New Mexico state record. (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1914-19??, 1916-12-15

diN ANuIiidiiio, duN ~ a ulSSAS 0A'S AIN
routed the entente powers in the diplomatic
contests in Bulgaria and Turkey.
Under such circumstances, it can not be
expected that Germany will consider herself
in any other light than that of the successful
contestant in the first two years of the war.
If the war is to end upon the basis of what has
been accomplished thus far, and upon the basis
of things as they now stand, it is fair and reas-
enable that Germany should demand a consid-
cradle advantage for herself in the conditions
after the war as compared with the conditions
that existed before the war began.
From the standpoint of the entente allies
this German idea of writing a peace treaty tip
on the basis of German military success and
Gernany's present position is wholly inadnis-
sible. 1t is precisely the same, they think, as
though a thief, who had broken into the house
Of a defenseless and unsuspicious citizen and
should offer to negotiate with the rightful
owner for the permanent possession of the
loot.
It has taken the entente allies two wears
to prepare for war, they say, while Germany
was prepared for war in the beginning. Now
that Great Britain, France and Russia are
ready to meet Germany upon a basis of equal
military preparation, it is time to begin wal
and not to end it.
Germany, they say, took the offensive
in the beginning. 1t was Germany's choice
that the controversies with Russia, France and
England should be settled by the sword and
not in the peaceful fields of banking, manr-
featuring and m Germany prepared
for this fight for forty years and she chose her
own time to make the supreme test to win ST.
prernacy in Europe and the world. To make
peace with Germany at the present time on
Germany's terms would mean simply the put
ting off of the final struggle until such a time
as Germany might choose for another attempt.
The Prussian idea Of government is, they
say, antagonistic to the idea of government as
held in France and Great Britain, and these
two ideas can not exist peacefully in the world
at the same time. If government is to be an
affair of state socialism dominated by a mil
itary caste, then the democratic governments
of France and England can no longer exist,
for the only way to meet Prussian competition
as this war has shown, is to adopt Prussian
efficiency. Prussian militarism must be de-
cfrovoI hoforo - ,n;11 Ia eofo co. C~n.A D.:x
ain and France to abandon the structure of
military defense that has been built up in the
Past two years.
Further, the people of Great Britain and
France do not look upon the German govern
ment as an honorable foe with whom a treaty
of peace can be honorably made with the pros
pect that the treaty will be kept in good faith.
They point to the violation of Belgian neutral
ity, to the outrages upon the non-combatants
of Belgium and the wanton destruction of
property there and in France, to the sinking of
the Lusitania, to the warfare of the subna-
rines and the zeppelins, to the executions of
Edith Cavell and Captain Fryatt, and to the
recent deportations and enforced labor of the
Belgians, as proof that the imperial govern
ment of Germany can not be trusted as a civ
ilized power to make and to keep a treaty of
peace, and they believe that as a part of such
a peace treaty there must be some provision
for the punishment of those whom they re-
gard as criminals against humanity and also
against civilization.
1t is true that such sentiments of bitter
en1nitv are a part of all wars and they ought
not to be regarded as insuperable obstacles to
peace Many Americans yet remember the
bitter hatred that existed between yankees"
and "Rebels." but that hatred has not prevent
ed the reunion of our nation in peace and in
friendship.
Too much weight ought not to be given
to the chorus of opposition that has arisen in
France and England against the German peace