize the economic life of these areas if they were not administered as integral parts in the one case of the Soviet Union and in the other case of Poland.
The heads of government agreed to support at the peace settlement the proposal of the Soviet Government concerning the ultimate transfer to the Soviet Union of the city of Königsberg and the area adjacent to it. Unless the Soviet Government changes its views on the subject we will certainly stand by our agreement.
With regard to Silesia and other eastern German areas, the assignment of this territory to Poland by Russia for administrative purposes had taken place before the Potsdam meeting. The heads of government agreed that, pending the final determination of Poland's western frontier, Silesia and other eastern German areas should be under the administration of the Polish state and for such purposes should not be considered as a part of the Soviet zone of occupation in Germany. However, as the Protocol of the Potsdam Conference makes clear, the heads of government did not agree to support at the peace settlement the cession of this particular area.
The Soviets and the Poles suffered greatly at the hands of Hitler's invading armies. As a result of the agreement at Yalta, Poland ceded to the Soviet Union territory east of the Curzon Line. Because of this, Poland asked for revision of her northern and western frontiers. The United States will support revision of these frontiers in Poland's favor. However, the extent of the area to be ceded to Poland must be determined when the final settlement is agreed upon.
The United States does not feel that it can deny to France, which has been invaded three times by Germany in 70 years, its claim to the Saar territory, whose economy has long been closely linked with France. Of course, if the Saar territory is integrated with France she should readjust her reparation claims against Germany.
Except as here indicated, the United States will not support any encroachment on territory which is indisputably German or any division of Germany which is not genuinely desired by the people concerned. So
far as the United States is aware the people of the Ruhr and the Rhineland desire to remain united with the rest of Germany. And the United States is not going to oppose their desire.
While the people of the Ruhr were the last to succumb to Nazism, without the resources of the Ruhr Nazism could never have threatened the world. Never again must those resources be used for destructive purposes.
They must be used to rebuild a free, peaceful Germany and a free, peaceful Europe.
The United States will favor such control over the whole of Germany, including the Ruhr and the Rhineland, as may be necessary for security purposes. It will help to enforce those controls. But it will not favor any controls that would subject the Ruhr and the Rhineland to political domination or manipulation of outside powers.
The German people are now feeling the devastating effects of the war which Hitler and his minions brought upon the world. Other people felt those devastating effects long before they were brought home to the German people.
The German people must realize that it was Hitler and his minions who tortured and exterminated innocent men, women, and children and sought with German arms to dominate and degrade the world. It was the massed, angered forces of humanity which had to fight their way into Germany to give the world the hope of freedom and peace.
The American people who fought for freedom have no desire to enslave the German people. The freedom Americans believe in and fought for is a freedom which must be shared with all willing to respect the freedom of others.
The United States has returned to Germany practically all prisoners of war that were in the United States. We are taking prompt steps to return German prisoners of war in our custody in other parts of the world.
The United States cannot relieve Germany from the hardships inflicted upon her by the war her leaders started. But the United States has no desire to increase those hardships or to deny the German people an opportunity to work their way out of those hardships so long as they respect human freedom and cling to the paths of peace.
The American people want to return the government of Germany to the German people. The American people want to help the German people to win their way back to an honorable place among the free and peace- loving nations of the world.
The All-America Football Conference held its first game, the Cleveland Browns against the Miami Seahawks. The Browns won 44-0.
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