The Washington herald., 1916-11-05
By JOHN L. BALDERsToN.


London, Nov. L-why are the Entente
and Central European groups equally un-
willing to state In clear terms the OBJ
jects for which they believe themselves
to be fighting and the conditions upon
which they would conclude peace?
The ambiguous replies Of the oracle at
Delphi were not more capable Of contra
dictory construction than the vague
phrases which pour from the mouths Of
statesmen; freedom Of the seas" Is the
slogan OF politicians whose submarines
sink without apology scores Of neutral
ships bound from one neutral port to
another; -the rights of small nations"
Is the favorite shfbboleth of other gen.
tlemen who are now engaged in throt-
ting Greece. And. best joke Of all, stern
words concerning the destruction Of mill
tarism are uttered by the spokesmen OF
the Russian autocracy. Meanwhile a
hundred thousand men q week are falling,
and the cynical pleasantries banded by
the diplomats across the battlefields to
one another appear to the neutral world,
and to not a few people among the bel
ligerents, in very questionable taste.
The reasons which forbid either side
to throw its cards on the table are cap
able Of explanation in plain English
But II the reader cares to follow a cold
blooded outline of the facts, he must
first dismiss from his mind all the
speeches and interviews emanating since
the beginning of the war from Viscount-
Grey, Bethmann-Hollweg, Asquith. Brl-
and, Sazonoff, Burian, Poincare ana
Lloyd George. They are all. as Hamlet
said, Words. words, words"
Terms Not Fixed.
The Entente Is unable to agree to med
q af1a1 af nraRanf firnA tn
nounce the terms it proposes to inf1ict on
Germany. because France, Britain, Rus
sia, Italy, Serbia, Rumania and Belgium
could not reconcile their demands with
ont, conceivably, breaking up the al
lance, or without. quite certainly. in
dulging in long, acrimonious and perilous
negotiations.
The central Europe group, with the
partial exception Of Hungary under the
faced by such formidable obstacles II
peace negotiations are desired, since the
acceptable terms would be decided in Ber-
lin. Germany. however. fears that the
frst open steps toward peace would be
taken at home and abroad as a sign Of
weakness, anticipates trouble from the
jILgo parties II annexations are renounc-
ed, and above all believes that to an
nounce q willingness to evacuate enemy
"HllC -lllhB Is 6llAl
there would gravely impair the morale
of the German troops. The Kaiser's SOL
diers could not be expected to fight so
to hold Lille or st. Juentin II
oficially informed that their masters pro-
I ose to give the towns back whatever the
result Of the struggle. Unofficial feelers
have been thrown out by the Germans
for q year past; peace intrigues Of all
kinds Instigated by Berlin are under way
Aayr
no effect the first open and official peace
proposals may be expected to emanate
from the central powers. This Is prob
able not 50 much because the obstacles
in the way of formulating terms are less
on the German side as because the mill
tary aspect of the struggle Is likely. next
year, to grow more and more unfavor-
able to Germany.
But, since no one can tell in advance
the result OF the campaign OF next year.
Germany naturally desires to retain what
she can until she is compelled to give 1t
up: while the allies even II they could
q gree among themselves might desire to
keep silence until they are sure how much
they can take by force.
No Separate Peace.
It will be remembered that the allies
are pledged not to make a separate
peace with the enemy. An attempt
will be made to show the real war
aims Of the entente countries in order
to make clear the great difficulties
which must be solved before a COM
mon program can be agreed upon.
Some of the following necessarily in
complete statements are made on high
authority. others rest only upon a
study of newspaper and parliamentary
opinion 1t is possible that in some
instances secret agreements have al
ready been reached, dealing with spe-
cifc points, which have not leaked out
and which to some extent modify my
statements. That an understanding
exists between Britain, France and
Russia for Russian control of the Dar-
danelles after the war. and that Eng
land and France have promised to