Germany Declares That Peace Is Sure.

New York Times 100 years ago today, March 13, 1913:
Disavows Alarmist Press Articles — Statement Sends Up Prices on Boerse.
OPPOSE FRENCH ARMY BILL
Anatole France and Other Well-Known Men Urge the People Not to Yield to Military Panic.
    BERLIN, March 12.— The German Government to-day publishes a sharp rebuke to those newspapers which have, according to the declaration, been fomenting international trouble by provocative articles. It also disavows the attack made by The Cologne Gazette on France as the "European mischiefmaker," to which attack a section of the foreign press attributed an official character.
    The declaration says that the situation has improved so much that there is no doubt that the efforts of the powers toward peace will be successful.
    The Govermnent's statement was made public on the Boerse three hours before the close to-day. This and the reported demobilization of Russian and Austro-Hungarian troops had an immediate effect on the market, some stocks gaining as much as 5 points, while increases of 2 or 3 points were general.
    Day-to-day loans were slightly easier, but this was offset by the rising of the private discount on long bills to 8 per cent., thus reaching the official rate of discount. The banks, which are preparing to meet dividend payments, are holding back as much cash as possible, and the proposed great military expenditures have acted unfavorably on the money market.
    A study of Prussia's railroad plans, which call for a large outlay of money, shows that a considerable portion of this expenditure is to be reckoned to military account. The majority of the new lines to be laid down will connect strategic points, and serve for purely military purposes. Comparatively few important central traffic points will be reached by the new lines.

    PARIS, March 12.— Some opposition to the immense and hurried increase of the peace footing of the French Army has made its appearance. Some thirty-five professors of the Sorbonne, many of them among the finest scholars in France, have issued a united address to the people of France appealing to them not to allow themselves to yield thoughtlessly to the military panic and to "forces of reaction which tend toward desperate adventures hostile to the republican Government."
    The professors do not declare themselves opposed to the suggested three years' period of service in the active army, but ask for the fullest and most thoughtful consideration of the situation, without haste and without excess of emotion.
    Another declaration, signed by Anatole France and several other members of the French Institute, literary men, scientists and professors of provincial universities and colleges, was published to-day, urging calm consideration of the proposed military measures, which, if adopted, will, it says, profoundly affect the life of France, both intellectually and economically.
    Premier Briand, it is said, has informed a number of members of Parliament that it will not be necessary to rush through the military bills before Easter.