World's War Events Volume III Part 50

Penalties section identical with German treaty excepting reference to German kaiser. New states required to aid in prosecution and punishment of their nationals guilty of offenses against international law.

[Sidenote: Access to the Adriatic promised.]

Economic clauses in general similar to those in German treaty. Austria given access to Adriatic.

Austria must abandon all financial claims against signatories.

Treaty to become operative when signed by Austria and three of the princ.i.p.al powers.

On July 21, an amplified treaty with Austria-Hungary taking up matters omitted from the first paper was given to the delegates from that country. A summary of the articles follows:

[Sidenote: Arrangements for reparation.]

In addition to the published summary of the terms of June 2, the new clauses provide for reparation arrangements very similar to those in the treaty with Germany, including the establishment of an Austrian subsection of the Reparations Commission, the payment of a reasonable sum in cash, the issuing of bonds, and the delivery of livestock and certain historical and art doc.u.ments.

The financial terms provide that the Austrian pre-war debt shall be apportioned among the former parts of Austria, and that the Austrian coinage and war bonds, circulating in the separated territory, shall be taken up by the new governments and redeemed as they see fit.

Under the military terms the Austrian army is henceforth reduced to 30,000 men on a purely voluntary basis.

[Sidenote: Universal military service to be abolished.]

Paragraph 5, relating to the military situation, says that the Austrian army shall not exceed 30,000 men, including officers and depot troops.

Within three months the Austrian military forces shall be reduced to this number, universal military service abolished and voluntary enlistment subst.i.tuted as part of the plan "to render possible the initiation of a general limitation of armaments of all nations."

The army shall be used exclusively for the maintenance of internal order and control of frontiers. All officers must be regulars, those of the present army to be retained being under obligation to serve until 40 years old, those newly appointed agreeing to at least twenty consecutive years of active service. Non-commissioned officers and privates must enlist for not less than twelve consecutive years, including at least six years with the colors.

[Sidenote: Manufacture of war material.]

Within three months the armament of the Austrian army must be reduced according to detailed schedules, and all surplus surrendered. The manufacture of all war material shall be confined to one single factory under the control of the State, and other such establishments shall be closed or converted. Importation and exportation of arms, munitions and war materials of all kinds are forbidden.

[Sidenote: Compensation for damage to civilians.]

Paragraph 8 (on reparation) reads, in substance: The allied and a.s.sociated Governments affirm, and Austria accepts, the responsibility of Austria and her allies for causing loss and damage to which the allied and a.s.sociated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Austria and her allies. While recognizing that Austria's resources will not be adequate to make complete reparation, the allied and a.s.sociated Governments request, and Austria undertakes, that she will make compensation for damage done to civilians and their property, in accordance with categories of damages similar to those provided in the treaty with Germany.

The amount of damage is to be determined by the Reparation Commission provided for in the treaty with Germany, which is to have a special section to handle the Austrian situation. The commission will notify Austria before May 1, 1921, of the extent of her liabilities and of the schedule of payments for the discharge thereof during a period of thirty years. It will bear in mind the diminutions of Austria's resources and capacity of payment resulting from the treaty.

As immediate reparation, Austria shall pay during 1919, 1920, and the first four months of 1921, in such manner as provided by the Reparation Commission, "a reasonable sum which shall be determined by the commission."

[Sidenote: Bond issues to be made.]

Three bond issues shall be made--the first before May 1, 1921, without interest; the second at 2-1/2 per cent. interest between 1921 and 1926, and thereafter at 5 per cent., with an additional 1 per cent. for amortization beginning in 1926, and a third at 5 per cent, when the commission is satisfied that Austria can meet the interest and sinking fund obligations. The amount shall be divided by the allied and a.s.sociated Governments in proportions determined upon in advance on a basis of general equity.

[Sidenote: Representatives of the Reparation Commission.]

The Austrian section of the Reparation Commission shall include representatives of the United States, Great Britain, France, Italy, Greece, Poland, Rumania, the Serbo-Slovene State, and Czecho-Slovakia.

The first four shall each appoint a delegate with two votes, and the other five shall choose one delegate each year to represent them all.

Withdrawal from the commission is permitted on twelve months' notice.

[Sidenote: To pay cost of armies of occupation.]

Paragraph 9, (Financial.)--The first charge upon all the a.s.sets and revenues of Austria shall be the costs arising under the present treaty, including, in order of priority, the costs of the armies of occupation, reparations, and other charges specifically agreed to and, with certain exceptions, as granted by the Reparation Commission for payments for imports. Austria must pay the total cost of the armies of occupation from the armistice of November 3, 1918, so long as maintained, and may export no gold before May 1, 1921, without consent of the Reparation Commission.

Each of the States to which Austrian territory is transferred and each of the States arising out of the dismemberment of Austria, including the Republic of Austria, shall a.s.sume part of the Austrian pre-war debt specifically secured on railways, salt mines, and other property, the amount to be fixed by the Reparation Commission on the basis of the value of the property so transferred.

[Sidenote: The pre-war debt.]

Similarly, the unsecured bonded pre-war debt of the former empire shall be distributed by the Reparation Commission in the proportion that the revenues for the three years before the war of the separated territory bore to those of the empire, excluding Bosnia and Herzegovina.

No territory formerly part of the empire, except the Republic of Austria, shall carry with it any obligation in respect of the war debt of the former Austrian Government, but neither the Governments of those territories nor their nationals shall have recourse against any other State, including Austria, in respect of war debt bonds held within their respective territories by themselves or their nationals.

[Sidenote: Replacement of ships lost by the Allies.]

Austria, recognizing the right of the Allies to ton-for-ton replacement of all ships lost or damaged in the war, cedes all merchant ships and fishing boats belonging to nationals of the former empire, agreeing to deliver them within two months to the Reparation Commission. With a view to making good the losses in river tonnage, she agrees to deliver up 20 per cent. of her river fleet.

[Sidenote: Restoration of devastated areas.]

The allied and a.s.sociated powers require, and Austria undertakes, that in part reparation she will devote her economic resources to the physical restoration of the invaded areas. Within sixty days of the coming into force of the treaty the governments concerned shall file with the Reparation Commission lists of animals, machinery, equipment, and the like destroyed by Austria which the governments desire replaced in kind, and lists of the materials which they desire produced in Austria for the work of reconstruction, which shall be reviewed in the light of Austria's ability to meet them.

[Sidenote: Animals to be delivered.]

As an immediate advance as to animals, Austria agrees to deliver within three months after ratification of the treaty 4,000 milch cows to Italy and 1,000 each to Serbia and Rumania; 1,000 heifers to Italy, 300 to Serbia, and 500 to Rumania; 50 bulls to Italy and 25 each to Serbia and Rumania; 1,000 calves to each of the three nations; 1,000 bullocks to Italy and 500 each to Serbia and Rumania; 2,000 sows to Italy, and 1,000 draft horses and 1,000 sheep to both Serbia and Rumania.

[Sidenote: Timber, iron and magnesite.]

Austria also agrees to give an option for five years as to timber, iron, and magnesite in amounts as nearly equal to the pre-war importations as Austria's resources make possible. She renounces in favor of Italy all cables touching territories a.s.signed to Italy, and in favor of the allied and a.s.sociated powers the others.

[Sidenote: Valuable objects to be restored.]

Austria agrees to restore all records, doc.u.ments, objects of antiquity and art, and all scientific and bibliographic material taken away from the invaded or ceded territories. She will also hand over without delay all official records of the ceded territories and all records, doc.u.ments and historical material possessed by public inst.i.tutions and having a direct bearing on the history of the ceded territories which have been removed during the past ten years, except that for Italy the period shall be from 1861.

As to artistic archaeological, scientific or historic objects formerly belonging to the Austro-Hungarian Government or Crown, Austria agrees to negotiate with the State concerned for an amicable arrangement for the return to the districts of origin on terms of reciprocity of any object which ought to form part of the intellectual patrimony of the ceded districts, and for twenty years to safeguard all other such objects for the free use of students.

[Sidenote: War debt held outside the empire.]

The war debt held outside the former empire shall be a charge on the Republic of Austria alone. All war securities shall be stamped within two months with the stamp of the State taking them up, replaced by certificates, and settlement made to the Reparation Commission.

The currency notes of the former Austro-Hungarian Bank circulating in the separated territory shall be stamped within two months by the new governments of the various territories with their own stamp, replaced within twelve months by a new currency, and turned over within twelve months to the Reparation Commission. The bank itself shall be liquidated as from the day after the signature of the treaty by the Reparation Commission.

[Sidenote: Property within the new States.]

States to which Austrian territory was transferred and States arising from the dismemberment of Austria shall acquire all property within their territories of the old or new Austrian Government, including that of the former royal family. The value is to be a.s.sessed by the Reparation Commission and credited to Austria on the reparation account.

[Sidenote: Property of historic interest.]

Property of predominant historic interest to the former kingdoms of Poland, Bohemia, Croatia, Slavonia, Dalmatia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, the Republic of Ragusa, the Venetian Republic, or the episcopal princ.i.p.alities of Trent and Bressanone may be transferred without payment.

Austria renounces all rights as to all international, financial, or commercial organizations in allied countries, Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria, Turkey, or the former Russian Empire. She agrees to expropriate, on demand of the Reparation Commission, any rights of her nationals in any public utility or concession in these territories, in separated districts, and in mandatory territories, to transfer them to the commission within six months, and to hold herself responsible for indemnifying her nationals so dispossessed.