Part 12

2. The stipulation in Paragraph 1 does not prejudice the question as to what extent the conditions created by the war (especially the impossibility of settlement of debt owing to the obstacles in traffic or commercial prohibitions in the territory of either of the contracting parties) shall be taken into account in the determination of claims of subjects of either party in accordance with the laws applying thereto in the respective territories. In this connection subjects of the other party who have been prevented by the measures of that party, are not to be dealt with more unfavorably than the subjects of their own State, who have been prevented by the measures of that State.

A person who by the war has been prevented from carrying out in good time a payment shall not be obliged to make good the damage which has occurred owing thereto.

3. Demands of money, whose payment could be refused during the war on the strength of war laws, need not be paid until after the expiration of three months after the confirmation of the peace treaty. In so far as nothing else has been stipulated in the supplementary treaty, an interest of 5 per cent. per annum must be paid on such debts from the original date on which they were due, for the duration of the war and the further three months, regardless of moratoriums. Up to the day on which they were originally due, the interests agreed upon, if any, must be paid. In the case of bills or checks submission for payment as well as protests against nonpayment must take place within the fourth month after the confirmation of this treaty.

4. For the settlement of outstanding affairs and other civil obligations, officially recognized unions for the protection of debtors and for the examination of claims of lay and legal persons belonging to the union, as well as their plenipotentiaries, are to be mutually recognized and permitted.

Article 9. Each contracting party will immediately after the confirmation of the peace treaty resume payment of its obligations, especially the public debt duties to subjects of the other party. The obligations which became due before the confirmation of the treaty will be paid within three months after the confirmation.

Article 10. Copyrights, trade protective rights, concessions and privileges, as well as similar claims on public legal foundations, which have been influenced by war laws, shall be re-established, in so far as nothing else has been stipulated in Article 12.

Each contracting party will grant subjects of the other party who on account of the war have neglected the legal period in which to undertake an action necessary for the establishment or maintenance of a trade protective right, without prejudice to the justly obtained rights of third parties, a period of at least one year in which to recover the action. Trade protective rights of subjects of one party which were in force on the outbreak of war, shall not expire in the territory of the other party, owing to their non-application, till after the termination of four years from the confirmation of this treaty. If in the territory of one of the contracting parties a trade protective right, which in accordance with the war laws could not be applied for, is applied for by an agent who during the war has taken protective measures in the territory of the other party in accordance with the rules, such right, if claimed within six months after the confirmation of the treaty, shall, with the reservation of the rights of third parties, have priority over all applications submitted in the meantime, and cannot be made ineffective by facts which have arisen in the meantime.

Article 11. Periods for the superannuation of rights shall, in the territory of each of the contracting parties, toward subjects of the other party, expire at the earliest one year after the confirmation of the peace treaty in so far as they had not expired at the time of the outbreak of war. The same applies to periods for the submission of dividend-warrants or warrants for shares in profit, as well as to bills which have become redeemable or have become otherwise payable.

Article 12. The activities of authorities who on the strength of war laws have become occupied with the supervision, custody, administration, or liquidation of property or with the receiving of payments, are without prejudice to the stipulations of Article 13, to be wound up in accordance with the following principles:

1. Properties under supervision, in custody or under administration, are to be set free immediately on the demand of the parties entitled to them. Until the moment of transfer to the entitled party care must be taken for the safeguarding of his interests.

2. The provisions of Paragraph 1 shall not modify the properly acquired right of a third party. Payments and other obligations of a debtor which, as mentioned at the beginning of the article, have been received or caused to be received at the places mentioned, shall, in the territories of the contracting parties, have the same effect as if the creditor himself had received them.

Civil dispositions which have been made at the places mentioned at the instigation of the parties or by them will have full effect and are to be maintained by the parties.

3. Regarding the operations of the places mentioned at the beginning of this article, especially those for receipts and payments, details shall at once be given to the authorized parties immediately upon demand. Claims which have been lodged to be dealt with at these places can only be dealt with in accordance with the stipulations of Article 14.

Article 13. Land or rights in land or in mines as well as rights in the use or exploitation of lands, or undertakings, or claims for

## participation in an undertaking, especially those represented by

shares, which have been forcibly alienated from the persons entitled to them by reason of war laws, shall be transferred to the former owner within a period of one year after the confirmation of the peace treaty, and there shall be returned to him any profits which have accrued on such property during the alienation or deprivation, and this shall be done free from all rights of third parties which may have arisen in the meantime.

_CHAPTER VI.--Indemnity for Civil Damages_

Article 14. Subjects of one of the contracting parties resident in the territory of the other contracting party who, by reason of war laws, have suffered damage either by the temporary or lasting privation of concessions, privileges, and similar claims, or by the supervision, trusteeship, administration or alienation of property, are to be appropriately indemnified so far as the damage by the war cannot be replaced by the actual re-establishment of their former conditions. This also applies to shareholders who, on account of their character as foreign enemies, are excluded from certain rights.

Article 15. Each of the contracting parties will indemnify the civilian subjects of the other party for damages which have been caused to them in its territory during the war by the State officials or the population there through breaches of international law and acts of violence against life, health, or property.

Article 16. Each of the contracting parties will at once pay to the subjects of the other party their just claims so far as this has not already been done.

Article 17. For the fixing of the damages, according to Articles 14 and 15, there shall meet in Berlin a commission immediately after the confirmation of this treaty which shall consist of one-third of each of the contracting parties and one-third of neutrals. The President of the Swiss Bundesrat shall be asked to nominate the neutral members, from whom the Chairman shall be chosen. The commission shall fix the principles, on which it is to work, and it shall decide as to what procedure it shall follow. Its decisions shall be carried out by sub-commissions, which shall consist of one representative from each of the contracting parties and a neutral umpire. The amounts fixed by the sub-commissions are to be paid within one month of the decision being made.

_CHAPTER VII.--The Exchange of Prisoners of War and Interned Civilians_

Article 18. Finnish prisoners of war in Germany and German prisoners of war in Finland shall, as soon as practicable, be exchanged within the times fixed by a German-Finnish Commission, and subject to the payment of the costs entailed in such exchange in so far as those prisoners do not wish to stay in the country where they happen to be, with its consent, or to go to another country. The commission will also have to settle the further details of such exchange and to supervise their execution.

Article 19. The deported or interned civilians on both sides will be sent home as soon as practicable free of charge so far as, subject to the consent of the country on whose territory they are staying, they do not wish to remain there or wish to go to another country. The settlement of the details and the supervision of their execution shall be carried out by the commission mentioned in Article 18. The Finnish Government will endeavor to obtain from the Russian Government the release of those Germans who were captured in Finnish territory and who at the present time are outside Finnish on Russian territory.

Article 20. Subjects of one party who at the outbreak of war had their domicile or commercial establishments in the territory of the other party and who did not remain in that territory may return there as soon as the other party is not in a state of war. Their return can only be refused on the ground of the endangering of the internal or foreign safety of the State. It would suffice that a pass be made out by the authorities of the home Government in which it is to be stated that the bearer is one of those persons as stipulated in Item 1. No visé is to be necessary on these passes.

Article 21. Each of the Contracting Parties undertakes to respect and to tend the several burial places of subjects of the other party who fell in the war as well as those who died during internment or deportation and the persons intrusted by each party with care and proper decoration of the burial places may attend to these duties in accord with the authorities of each country. Questions connected with the care of such burial places are reserved for further agreements.

_CHAPTER VIII.--Amnesty._

Article 22. Each of the contracting parties concedes amnesty from penalties to the subjects of the other party who are prisoners of war for all criminal acts committed by them and further to all civilian interned or deported subjects of the other party for all punishable acts committed by them during their internment or deportation period, and lastly to all subjects of the other party for crimes against all exceptional laws made to the disadvantage of enemy foreigners. The amnesty will not apply to actions committed after the confirmation of the peace treaty.

Article 23. Each party concedes complete amnesty to all its own subjects in view of the work which they have done in the territory of the other party as prisoners of war, interned civilians, or deported civilians.

Article 24. The contracting parties reserve to themselves the right to make further agreements according to which each party may grant an amnesty of penalties decreed on account of actions committed to its disadvantage.

_CHAPTER IX.--The Treatment of Mercantile Vessels and Cargoes Which Have Fallen Into the Hands of the Enemy._

Article 25. Mercantile ships of one contracting party which lay in the ports of the other contracting party on the outbreak of the war, as well as their cargoes, are to be given back to their owners, or in so far as this is not possible they are to be paid for in money. For the use of such embargoed vessels during the war the usual daily freight is to be paid.

Article 26. German mercantile ships and their cargoes which are in the power of Finland, except in cases foreseen in Article 25 at the signing of this treaty or which may arrive there later, are to be given back if on the outbreak of war they were in an enemy port or were interned in neutral waters by enemy forces.

Article 27. The mercantile vessels of either of the contracting

## parties captured as prizes in the zone of power of the other party

shall be regarded as definitely confiscated if they have been legally condemned as prizes, and if they do not come under the provisions of Articles 25 and 26. Otherwise they are to be given back, or, in so far as they are no longer available, they are to be paid for. The provisions of Paragraph 1 are to apply also to ships' cargoes taken as prizes belonging to subjects of the contracting

## parties, but goods belonging to subjects of one of the contracting

## parties on board ships flying enemy flags which have fallen into the

hands of the other contracting party are in all cases to be handed over to their rightful owners, or, so far as this is not possible, they are to be paid for.

Article 28. The carrying out of the provisions contained in Articles 25 to 27, especially the fixing of the damages to be paid, shall be decided by a mixed commission, which shall consist of one representative from each of the contracting parties with a neutral umpire, and shall sit in Stettin within three months after the date of confirmation of the peace treaty. The President of the Swiss Bundesrat shall be requested to nominate the umpire.

Article 29. The contracting parties will do all in their power to facilitate the free return of the mercantile ships and their cargoes to their homes as set forth in Articles 25 to 27. The contracting

## parties will also give their support to each other in the

re-establishment of the mutual commercial intercourse, after the assuring of safe shipping routes, which had been disturbed by the war.

_CHAPTER X.--Adjustment of the Aland Question._

Article 30. The contracting parties are agreed that the Forts put upon the Aland Islands are to be removed as soon as possible, and that the lasting non-fortified character of these Islands and also their treatment in a military and technical sense for purposes of shipping, shall be settled by agreement between Germany, Finland, Russia and Sweden; and to these agreements, at the wish of Germany, the other States lying in the Baltic Sea shall be invited to assent.

_CHAPTER XI.--Final Provisions._

Article 31. The Peace Treaty shall be confirmed. The confirmatory documents shall be exchanged as soon as practicable in Berlin.

Article 32. The Peace Treaty, so far as is not otherwise stipulated, shall come into force with its confirmation. For the making of supplementary additions to the Treaty the representatives of the contracting parties shall meet in Berlin within four months of its confirmation.

German Aggression in Russia

Record of Events Placing Finland and the Ukraine More Fully Under Teutonic Control

During the month ended May 15, 1918, the German advance in the territory of the former Russian Empire continued uninterruptedly. While minor military operations were conducted in the Province of Kursk, in Russia proper, the main body of the invading army occupied the Crimea and penetrated into the Donetz coal basin. On April 24 the German troops, under General Kosch, reached the City of Simferopol, in the Crimea. A week later they occupied Sebastopol, the great military and commercial seaport, famous in Russian history. A portion of the Russian Black Sea fleet fell into the hands of the Germans. On May 3 the invaders seized Taganrog, on the Sea of Azov. On May 9 they took Rostov, at the mouth of the River Don, but two days later the city was again in Russian hands. The Germans are apparently intent on occupying the seacoast from Bessarabia, on the west, to the Caucasus, on the east.

The Bolshevist régime gave signs of undergoing a process of reorganization. It sought to enlist the services of officials who had served under the Provisional Government and of Generals of the old army. A new War Department was formed. Trotzky, the Minister of War and Marine, advocated universal conscription of labor. The Central Executive Committee, at his suggestion, decreed compulsory military service. Workmen and peasants from 18 to 40 years old were to be trained for eight consecutive weeks, for a weekly minimum of eight hours. Women were accepted into the army as volunteers.

The Bolshevist authorities made several attempts to suppress rioting and street looting. Early in May the Red Guards fought a pitched battle with the Moscow anarchists, who refused to surrender their munitions, and stamped out their organization. The Soviets passed resolutions and took measures against the anti-Jewish massacres which occurred in numerous cities. Disorder and mob rule, however, continued to prevail in Russia, while hunger and unemployment were daily increasing.

INDUSTRY CRIPPLED

On April 16 M. Gukovsky, the Commissary for Finance, reported to the Central Executive Committee of the Soviets on Russia's financial and industrial condition. He said that the semi-yearly expenditure would amount to 4,000,000,000 rubles, while the income expected was only 3,300,000,000 rubles. The railroads had lost 70 per cent. of their freight capacity, and the cost of operation had increased ten times, (120,000 against 11,600 rubles per versta.) The Central Government, he stated, derived no revenue from taxes, as the local Soviets used the sums they collected for their own purposes. To illustrate the industrial conditions the Commissary cited the example of the Sormov locomotive works, whose daily output is two locomotives, instead of eighteen as formerly. M. Gukovsky recommended strict economy in expenditures and urged the necessity of securing the services of financial and industrial experts for the purpose of organizing an efficient State machinery.

Among the recent legislative measures of the Moscow Government must be mentioned the nationalization of foreign trade, which is a part of the general Bolshevist scheme of Socialist reforms. A special board has been created to regulate the prices of all exports and imports.

In the middle of April hostilities were reopened between the newly collected troops of General Korniloff, former Russian Commander in Chief, and the Bolshevist forces. It was reported that the Bolsheviki heavily defeated the anti-Soviet troops, capturing Novocherkask and wounding the Cossack General. It was also stated that General Dutoff, another anti-Bolshevist leader, was captured by the Soviet troops, and that General Semyonov, the leader of the Cossack movement against the Bolsheviki in Siberia, was killed.

The incident of the Japanese landing at Vladivostok was near closing, when further interest in the Far Eastern situation was aroused in Russia by a number of documents seized on the person of a member of the anti-Soviet "Siberian Government." According to a note addressed on April 26 by M. Chicherin to diplomatic representatives in Moscow, these documents proved that the Consuls of Great Britain, France, and America--and the diplomatic representatives of these powers in Peking--sought to interfere in the internal affairs of Russia by

## participating in the counter-revolutionary movement for an autonomous

Government in Siberia. A similar charge was laid to the Japanese officials. The Russian Government, therefore, demanded the recall of the allied Consular officers at Vladivostok, also asking the Allies to define their attitude toward the Soviet Government. Neither Ambassador Francis nor the French Ambassador, M. Noulens, made any official reply to the Russian charges. M. Noulens had previously drawn upon himself the wrath of the Bolsheviki by declaring that the armed intervention of the Allies in Russia would be an act of friendly assistance. Mr. Francis informally notified the Moscow Government that, in his opinion, the documents failed to involve the American officials. On May 9 Secretary Lansing instructed him to present informally to the Russian Foreign Office a denial of its charge against the American Consul at Vladivostok.

ENEMY PROPAGANDA

In a speech on April 27 Baron Shimpei Goto, the new Japanese Foreign Minister, referred to the malevolent propaganda which is being conducted in Russia with a view to creating an estrangement between Japan and Russia. He expressed the view that "Russia is a power endeavoring to reorganize a machine temporarily out of order," adding: "Japan must give encouragement, assistance, and support to the work of reorganization in Russia. We trust the sound sense of the Russian people will not be misled by reports calculated to keep the two neighbors apart."

Shortly after the capture of Sebastopol the Russian Government protested to Germany against the seizure of the Black Sea fleet and the invasion of the Crimea. The Russian note pointed out that these acts were in contravention of the Brest treaty and that they might endanger the peaceful relations between the two countries. The Germans did not seem to be concerned to maintain these relations. They treated the population of the occupied territories with harshness. Starving refugees were not admitted into the regions under their domination. It was reported that in the Government of Minsk able-bodied persons were seized in the streets and sent to Germany in locked cars. Constant food requisitioning was another feature of the German rule in Russia.

RUSSIA'S PROTEST

On April 15 M. Chicherin, Russian Commissary for Foreign Affairs, protested to Berlin against the outrages committed by the German troops in Russia. The text of the note follows:

The Central Soviet institutions receive many complaints with regard to German troops burning Russian villages and using violence against Russian inhabitants. An eyewitness well known to us and absolutely trustworthy states that at Lepel, northwest of Mogileff, German soldiers killed a whole family, not sparing women and children, on the plea that one of the family belonged to a partisan detachment. The local military authorities state that at the village of Novoselki, Mogileff, on April 5, there appeared an officer and soldiers of the 346th Regiment and took oats from the inhabitants by force. The officer was killed by the peasants, and the soldiers fled. After this the village was surrounded by the soldiers, fired on by machine guns, and burned.

The following day the German commander sent a notice to the Russian military authorities at Orsha saying that the inhabitants of Novoselki had been ejected, and the village burned owing to a German officer's being killed.

[Illustration: MAP OF THE UKRAINE AND OTHER REGIONS OF RUSSIA NOW UNDER GERMAN DOMINATION]

Observers of Russian life agree that feelings of resentment and animosity on the part of the Russian population for the German oppressor are steadily growing throughout the country. At the same time good feeling between the Russians and the Allies, especially the Americans, is on the increase. British and French troops are co-operating with Bolshevist forces in defending against Finns and Germans the Murman seacoast and the railway from the interior of Russia to the arctic ports of Alexandrovsk and Archangel, where large supplies of valuable war materials are stored up. The War Council attached to the Murman local Soviet consists of one Russian, one Englishman, and one Frenchman. The landing of the allied troops at Alexandrovsk the Germans regarded as a violation of the Brest treaty, which provides for peace with Finland, and protested to the Moscow Government against the act.

The constant exchange of protests between Berlin and Moscow is partly caused by the ambiguous wording of the Brest treaty. On April 24 Adolf Joffe, the Bolshevist Ambassador in Berlin, telegraphed to Moscow that the Russian translation of the treaty was considered by the German authorities incorrect, and that the publication of the final draft of the document was postponed until the receipt of an authentic version.

DISMEMBERING RUSSIA