200 EMPLOYMENT OF THE PLEBISCITE [A9^ 



rangement to have been correct. In the northern section a 

 vote of practically 3 to i in favor of Denmark was re- 

 turned.^ In the southern zone the result showed the same 

 proportion in favor of Germany.* Prior to the signing of 

 the treaty, Germany had conceded to Denmark the right to 

 the Danish sections of Schleswig.' Denmark had objected 

 to the original, too liberal, line of demarkation proposed by 

 the Allies. Denmark wanted none of the German sections." 

 Germany's reply to the first treaty draft suggested one zone 

 to include all communes where the Danish language was 

 spoken by at least fifty per cent of the population.'' There 

 were in these suggestions and proposals clearly the essen- 

 tials of a settlement between the parties concerned on the 

 basis of the will of the people involved. The essential 

 element was the willingness on the part of Germany to 

 acknowledge the Danish sentiment of Northern Schlesvvig 

 and to relinquish that territory on the grounds of this ac- 

 knowledged sentiment — and Denmark's honest admission 

 that the line as originally proposed by the Allies went 

 beyond her legitimate claims based on popular consent. 

 The one question which was still waiting for a decision be- 

 tween the three parties to the transaction was whether 

 popular consent would be construed as meaning a simple 

 majority, or two-thirds, or even more of the community 

 vote. It was easily conceivable that in a few communities 

 a vote would be required to establish the existence or non- 

 existence of the fixed majority, decided upon in advance 

 as a basis for the transfer. Still in these cases the plebi- 

 scite would serve not to free a suppressed minority, but 

 merely to establish majority rule as it does in the issues of 

 political life in general.^ In the case of the voting in the 

 two Schleswig zones, the decision with regard to the future 



8 New York Times Current History, vol. xi, part 2, pp. 424-426. 



* Ibid., vol. xii, pp. 22-24. 

 ° See above, p. 139. 



" See notes, 2-3. See also the Allies' reply to the German counter 

 proposals, cited above, p. 139. 

 ^ See above, p. 130. 



* See above, p. 161 ; below, p. 201. 



