Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1916-12-20

takins nearly half prisoners. Every
intrigue of the court and the mobiles
iof 4 separate peace has been thwarted.
aho slowly. painfully. but unInistak-
AMY, - new Russia is being developed
which is controlled by those who have
no sympathy with German ideas or
German rulers; 81 liberal Russia is ris-
ing on Gsermany's eastern marches, q
itlssia whose VERY vastncsS contains
- permanent nlenac 10 Te,ltonism.
n so VIC may say tina on both sides
on me present firing lines there has
been an establishments, and
tiils dlsllluslonment has been the sole
Contribution to peace Of two years anG
Il halt OF war. On both sides there are
certain things now recognized thai
would not have been conceded before.
recognizes the permanence of
France ANA OF Britain. the enduring
menace of Russia. The entente allies
recognize the fu,ility of theii. earlier
notlons OF remaking Germany tn suit
thelr own democratic ideal or selfish
hiias: th.N perceive that Austria is not
Vet necessarily doomed and they behold
Turkey stili enduring.
All these things are q gain for peaca
All these things contribute to the re-
fnoNai OF ideas and miSapprehensions.
which We're. while they continued. a
permanent barrier to any possible peace
settlement now or hereafter. ON he
German side they mean a temporary or
permanent abandonment OF any dream
that world domination can be attained
IN inns war. on the allied side they dis
pose of amy hope or belief that Ger
many cam be removed as a fact and
probably as an enduring danger i'm the
years that are to come: certainly the
danger can only he nov Inv n
German decision uninfluenced by ex-
ternal pressure.
What then remains before peace can
be made: III Germany is prepared to
~eNacuate Belgium and northern France.
conditions that even the German will
as necessary ~antecedents to
any settlement. what are the remainin.
obstacles? The answer is simple.
France will under no circumstances
make peace now without the %retroces-
SION of Aisace-LorTalne. Russia will
not make peace without the return of
all of her occupied territory. without
the restoration of Serbia and without
the possession of Constantinople. Italy
viii not make peace without Trieste,
he Ifcntino and Dalmatia. Rumania
mas the guarantee of all her allies that
she shall have Pennsylvania and Bulk
eVlna. where nearly 1000, 900 Ruman-
lans dwell. AS for Britain. we know
mat 1T would not he possible for her,
even il she desired ii, as she does not,
10 persuade Austria to surrender the
German colonies she has taken, South
AFRICA to retire from the German pro-
vinces she has conquered, her ally
Japan to give up kian-chau.
There is no great value in analysing
these various claims now; they are of
unequal value. they will appeal to
Americans differently as American
sympathy, knowledge, conviction varies
IN these several great problems. Blu the
mann fact remains that every one of
the contestants on the allies side to-
day prefers to continue the war rather
than to surrender the hope which IL
~protraction of the war holds out for
them that they may acquire what they
believe to be theirs by mora right VI
necessary to their safety in view of
present or future peril coming from
Germany.
And on what terms would Germany
and her allies make peace? We may
fairly dismiss from the reckoning the
possibility that Germany will now
claim Belgium or any portion of
French soil, because such claims o
close the question of peace altogether.
On h other hand, we may be sure
Germany will insist upon the perlman-
Gnce of that Polish state h has Cre-
ated out of Russian Poland, a state TO
be under Austro-C;erman protection,
and to serve as a barrier against RusA
STA, a buffer state. not impossibly to
Oc IIlSL ON Ille dSNlJlOIl vi AUS
Poland. when Austria has been other
wise remunerated. Conceivably, Ger
many will also insist upon the creation
of 4 state of Lithuania. also under her
protection. but this remains doubtful.
Probably her present program for east
ern expansion would be fulfilled by the
Polish concession.
AS for Austria, she might consent to
give the Trentino south of Botzen to
Italy, but she never would resign
Trieste Or Dalmatia. For herself she
would claim the right to decide the fate
of Serbia, of Montenegro and of Alba
mia. The Macedonian portion of Ser
bia would certainly be coded to Bull
garia:A the balance might he joined
with Austrian and Hungarian Slav
provinces, it might ne surrendered to
Hungary, it might be erected n Il
dependent but titulary independent
kingdom under an Austrian prince;
but as a free state it would vanish.
In addition to Serbian territory includ-
ing MOnastir and Nish, Bulgaria would
receive the Rumanian Dobrudja and
Greek Kavala. while Greece would have
southern Albania. now marked for Italy
and occupied by Italian troops. AS for
Turkey, h would keep what she has
and accept her losses in Armenia and
Egypt.
We have here the sum of the diff
%ferences. then-France, Italy and Ru-
mania, claiming their lost provinces
(Alsace-Lorraine, Trieste ami the
Trentino, Transylvania) AZ the perma-
nent barriers to peace. together with
the Russian claim to Co~nstantinople.
To balance them we have the German
claim to Poland, the Austrian claim TO
Serbia, the determination OF the CEN
trail powers to reward their Bulgarian
ally as the other alliance has pledged
itself to reward Rumania.
And the real battle is between the
Slav and the Teuton. The possession
of Alsace-I.orraine by France, of