The Colorado statesman., 1916-12-23
stated in general terms to their own

people and to the world.
Each side desires to make the
rights and privileges of weak peoples
and small states as secure against ag
gression or denial in the future as the
rights and privileges of the great and
powerful states now at war Each
wishes itself to be made secure in the
future, along with all other nations
and peoples. against the recurrence of
wars like this and against aggression
of selfish interference OF any kind
Each would be Jealous of the
formation of any more rival leagues
to preserve an uncertain balance of,
power amidst multiplying suspicious;
but each is ready to consider the
formation of league of nations to
insure peace and justice throughout
the world.
Before that final step can be taken,
however, each deems it necessary
first to settle the issues of the pres
ent war upon terms which will GER
tainly safeguard the independence, the
territorial integrity and the political
and commercial freedom of the ma
tions involved.
cure the future peace of the world
the people and government of the
United States are as vitally and as
directly interested as the governments
now at war. Their interest moreover,
in the means to be adopted to relieve
the smaller ana weaker peoples of the
world of the peril of wrong and vio
lence is as quick and ardent as that
of any other people or government.
They stand ready, and even eager, to
cooperate in the accomplishment of
these ends, when the war is over, with
every influence and resource at their
command. But the war must first be
concluded
The terms upon which it is to be
concluded they are not at liberty to
suggest; but the President does feel
that it is his right and his duty to
point out their intimate interests in
its conclusion, lest it should presently
be too late to accomplish the greater
things which lie beyond its conclusion,
lest the situation of neutral nations,
now exceedingly hard to endure, be
rendered altogether intolerable, and
lest more than all, an injury be done
| civilization itself which can never be
atoned for or repaired.
"The President therefore feels alto
gether justified in suggesting an i'm
mediate opportunity for a comparison
of views as to the terms which must
precede those ultimate arrangements
for the peace of the world, which all
desire and in which the neutral ma
| tions as well as those at war are
ready to play their full, responsible
| part.
"If the contest must continue to
proceed toward underlined ends by
slow attrition until the one group of
belligerents or the other is exhausted,
if million after million of human lives
must continue to be offered up until
on the one side or the other there are
no more to offer, if resentments must
be kindled that can never cool and
despairs engendered from which there
can be no recovery, hopes of peace
and of the willing concert of free peo-
pies will be rendered vain and idle.
"The life of the entire world has
been profoundly affected. Every part
of the great family of mankind has
felt the burden and terror of this un-
| precedented contest of arms. No ma
tion in the civilized world can be said
in truth to stand out to its influence
or to be safe against its disturbing
effects. And yet the concrete objects
| for which it is being waged have
never been definitely stated.
1.-THE leaders of the several belliger.
ents have, as has been said, stated
those objects in general terms. But,
stated in general terms, they seem
the same on both sides. Never yet
have the authoritative spokesman of
either side avowed the precise objects
which would, if attained, satisfy them
and their people that the war had
been fought out. The world has been
left to conjecture what definitive re-
suits, what actual exchange Of guar
antics, what political or territorial
changes or adjustments, what stage
OF military success, even, would bring
the war to an end.
"It may be that peace is nearer than
we know; that the terms which the
belligerents on the one side and on
the other would deem it necessary to
insist upon are not so irreconcilable
as some have feared that an inter
change of views would clear the way
at least for conference and make the
permanent concord of the nations a
hope of the immediate future, a con-
cert of nations Immediately prac-
ticable.
'The President is not proposing
peace; he is not even offering media
ton. He is merely proposing that
soundings be taken in order that we
may learn, the neutral nations with
the belligerent, how near the haven
of peace may be for which all man.
kind longs with an intense and in
creasing longing
HE believes that. the spirit in
which he speaks and the objects
which he seeks will be understood by
| oil AI L.