THE NEW NEGRO AND THE NEW AMERICA
"THE OLD ORDER
Changeth, yielding place to new."
THROUGH THE
Arbitrament of war, behold a new and better America!
a new and girded Negro!
"The watches
Of the night have PASSED!
"The watches
Of the day BEGIN!"
Out of war's crucible new nations emerge. New ideas seize mankind and if
the conflict has been a just one, waged for exalted ideals and
imperishable principles and not alone for mere national security and
integrity, a new character, a broader national vision is formed.
Such was the result of the early wars for democracy. The seeds of
universal freedom once sown, finally ripened not alone to the
unshackling of a race, but to the fecundity and birth of a spirit that
moved all nations and peoples to seek an enlarged liberty. The finger of
disintegration and change is never still; is always on the move; always
the old order is passing; always the new, although unseen of man, is
coming on. And so it is, that nations are still in the throes of
reconstruction after the great war. That it was the greatest and most
terrible of all wars, increases the difficulties incident to the
establishment of the new order, precedent to a restoration of tranquil
conditions.
So radical were some of the results of the conflict, such as the
overthrow of despotism in Russia, and a swinging completely to the other
extreme of the pendulum; similar happenings in Germany and Austria
transpiring, that subject peoples in general, finding themselves in
possession of a liberty which they did not expect and were not prepared
for, are in a sense bewildered; put to it, as to just what steps to
take; the wisest course to pursue.
At home we have a nearer view and can begin to see emerging a new
America. The men who fought abroad will be the dominant factor in
national affairs for many years. These men have returned, and will
return with a broadened vision and with new and enlarged ideas regarding
themselves and, quite to be expected, of progress and human rights.
With the leaven of thought which has been working at home, added to the
new and illuminating; more liberal viewpoint regarding the Negro
attained by the American whites who served with him in France, will
come; is already born, a new national judgment and charity of opinion
and treatment, that will not abate; will grow and flourish through the
coming years, a belated sense of justice and restitution due the Negro;
a most wholesome sign of shame and repentance upon the part of the
nation. The old order based on slavery and environment; the handicap of
"previous condition" has passed. Will never return! THAT, or the
"Fatherhood of God and Brotherhood of Man" is, and always was, an
iridescent dream; a barren ideality!
The new America owes much of its life to the Negro; guaranteed through
centuries of a devotion, than which, there has been nothing like it; you
seek in vain for a counterpart; a patriotism and suffering and shed
blood; the splendor and unselfishness of which will germinate and flower
through the ages; as long as history shall be read; to the last moment
of recorded time.
In days to come, now on the way, men will say, one to another: "How
could it have been that those faithful Blacks; those loyal citizens;
whose toil enriched; whose blood guaranteed the perpetuity of our
institutions; were discriminated against--WRONGED?"
In a country based and governed on the principle that all men are free
and equal, discrimination or special privilege will eat at the heart of
national life. Capital must not have special advantages over labor;
neither labor over capital. Jew and Gentile, protestant and catholic,
Negro and White men, must be equal; not alone in the spirit of the law
but in the application of it. Not alone in the spirit of industrialism,
commerce and ordinary affairs of life, but in their interpretation and
application as well.
Social discriminations and distinctions may prevail with no great danger
to the body politic, so long as people do not take them too
seriously--do not mistake the shadow for the substance, and regard them
the paramount things of life.
Obviously the Negro no less than the Caucasian, has a right, and no
government may challenge it, to say who his associates shall be, who he
shall invite into his house, but such rights are misconstrued and
exceeded when carried to the point of proscribing, oppressing or
hampering the development of other men, regardless of the nationality of
their competitors.
The logical growth of achievement for the Negro is first within the
lines of his own race, but, all things being equal; genius being the
handmaiden of no particular race or clime, he is not to be hindered by
the law of the land, the prejudice of sections or individuals, from
seeking to climb to any height.
The bugbear and slander, raised and kept alive by that section of the
land south of the imaginary line, to wit: that the Negro was ambitious
for "racial equality," only is entitled to reference in these pages for
the purpose of according it the contempt due it. That the whites of the
country have not a complete monopoly of those unpleasing creatures known
as "tuft hunters" and "social climbers," is no doubt true, but that the
Negro, as represented by intelligence and race pride, ever worries over
it; cares a rap for it, is not true.
Humanity's great benefit coming from the war, which cannot be changed or
abridged, will consist of a newer, broader sense of manhood; a demand
for the inherent opportunities and rights belonging to it; for all men
of all colors, of all climes; and beyond that; of more significance; as
marking the dawn indeed of a NEW AND BETTER DAY, will be a larger,
juster sense; springing up in the nation's heart; watered by her tears,
of repentance of past wrongs inflicted on the Negro. The Negro will
become the architect of his own growth and development. The South will
not be permitted; through the force of national opinion, to continue to
oppress him.
The talk of the revival of KuKlux societies to intimidate the Negro; "to
keep him in his place," is the graveyard yawp of a dying monster. Are
the thousands of Negroes who faced bullets in the most disastrous war of
history, and several hundred thousand more who were ready and willing to
undergo the same perils, likely to be frightened by such a threat, such
an antiquated, silly, short-sighted piece of injustice and terrorism?
Men's necessities force a resort to common sense. Racial prejudice and
ignorant, contemptible intolerance, must disappear under, and before the
presence of the renewal of business activity in the South, and the
necessity for Negro labor. Each soldier returning from Europe is a more
enlightened man than when he went away. He has had the broadening effect
of travel, the chance to mingle with other races and acquire the views
born of a greater degree of equality and more generous treatment.
These men desire to remain in their southern homes. Climatically they
are suited and the country offers them employment to which they are
accustomed; but more than all, it is home, and they are bound to it by
ties of association and affection.
With a mutual desire of whites and blacks to achieve an end, common
sense will find a basis of agreement. The Negro will get better pay and
better treatment. His status accordingly will be improved. His employer
will get better service, he also will be broadened and improved by a new
spirit of tolerance and charity.
Cooperation among the white and black races received a decided impetus
during the war. A movement so strongly started is sure to gather force
until it attains the objects more desirious of accomplishment. Some of
these objects undoubtedly are far in the distance, but will be achieved
in time. When they are, the Negro will be far advanced on the road of
racial development. The day has dawned and the start has been made.
Before the noontime, America will be prouder of her Negro citizens and
will be a happier, a more inspired and inspiring nation; a better home
for all her people.
One of the results of the war will be an improvement in the government
and condition of Negroes in Africa. Exploitation of the race for
European aggrandisement is sure to be lessened. No such misgoverned
colonies as those of Germany will be tolerated under the new rule and
the new spirit actuating the victorious Allies. Evils in other sections
of that continent will disappear or receive positive amelioration.
The most hopeful sign in America is the tendency in some sections where
trouble has been prevalent in the past, to meet and discuss grievances.
In some sections of the South, men of prominence are exhibiting a
willingness to meet and talk over matters with representatives of the
race. Such a spirit of tolerance will grow and eventually lead to a
better understanding; perhaps a general reconciling of differences.
Many concessions will be required before complete justice prevails and
the Negro comes into his own; before the soil can be prepared for the
complete flowering of his spirit.
Primarily, before attaining to the full growth and usefulness of the
citizen under the rights guaranteed to him by the Constitution, the
Negro, especially in the South, will require better educational
facilities. If he is to become a better citizen, he must have the
education and training necessary to know the full duties of citizenship.
He pays his share of the school taxes and it is manifestly unjust to
deny him the accruing benefits.
He is ambitious too, and should be encouraged to own land, and to that
end should have the assistance without prejudice or discrimination, of
national and state farm loan bureaus.
Unjust suffrage restrictions must and shall be removed, giving to the
Negro the full rights of other citizens in this respect. With better
educational facilities and the ownership of real estate, he will vote
more intelligently, and there will be no danger that his vote will be
against the interests of the country at large or the section in which he
resides.
The withering taint of "Jim Crow"-ism, must be obliterated; wiped
out--will be. Railroads will be compelled to extend the same
accommodations to white and colored passengers. The traveller; whatever
his color, who pays the price for a ticket, must and shall in this land
of Equality and Justice, be accorded the same accommodations.
Peonage, so-called, will end. It cannot endure under an awakened,
enlightened public opinion. Negroes, all other things equal, will be
admitted to labor unions, or labor unions will lose the potentiality and
force they should wield in labor and industrial affairs.
The Negro's contribution to the recent war and to previous conflicts,
has earned him beyond question or challenge, a right to just
consideration in the military and naval establishment of the nation.
America, grudging as she has been in the past to enlarge his rights, or
even to guarantee those which she has granted, has grown too great
indeed. Her discipline has been too real to deny him this fair
consideration. There will be more Negro units in the Regular Army and
National Guard organizations; untrammelled facilities for training, in
government, state and college institutions.
Selective draft figures having revealed the Negro as a better; if not
the best, physical risk, will make it easier for him to secure life
insurance, which; after all is a plain business proposition. Insurance
companies are after business and are not concerned with racial
distinctions where the risk is good. The draft has furnished figures
regarding the Negro's health and longevity which hitherto were not
available to insurance actuaries. Now that they have them, no reason
exists for denying insurance facilities to the race.
With a growing, every minute, of a better understanding between the
races; with the Negro learning thrift through Liberty Bonds, Savings
Stamps and the lessons of the war; with an encouragement to own
property and take out insurance; being vastly enlightened through his
military service, and with improved industrial conditions about to
appear, he is started on a better road, to end only when he shall have
reached the full attainment belonging to the majesty of AMERICAN
CITIZENSHIP.
With this start, lynchings, the law's delays, the denial of full
educational advantages; segregation, insanitary conditions, unjust
treatment in reform and penal institutions, will vanish from before him;
will be conditions that were, but are no more.
There is a predominance of Anglo-Saxon heritage in the white blood of
America. The Anglo-Saxon was the first to establish fair play and make
it his shibboleth. Should he deny it to the Negro; his proudest and most
vaunted principle would prove to be a doddering lie; a shimmering
evanescence.
HE WILL NOT DENY IT!
* * * * *
NOTE--UP TO THIS POINT THE TEXT FACES ONLY HAVE BEEN NUMBERED. THE 64
FULL PAGES OF HALF-TONE PHOTOGRAPHS (OVER 100 SEPARATE PICTURES) AND THE
PLATES, TINTED IN MANY COLORS (NOT PRINTED ON BACK) BRING THE TOTAL
NUMBER OF PAGES TO OVER FOUR HUNDRED.
THE PEACE TREATY
The treaty of peace was drawn by the allied and associated powers at
Versailles, and was there delivered to the German Government's
delegation on May 5, 1919--the fourth anniversary of the Lusitania
sinking.
It stipulates in the preamble that war will have ceased when all powers
have signed and the treaty shall have come into force by ratification of
the signatures.
It names as party of the one part the United States, The British Empire,
France, Italy, Japan, described as the five allied and associated
powers, and Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Cuba, Equador, Greece,
Guatemala, Haiti, the Hedjaz, Honduras, Liberia, Nicaragua, Panama,
Peru, Portugal, Roumania, Serbia, Siam, Czecho-Slovakia and Uruguay; and
on the other side Germany.
The treaty contains agreements in substance as follows:
Section 1. The League of Nations--The league of nations may question
Germany at any time for a violation of the neutralized zone east of the
Rhine as a threat against the world's peace. It will work out the
mandatory system to be applied to the former German colonies and act as
a final court in the Belgian-German frontier and in disputes as to the
Kiel canal, and decide certain economic and financial problems.
Membership--The members of the league will be the signatories of the
covenant, and other states invited to accede. A state may withdraw upon
giving two years' notice, if it has fulfilled all its international
obligations.
Section 2. A permanent secretariat will be established at Geneva. The
league will meet at stated intervals. Each state will have one vote and
not more than three representatives.
The council will consist of representatives of the five great allied
powers, with representatives of four members selected by the assembly
from time to time. It will meet at least once a year. Voting will be by
states. Each state will have one vote and not more than one
representative.
The council will formulate plans for a reduction of armaments for
consideration and adoption. These plans will be revised every ten years.
Preventing War--Upon any war, or threat of war, the council will meet
to consider what common action shall be taken. Members are pledged to
submit matters of dispute to arbitration or inquiry and not to resort to
war until three months after the award. If a member fails to carry out
the award, the council will propose the necessary measures. The council
will establish a permanent court of international justice to determine
international disputes or to give advisory opinions. If agreement cannot
be secured, the members reserve the right to take such action as may be
necessary for the maintenance of right and justice. Members resorting to
war in disregard of the covenant will immediately be debarred from all
intercourse with other members. The council will in such cases consider
what military or naval action can be taken by the league collectively.
The covenant abrogates all obligations between members inconsistent with
its terms, but nothing in it shall affect the validity of international
engagements such as treaties of arbitration or regional understandings
like the Monroe doctrine, for securing the maintenance of peace.
The Mandatory System--Nations not yet able to stand by themselves will
be intrusted to advanced nations who are best fitted to guide them. In
every case the mandatory will render an annual report, and the degree of
its authority will be defined.
International Provisions--The members of the league will in general,
through the international organization established by the labor
convention to secure and maintain fair conditions of labor for men,
women and children in their own countries, and undertake to secure just
treatment of the native inhabitants of territories under their control;
they will intrust the league with general supervision over the execution
of agreements for the suppression of traffic in women and children,
etc.; and the control of the trade in arms and ammunition with countries
in which control is necessary; they will make provision for freedom of
communications and transit and equitable treatment for commerce of all
members of the league, with special reference to the necessities of
regions devastated during the war; and they will endeavor to take steps
for international prevention and control of disease.
Boundaries of Germany--Germany cedes to France Alsace-Lorraine 5,600
square miles to the southwest, and to Belgium two small districts
between Luxemburg and Holland, totaling 989 square miles. She also cedes
to Poland the southeastern tip of Silesia, beyond and including Oppeln,
most of Posen and West Prussia, 27,686 square miles, East Prussia being
isolated from the main body by a part of Poland. She loses sovereignty
over the northeastern tip of East Prussia, forty square miles north of
the Eiver Memel, and the internationalized areas about Danzig, 729
square miles, and the basin of the Saar, 738 square miles, between the
western border of the Rhenish Palatinate of Bavaria and the southeast
corner of Luxemburg; and Schleswig, 2,767 square miles.
Section 3. Belgium--Germany consents to the abrogation of the treaties
of 1839 by which Belgium was established as a neutral state, and agrees
to any convention with which the allied and associated powers may
determine to replace them.
Luxemburg--Germany renounces her various treaties and conventions with
the grand duchy of Luxemburg, and recognizes that it ceased to be a part
of the German zolverein from January 1,1919, and renounces all right of
exploitation of the railroads.
Left Bank of the Rhine--Germany will not maintain any fortifications
or armed forces less than fifty kilometers to the east of the Rhine,
hold any maneuvers, nor within that limit maintain any works to
facilitate mobilization. In case of violation she shall be regarded as
committing a hostile act against the powers who sign the present treaty
and as intending to disturb the peace of the world.
Alsace and Lorraine--The territories ceded to Germany by the treaty of
Frankfort are restored to France with their frontiers as before 1871, to
date from the signing of the armistice, and to be free of all public
debts.
All public property and private property of German ex-sovereigns passes
to France without payment or credit. France is substituted for Germany
as regards ownership of the railroads and rights over concessions of
tramways. The Rhine bridges pass to France, with the obligation for the
upkeep.
Political condemnations during the war are null and void and the
obligation to repay war fines is established as in other parts of allied
territory.
The Saar--In compensation for the destruction of coal mines in
northern France and as payment on account of reparation, Germany cedes
to France full ownership of the coal mines of the Saar basin with the
subsidiaries, accessories and facilities.
After fifteen years a plebiscite will be held by communes to ascertain
the desires of the population as to continuance of the existing regime
under the league of nations, union with France or union with Germany.
The right to vote will belong to all inhabitants of over 20 years
resident therein at the time of the signature.
Section 4. German Austria--Germany recognizes the total independence
of German Austria in the boundaries traced.
Germany recognizes the entire independence of the Czecho-Slovak state.
The five allied and associated powers will draw up regulations assuring
East Prussia full and equitable access to and use of the Vistula.
Danzig--Danzig and the district immediately about it is to be
constituted into the free city of Danzig under the guaranty of the
league of nations.
Denmark--The frontier between Germany and Denmark will be fixed by
the self-determination of the population.
The fortifications, military establishments and harbors of the islands
of Helgoland and Dune are to be destroyed under the supervision of the
allies by German labor and at Germany's expense. They may not be
reconstructed, nor any similar fortifications built in the future.
Russia--Germany agrees to respect as permanent and inalienable the
independence of all territories which were part of the former Russian
empire, to accept abrogation of the Brest-Litovsk and other treaties
entered into with the Maximalist government of Russia, to recognize the
full force of all treaties entered into by the allied and associated
powers with states which were a part of the former Russian empire, and
to recognize the frontiers as determined therein. The allied and
associated powers formally reserve the right of Russia to obtain
restitution and reparation of the principles of the present treaty.
SECTION 5. German Rights Outside of Europe--Outside Europe, Germany
renounces all rights, title and privileges as to her own or her allied
territories, to all the allied and associated powers.
German Colonies--Germany renounces in favor of the allied and
associated powers her overseas possessions with all rights and titles
therein. All movable and immovable property belonging to the German
empire or to any German state shall pass to the government exercising
authority therein. Germany undertakes to pay reparation for damage
suffered by French nationals in the Kameruns or its frontier zone
through the acts of German civil and military authorities and of
individual Germans from January 1, 1900, to August 1, 1914.
China--Germany renounces in favor of China all privileges and
indemnities resulting from the Boxer protocol of 1901, and all
buildings, wharves, barracks, forts, munitions or warships, wireless
plants, and other property (except diplomatic) in the German concessions
of Tientsin and Hankow and in other Chinese territory except Kiaochow,
and agrees to return to China at her own expense all the astronomical
instruments seized in 1901. Germany accepts the abrogation of the
concessions of Hankow and Tientsin, China agreeing to open them to
international use.
Siam--Germany recognizes that all agreements between herself and Siam,
including the right of extra territory, ceased July 22, 1917. All German
public property except consular and diplomatic premises passes, without
compensation, to Siam.
Liberia--Germany renounces all rights under the international
arrangements of 1911 and 1912 regarding Liberia.
Morocco--Germany renounces all her rights, titles and privileges
under the act of Algeciras and the Franco-German agreements of 1909 and
1911 and under all treaties and arrangements with the sheriffian empire.
All movable and immovable German property may be sold at public auction,
the proceeds to be paid to the sheriffian government and deducted from
the reparation account.
Egypt--Germany recognizes the British protectorate over Egypt declared
on December 19, 1914, and transfers to Great Britain the powers given to
the late sultan of Turkey for securing the free navigation of the Suez
canal.
Turkey and Bulgaria--Germany accepts all arrangements which the allied
and associated powers make with Turkey and Bulgaria with reference to
any right, privileges or interests claimed in those countries by Germany
or her nationals and not dealt with elsewhere.
Shantung--Germany cedes to Japan all rights, titles and privileges
acquired by her treaty with China of March 6, 1897, and other
agreements, as to Shantung. All German state property in Kiaochow is
acquired by Japan free of all charges.
SECTION 6. The demobilization of the German army must take place within
two months. Its strength may not exceed 100,000, including 4,000
officers, with not over seven divisions of infantry, also three of
cavalry, and to be devoted exclusively to maintenance of internal order
and control of frontiers. The German general staff is abolished. The
army administrative service, consisting of civilian personnel, not
included in the number of effectives, is reduced to one-tenth the total
in the 1913 budget. Employes of the German states, such as customs
officers, first guards and coast guards, may not exceed the number in
1913. Gendarmes and local police may be increased only in accordance
with the growth of population. None of these may be assembled for
military training.
Armaments--All establishments for the manufacturing, preparation or
storage of arms and munitions of war, must be closed, and their
personnel dismissed. The manufacture or importation of poisonous gases
is forbidden as well as the importation of arms, munitions and war
material.
Conscription--Conscription is abolished in Germany. The personnel
must be maintained by voluntary enlistment for terms of twelve
consecutive years, the number of discharges before the expiration of
that term not in any year to exceed 5 per cent of the total effectives.
Officers remaining in the service must agree to serve to the age of 45
years and newly appointed officers must agree to serve actively for
twenty-five years.
No military schools except those absolutely indispensable for the units
allowed shall exist in Germany. All measures of mobilization are
forbidden.
All fortified and field works within fifty kilometers (thirty miles)
east of the Rhine will be dismantled. The construction of any new
fortifications there is forbidden.
Control--Interallied commissions of control will see to the
execution of the provisions, for which a time limit is set, the maximum
named being three months. Germany must give them complete facilities,
and pay for the labor and material necessary in demolition, destruction
or surrender of war equipment.
Naval--The German navy must be demobilized within a period of two
months. All German vessels of war in foreign ports, and the German high
sea fleet interned at Scapa Flow will be surrendered, the final
disposition of these ships to be decided upon by the allied and
associated powers. Germany must surrender forty-five modern destroyers,
fifty modern torpedo boats, and all submarines, with their salvage
vessels; all war vessels under construction, including submarines, must
be broken up.
Germany is required to sweep up the mines in the North sea and the
Baltic. German fortifications in the Baltic must be demolished.
During a period of three months after the peace, German high power
wireless stations at Nauen, Hanover and Berlin, will not be permitted to
send any messages except for commercial purposes.
Air--The armed forces of Germany must not include any military or
naval air forces except one hundred unarmed seaplanes. No aviation
grounds or dirigible sheds are to be allowed within 150 kilometers of
the Rhine or the eastern or southern frontiers. The manufacture of
aircraft and parts of aircraft is forbidden. All military and
aeronautical material must be surrendered.
The repatriation of German prisoners and interned civilians is to be
carried out without delay and at Germany's expense.
Both parties will respect and maintain the graves of soldiers and
sailors buried on their territories.
Responsibility and Reparation--The allied and associated powers will
publicly arraign William II of Hohenzollern, formerly German emperor,
before a special tribunal composed of one judge from each of the five
great powers, with full right of defense.
Persons accused of having committed acts in violation of the laws and
customs of war are to be tried and punished by military tribunals under
military law.
SECTION 7. Reparation--Germany accepts responsibility for all loss and
damages to which civilians of the allies have been subjected by the war,
and agrees to compensate them. Germany binds herself to repay all sums
borrowed by Belgium from the Allies. Germany irrevocably recognizes the
authority of a reparation commission named by the Allies to enforce and
supervise these payments. She further agrees to restore to the Allies
cash and certain articles which can be identified. As an immediate step
toward restoration, Germany shall pay within two years $5,000,000,000 in
either gold, goods, ships or other specific forms of payment.
The measures which the allied and associated powers shall have the right
to take, in case of voluntary default by Germany, and which Germany
agrees not to regard as acts of war, may include economic and financial
prohibitions and reprisals and in general such other measures as the
respective governments may determine to be necessary in the
circumstances.
The commission may require Germany to give from time to time, by way of
guaranty, issues of bonds or other obligations to cover such claims as
are not otherwise satisfied.
The German government recognizes the right of the Allies to the
replacement, ton for ton and class for class, of all merchant ships and
fishing boats lost or damaged owing to the war, and agrees to cede to
the Allies all German merchant ships of sixteen hundred tons gross and
upward.
The German government further agrees to build merchant ships for the
account of the Allies to the amount of not exceeding 200,000 tons' gross
annually during the next five years.
SECTION 8. Devastated Areas--Germany undertakes to devote her
economic resources directly to the physical restoration of the invaded
areas.
Coal--Germany is to deliver annually for ten years to France coal
equivalent to the difference between annual pre-war output of Nord and
Pas de Calais mines and annual production during above ten year period.
Germany further gives options over ten years for delivery of 7,000,000
tons coal per year to France, in addition to the above, of 8,000,000
tons to Belgium, and of an amount rising from 4,500,000 tons in 1919 to
1920 to 8,500,000 tons in 1923 to 1924 to Italy, at prices to be fixed
as prescribed. Coke may be taken in place of coal in ratio of three tons
to four.
Dyestuffs and Drugs--Germany accords option to the commission on
dyestuffs and chemical drugs, including quinine, up to 50 per cent of
total stock to Germany at the time the treaty comes into force, and
similar option during each six months to end of 1924 up to 25 per cent
of previous six months' output.
Cables--Germany renounces all title to specific cables, value of such
as were privately owned being credited to her against reparation
indebtedness.
Restitution--As reparation for the destruction of the library of
Louvain, Germany is to hand over manuscripts, early printed books,
prints, etc., to the equivalent of those destroyed, and all works of art
taken from Belgium and France.
SECTION 9. Finances--Germany is required to pay the total cost of the
armies of occupation from the date of the armistice as long as they are
maintained in German territory.
Germany is to deliver all sums deposited in Germany by Turkey and
Austria-Hungary in connection with the financial support extended by her
to them during the war and to transfer to the Allies all claims against
Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria or Turkey in connection with agreements made
during the war.
Germany guarantees to repay to Brazil the fund arising from the sale of
Sao Paulo coffee which she refused to allow Brazil to withdraw from
Germany.
Contracts--Pre-war contracts between allied and associated nations,
excepting the United States, Japan and Brazil, and German nationals, are
canceled except for debts for accounts already performed.
Opium--The contracting powers agree, whether or not they have signed
and ratified the opium convention of January 23, 1912, or signed the
special protocol opened at The Hague in accordance with resolutions
adopted by the third opium conference in 1914, to bring the said
convention into force by enacting within twelve months of the time of
peace the necessary legislation.
Missions--The allied and associated powers agree that the properties
of religious missions in territories belonging or ceded to them shall
continue in their work under the control of the powers, Germany
renouncing all claims in their behalf.
SECTION 11. Air Navigation--Aircraft of the allied and associated
powers shall have full liberty of passage and landing over and in German
territory; equal treatment with German planes as to use of German
airdromes, and with most favored nation planes as to internal commercial
traffic in Germany.
SECTION 13.--Freedom of Transit--Germany must grant freedom of transit
through her territories by rail or water to persons, goods, ships,
carriages and mail from or to any of the allied or associated powers,
without customs or transit duties, undue delays, restrictions and
discriminations based on nationality, means of transport or place of
entry or departure. Goods in transit shall be assured all possible speed
of journey, especially perishable goods.
(The remainder of Section 12 concerns the use of European waterways and
railroads.)
SECTION 13. International Labor Organizations--Members of the league
of nations agree to establish a permanent organization to promote
international adjustment of labor conditions, to consist of an annual
international labor conference and an international labor office.
The former is composed of four representatives of each state, two from
the government and one each from the employers and the employed; each of
them may vote individually. It will be a deliberative legislative body,
its measures taking the form of draft conventions or recommendations for
legislation, which if passed by two-thirds vote must be submitted to the
lawmaking authority in every state participating. Each government may
either enact the terms into law; approve the principles, but modify them
to local needs; leave the actual legislation in case of a federal state
to local legislatures; or reject the convention altogether without
further obligation.
The international labor office is established at the seat of the league
of nations as part of its organization. It is to collect and distribute
information on labor through the world and prepare agents for the
conference. It will publish a periodical in French and English and
possibly other languages. Each state agrees to make to it, for
presentation to the conference, an annual report of measures taken to
execute accepted conventions. The governing body is its executive. It
consists of twenty-four members, twelve representing the government, six
the employers and six the employes, to serve for three years.
On complaint that any government has failed to carry out a convention to
which it is a party the governing body may make inquiries directly to
that government and in case the reply is unsatisfactory may publish the
complaint with comment. A complaint by one government against another
may be referred by the governing body to a commission of inquiry
nominated by the secretary-general of the league. If the commission
report fails to bring satisfactory action, the matter may be taken to a
permanent court of international justice for final decision. The chief
reliance for securing enforcement of the law will be publicity with a
possibility of economic action in the background.
The first meeting of the conference will take place in October, 1919, at
Washington, to discuss the eight-hour day or forty-eight hour week;
prevention of unemployment; extension and application of the
international conventions adopted at Bern in 1906 prohibiting night work
for women and the use of white phosphorus in the manufacture of matches;
and employment of women and children at night or in unhealthful work, of
women before and after childbirth, including maternity benefit, and of
children as regards minimum age.
Nine principles of labor conditions are recognized on the ground that
the well-being, physical and moral, of the industrial wage earners is of
supreme international importance. With exceptions necessitated by
differences of climate, habits and economic developments, they include:
The guiding principle that labor should not be regarded merely as a
commodity or article of commerce; right of association of employers and
employes is granted; and a wage adequate to maintain a reasonable
standard of life; the eight-hour day or forty-eight hour week; a weekly
rest of at least twenty-four hours, which should include Sunday wherever
practicable; abolition of child labor and assurance of the continuation
of the education and proper physical development of children; equal pay
for equal work as between men and women; equitable treatment of all
workers lawfully resident therein, including foreigners, and a system of
inspection in which women shall take part.
SECTION 14. Guaranties--As a guaranty for the execution of the treaty,
German territory west of the Rhine, together with bridgeheads, will be
occupied by allied and associated troops for fifteen years. If before
the expiration of the fifteen years Germany complies with all the treaty
undertakings, the occupying forces will be withdrawn.
Eastern Europe--All German troops at present in territories to the
east of the new frontier shall return as soon as the allied and
associated governments deem wise.
SECTION 15. Germany agrees to recognize the full validity of the
treaties of peace and additional conventions to be concluded by the
allied and associated powers with the powers allied with Germany; to
agree to the decisions to be taken as to the territories of
Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey, and to recognize the new states in
the frontiers to be fixed for them.
Germany agrees not to put forward any pecuniary claim against any allied
or associated power signing the present treaty, based on events previous
to the coming into force of the treaty.
Germany accepts all decrees as to German ships and goods made by any
allied or associated prize court. The Allies reserve the right to
examine all decisions of German prize courts.
The treaty is to become effective in all respects for each power on the
date of deposition of its ratification.