56 THE ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF THE PEACE ch.

difficult to apply on a contractual basis those pass-ages which deal with spirit, purpose, and intention;—every man must judge for himself whether, inview of them, deception or hypocrisy has been prac-tised. But there remain, as will be seen below,certain important issues on which the Contract isunequivocal.

In addition to the Fourteen Points of January 8,1918, the Addresses of the President which form partof the material of the Contract are four in number,—before the Congress on February 11; at Baltimore on April 6 ; at Mount Vernon on July 4; and atNew York on September 27, the last of these beingspecially referred to in the Contract. I venture toselect from these Addresses those engagements of sub-stance, avoiding repetitions, which are most relevantto the German Treaty. The parts I omit add to, ratherthan detract from, those I quote; but they chieflyrelate to intention, and are perhaps too vague andgeneral to be interpreted contractually. 1

The Fourteen Points. —(3). " The removal, so faras possible, of all economic barriers and the establish-ment of an equality of trade conditions among all thenations consenting to the Peace and associating them-selves for its maintenance." (4). "Adequate guaranteesgiven and taken that national armaments will be

1 I also omit those which have no special relevance to the German Settle-ment. The second of the Fourteen Points, which relates to the Freedomof the Seas, is omitted because the Allies did not accept it. Any italics aremine.