The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-10-05
The question, then. si what sort of

The question, then, si what sort of peace may we at least hope for now Lon what terms. on what principles?
 Swap and Dicker.
 We may be sure that each side is ready to concede more and to demand less than it is ready to advertise. The summer campaign, in which marked advantages are most likely, is nearly over and winter in the trenches will cost on all sides money and suffering out of all proportion to the advances | that can be hoped for. It must be re- membefed. too, that the advantages 1 hitherto gained are not all on one side but that each has something to con cede. The British annexations of Egypt and Cyprus may be formal Irather than su1Stantial changes. but l the conquest of the German colonies large and sman-South West Africa, Togo Land, Samoa, New Pommern, Kaiser Wilhe1msIand, the Solomon, 1 Caroline and Marshall Islands, to say nothing of al-Chao-and. prob ably Russian gains at the expense of Turkey in the near East-give bar gaining power to the Allies. So also, even without success in the Darda- ne1les, does their ability to thwart or forward German enterprise in Asia Minor and Mesopotamia.
 ! Friends of Finland and of Poland must see to it that the debatable lands | of the eastern as well as of the west ern frontier are kept in mind. From the point of view of Poland the. main thing to be desired is the union of the three disrnenb bered parts-Russian German anal Austrian Poland-and their fusion in some sort of a buffer state. independent or at least essen tialIY autonomous Something like 1 this appears to be the purpose of both Germany and Russia with the differ ence that this Polish state would be in the one case under Teutonic in the other under Russian auspices. No one knows, which would be the choice as between the two of the majority Of the Poles concerned. Concessions to Germany in Finland and Poland are at least conceivable and would make the concessions of complete withdrawal in the west easier for her to make.
 Still more important are the con- sessions in regard to naval control of the seas which Great Britain ought to be willing to. make if the safety of her commerce and interco1oniaI com munications can be adequately secur- ed otherwise, land this would seem to be the natural counterpart of sub stantia1 steps toward disarmament on 1and.eas
 seI3ut all this is speculation The fact, obvious to those who look below the surface. IS that every bell1gerRnt power is carrying on a war deadly to iseIf, that bankruptcy looms ahead, that industrial revolt threatens, not at the moment but in a none too dis tant future, that racial stocks are be- ing irreparab1y> depleted.
 Each power would best like peace on it's own terms. Our common civil 1fzation would suffer by the irnposi- ton of extreme terms by any power. Each people would be thankful i'm deed to secure an early peace without humiliation a long way short of it's extreme demands.
 There is thus every reason to be- lieve that vigorous initiative by rep resentatives of the neutral powers of the world could at this .nnomeNt begin a move toward negotiations and lead the way to a settlement which shall be a step toward a. nobler and more intelligent civilization than we have yet enjoyed.