Dr. von Kühlmann, the German Foreign Secretary, who forced the treaty,
in an address before the Berlin Chamber of Commerce May 24, explained
the advantages which the peace of Bucharest had brought to Germany. He
said:
Two points must be taken into consideration: First, guaranteeing
Rumanian agricultural and petroleum production as urgently
necessary for the carrying on of the war by the Central Powers
and for the transition period; and, secondly, the important rôle
which Rumania has to fill in providing a thoroughfare to the East,
especially as she dominates the lower course of the Danube.
It is here that there comes into effect the International Danube
Delta Committee, upon which only States on the banks of the
Danube can be represented. Only if the States agree to it will
the countries lying on the Black Sea be able to come into it.
Therefore, it is especially important for the German seaboard
traffic that we have been able to secure sites for dockyards.
Along with the Danube, the importance of the Rumanian railways
must be considered, especially the Bucharest-Czernavoda-Constanza
line, over which Germany must have control. It has been agreed
with Bulgaria that this railway to Constanza, which is to be made
a free port with grain silos and petroleum tanks, is to be leased
to a German company for ninety-nine years.
The cable between Constantinople and Constanza played an important
rôle before the war. This cable is to be developed to the utmost
and secured from enemy control.
Alluding to the agreement by which Germany had secured the Rumanian
harvest of 1918-19, and the far-reaching option upon the entire
Rumanian harvest for the next seven years, Dr. von Kühlmann said:
One can look forward to the whole food question with a certain
amount of confidence. * * * Formal war indemnities were not
demanded by Germany, but the numerous privileges we secured
are equivalent, in the opinion of experts, to anything which
would have been yielded by indemnities. When, some day, the
damage caused by the U-boat warfare shall have been made good by
newly-built ships, the sea route from Constanza will regain its
importance. Whether traffic on the Danube will be able to compete
with it is a question of the distant future. For the present we
shall have to rely on the Danube.