Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-07-06
COMMON PEOPLE
PREVENT PEACE?
Leading Version in Stockholm is That
Officials of BeIligerent countries
Fear to End War.

Stockholm Correspondence OF me
| Associated Press I'm Stockholm,
where wayfarers of all nations meet
and mingIe on neutral ground, but
/ few hours journey from bell1gerent
lands, it is possible to learn much
that may be credited as to the views
of governments and peoples concern
ing the possibilities and the problems
of peace. This is particularly true
with regard to the Germans and Rus
SLAMS, for at this time the nationals or
these countries make up by far the
! larger part of the foreign population
| in Scandinavia Officials and travellers
from France and England are also
constantly passing through Stockholm
on their way to Petrograd, leaving be-
hind their entirely informal and I'M
official ideas as to what the future
holds.
From contact not alone with Off
| Gals and men of influence fresh from
the warning countries, but with the
diplomats accredited to the Swedish
capital as well, the correspondent of
! The Associated Press can state that
each government as it contemplates
the terms of peace sees behind any
prospective international negotiations
the far graver problem of squaring
with its own people the menacing &C
count in which a balance must be
struck between benefits won and the
staggering losses of blood and wealth.
What will the common people" of the
/ belligerent countries do and say II
the net result of the years sacrifice
and fighting is but a reestablishment
of the ante-bellum status quo? Can
anyone of the nations at war satisfy
it's people with such an accounting?
| Whenever the prospects of an early
peace seem bright, these problems
cloud the skies of hope The Official"
views as to the conditions of peace
allowed to drift out of Germany, Aus
tria and the entente countries have as
yet offered no basis of agreement which
takes into consideration the settle
ments to be made lat home" by both
sides At least that is the view taken
here in Stockholm
| 1t is felt here that France occupies
perhaps the least difficult situation of
any of the nations now at war. For
France was invaded, Paris was threat
ened and the army was called into the
| field in defense of home and fireside.
France, it is said here, can settle on
any honorable terms and there will be
little discomfort among the people.
But what of Germany? Can she, it
is asked, give up all the occupied ter
ritOry in Europe, return to her own
| borders with industries shattered, for
eign trade to be won all over again
and yet make the people lat home" feel
| that their losses and sufferings were
not in vain?
| Can Great Britain afford to give
| back to Germany all of her colonies
after the sacrifices at Gallipoli, in
| East Africa, Mesopotamia and in the
/ fol md # a ~ NJ
western France? Will Germany in
these circumstances have been suffi-
| GENTLY crushed" and will Great Brit
aims prestige in the world have been
sufficiently increased to offset the
enormous losses of British lives and
make easy the burdens of the years
TO come?
Many theories are discussed here as
| 20 how peace might be accomplished
if it were but a matter of give auL
take at the conference table, but this
greatest of all world wars has
wrought such a havoc of loss to all
engaged in it that the mere settlement
on paper is not TO be compared with
the problem of settingthings right lat
! home"
| 1T is when we get to that phase of
| the situation that | feel matters are
all but hopeless" said a man of out
| standing prominence in the diplo-
matte circle of Stockholm. The war
has gone on and on, accommodating
| Roadway and drawing nation after ma
| ton into its grasp, until | confess
! cannot see how the end will come
Who will take the initiative for peace?
l am convinced it cannot come from
the outside. 1t must come from one of
the belligerents, but who of the belig-
erent parties has been so mortally
| hurt as to take a defensive position in
| the conference by first suggesting or
accepting an offer of peace?
1T is nonsense to say that the ma
| lions at war do not want peace. But
| they all feel there must be some sort
| of decision in their favor. How can
| the various governments face their
| people with empty hands? There have
| been no suggestions thus far of a
peace that would mean peace at home
| to all the countries now engaged in
war and unless someone can suggest
such peace | for one do not see how
there can be a settlement until there
shall have been d more overwhelming
military advantage than either side
yet has gained
1t is difficult TO find in Stockholm
anyone who believes other than that
the war will eventually end with Ger
man troops occupying foreign soil on
every front. This view has even been
expressed here by war correspondents
accredited to entente newspapers and
who, fresh from the western front,
have passed through Stockholm on
their way to watch the Russian cam
palgn OF the present summer. They
believe that powerful, concerted
move on all fronts by all the allies at
the same time might develop a weak
ness here and there in the German
and Austrian lines which would give
the allies material military advantage
But they feel that an attempt to drive
the Germans back within their own
borders would mean losses not to be
estimated, even by the standards of
the last few months at Verdun
There is of course to be considered
the allied hope that the pressure of
the blockade may bring Germany TO