Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1916-12-30

Germany. we know. wants peace.
desires it desperately; the other Pow
ers wants Il, but Germany must have
Il. To 20 on with the war Will profit
her nothing. She has defeated the
little nations, but she cannot bulge
the big ones. She talks Of making
war terrible, OF fighting to the last,
but It is no victory to make war terri
BILE. there is no triumph in fighting to
the last. Her domestic situation is
not only threatening, but there is no
conceivable way in which It can grow
better. She can go on fighting, but
that is all she can do, and the time
will come when she cannot do that
She can fight, but all she can fight
for is peace.
Naturally, however. she wants to
get the most she can out of the end
Of the war. She does not know how
much she can save. She has proposed
no peace terms; she has proposed that
she and her allies and foes get to-
gether around a table and discuss
what the peace terms shall be. The
answer Of her foes Is that they will
not do that without any knowl-
edge Of the proposals she intends
TO make" These words are the
words OF Lloyd George. The infer
enct is fair that II she will make
known her proposals there may be g
different answer; at any rate, such
an answer does not close the door
the more so as Lloyd Gtorge went on
to give, in general phrases, the term
which the Allies would consider
Those terms were complete restitu
ton. full reparation. and effectua
| guarantees"
What constitutes complete restitu
ton, fun reparation. and effectua
| guarantees? That is a subject for de
bate; a subject for a peace confer
ence. in other words. Reducing Lloy,
Georges answer to a sentence, It i
this: We will not meet YOU "withou
any knowledge OF the proposals yol
intend TO make, but here are ours
We await your reply. This answe
NAV not be acceptabl to Germany
but It has excited no great horror u
the minds Of such men as Count vo
Dernstorff. They seem to see hon
I'm Il hone Of peace; and peace is tn
thing Germany must have.
These we're the cards that were o
the table on Wednesday morning. y
THURSDAY morning there was anothe
President Wilson asked the combat
ants TO state their terms. The Allie
have stated theirs. but Germany ha
not vet stated hers Is It no plai
that the request is made to German
thcugh. to preserve the usages
diplomacy end to avoid making u
meaning offensive. the REQUEST had
he disnatched 10 all the belligerents-
even 20 poor Belgium and wrecke
Montenegro. whose terms are know
70 ALI men without inquiry? II Is a
s,ird 70 cali such move IN aid
: Germany. T. aids Germany only
this wav-that Germany. thus told
the All'es that she. must state n
terms or give MP her chance q
peace. NAV he supplied with q vi
to meet that situation without 10
~ face: she NAV do what the All
demand. but do Il rs II in cc0seouen
OF The Pres dents request. Since %
REQUEST was rs q matter OF forl
made 20 everybody else as we'll
herself. there would be no loss
amour nronre. The Allies should N
nrudve her that. provided the obie
Is attained
This being the situation. II is di
couraging to see newspapers n Gre
Britain. and even IN the Unit
} states taking the erroneou4 vie
that the President Is addressing /