ERZBERGER INTERVIEWED.

Colonist, Volume LXI, Issue 15000, 22 February 1919, Page 5

ERZBERGER INTERVIEWED.

FUTURE WAR FOR THE SAAR. VALLEY.

THE POLISH INVASION

(Australian and N.Z. Cable Association

(Received Feb. 22, 1.30 a.m.)

New York, Feb. 18

Interviewed by an American correspondent, Erzberger said: "If the Saar Valley is taken from Germany, Germany will retake it' by force of arms sooner or later. If harder armistice terms are imposed it "will be practically impossible for any German Government to exist. It might be fatal to public order in Germany."

He said the German army was all demobilised with the exception of the 1899 class, which, with volunteers, was unable to prevent the Polish invasion. Germany had not any ulterior motive in concentrating troops on the eastern frontier. Her aim was to prevent the advance of the Poles and Bolsheviki.

Erzberger stated that when Germany was assured that her ships would be used to carrjr- food to Germany the ships w Toiild be released for the use of the Allies.

Yon Hamel, a German State Department official, interviewed,said, "Germany must have food. We haven't cash to pay for it, but we are willing to mortgage the railways and mines and give any good security. If food is not sent Bolshevism will spread in Germany."