Mr. Lloyd George went on to detail the losses of the Allies in killed and crippled, pointing that France and Great Britain alone were each bearing an annual burden in respect of pensions that was three times the amount of the whole annual payment now offered by Germany as reparation for cil damages. Germany was now off ing not one-fourth of the sum quired to repair the damages, and that offer was made only on the condition that those who needed it should find it out of their own pockets first, on highly privileged terms, when they could with difficulty raise the money in their own markets for carrying on the work of government.
An Offence and Exasperation, "I cannot understand," he said, "the psychology which permits the representatives of a country whose Government was responsible for the most devastating war in the world's history, to come solemnly with such terms to a conference with representatives of the victims of that devastation." if, Mr. Lloyd George continued, the German Government had made a proposal indicating a sincere desire to discharge its obligations, it would have received the fairest and most patient consideration, with a view to reaching a reasonable accord.
"We were prepared," he said, "to make all legitimate allowances for the real difficulties under which the German and other peoples labour as the result of the war. but these proposals are frankly an offence and an exasperation, and, as one who is anxious for the 1estoration of real peace in Europe, I deeply deplore that such proposals were submitted, for they indicate a desire, not to perform, but to evade the obligations that Germany has incurred."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.