The President went on to say that " extraordinary safeguards
must be demanded " because there was no guarantee that Germany had become or was becoming a democracy. " It is evident that the German people have no means of commanding the acquiescence of the military authorities of the Empire in the popular will, that the power of the King of Prussia to control the policy of the Empire is unimpaired, that the determining initiative still remains with those who have hitherto been the masters of Germany." The President said that the nations do not and cannot trust the word of these men, and that in concluding peace he " cannot deal with any but veritable representatives of the German people, who have been assured of a genuine constitutional standing as the real rulers of Germany." If, he concluded, he must deal with Germany's " military masters and monarchical autocrats " now, or If he may have to deal with them later in enforcing the Peace Treaty, he " must demand not peace negotiations but surrender." The President will not treat with the Hohenzollerns.
