The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1916-08-17

Last week we discussed the minimum
terms of peace which It will be possibly
Tor the allies to offer teIpnsoa
peace which, however, must pc 70 sohno
extent governed by the rule in the case
DR. Tarquin VS.. the Sibyl. The terms are
pound TO become harder the longer NOS
:illties are ~protracted. Those Terms sta
Germans, or at any rate the rullhS Na'tS'
will naturally and inevitably CONSIDER 50
hard that they will fight as long as the
peoples subject to them Will allow. Anu
10 wonder. The minimum terms OF tne
allies cannot possibly attract them. Any
peace offer OF the allies u appear NV 1h
an invitation to commit suicide, The
tumb populations of Germany ana Aus
ria, as Carlyle would have, called tnsh,
nay be deeply moved by the nope u g
cessation of hostilities, by the removal OF
ME dreadful necessity of sending their
men to die In the trenches, by the intense
desire to nave food enough not merely 10
sustain life but to satisfy appetlte, anu :"
make life bearable on the physical slde.
There Is a vision of the full larder once
more, in the minimum terms OF the aiiLeS,
to attract the German masses. Ana they
also will be haunted by the leeIrrs orse
II the terms are not accepted now, worse
terms will be offered to them lAter-l. e.
At a time when rejection Will be lmpossi-
BILE.
The German emperor, the heads of the
German army, the German military caste
generally. and the chiefs of the bureau
cratic caste can entertain no suCn ieei-
'ngs. Peace terms such as We sketcheu,
he only terms on which the allies can
contemplate peace, would mean for them
after ruin. We must, therefore, face the
fact, however disagreeable, that the ap.
solute obligation which compeis us 10 put
minimum terms at least as high as we put
them last Saturday raises huge obstacles
20 a quick peace. We Cannot have II both
ways. If we were to make q rapid peace,
we should forfeit security-,the thing tor
which we are fighting. We should lay foun-
dations for another bloody war, we
ne digging our own graves. II, on the other
hand, we insist, as we must. on making
the ruling caste in Germany. and must
be prepared possibly for another year Oh
war, probably for at least another six
months of intensive fighting. with all that
French people. the Russian people, and
The Italian people. know this. They are
prepared to endure the Ills which they
cannot cure, and which are Inherent IN
he ~tyrant's plea, but in the case Of the
allies Il has become the plea OF liberty,
truth, and humanity.
There IN a special and peculiar circum-
stance which Is very likely to protract
The present war by weeks, and even by
months. That Is the fact which is known
TO every German who knows anything
namely, that Frederick the Great, though
apparently hopelessly beaten, refused to
yield or to accept the terms of peace Of
fered him by his enemies, since those
terms meant for him and his system total
ruin. His armies were shrinking. his
people starving. The lands in nan places
lay waste, since there was none to till
them. The enemy had twice entered his
capital; the civil administration had brok-
en- down: there was no one TO collect the
taxes, to try cases in the courts, or even
to keep order. Prussia seemed beaten to
the ground. Yet Frederick fought on, and
finally tired out his assailants. They
grew war-weary at the very moment when
Prussia seemed, to use Bismarck's phrase,
bled white as veal" and SO in the end
the war was finished by a compromise
which left the king Of Prussia with ST.
Tesla, the province that he had seized like
a thief In the night, still in his hands. IT
Is true that Prussia was a thing OF ruin,
but the cynic tyrant could smile as he
paced the long galleries of the new palace
at Potsdam, that glorious architectural
achievement of a blood soaked epoch in
which the rocco style lowered in a mira
Gle of stateliness n grace. After all, he
had beaten Austria. II he had lost half
his population, he had nearly doubled his
cultivable acreage. At this moment every
German who in his heart OF hearts is be-
ginning to feel the dread of defeat remem-
Ders how Frederick won through when
his plight seemed far worse. and ended I'm