The Little River news., 1916-12-23
WILSON WILL.
 DISCUSS PEACE
Without Proposing Peace He Asks Such aG AyowaI of Views by Each Power as Will Form a Basis of a
 Possible Final Agreement.

Washing, on, Dec 2O-Presdent Wilson has appealed to all the belli- gerents to discuss terms of peace
 Withouc actually proposing peace or offering mediation, the president has sent formal notea to the governments Of all the Warrng nations sugges ing that 'aH early occasion be sought to cali out from the nations now at war sHcl; an avowal of their respective views as to the terms upon which the war might be concluded and the ar ran gements which would be deemed satisfactory as a guaranty against it's renewal or the kindling of any similar conflict in the future, as would make it possible to compare them.'
 Wholly without notice and entirely contrary to wha. administration off, cials have described as his course. tie president last night dispatched the notes to all the bolligerents and to all the neutrals for their information.
 Summarized in the presidents own words as contained in the notes, his attitude is as follows
 "The president is not propos ng peace; he is not even offering med a. ton. lie is merely proposing that sopndings be taken in crder that we may iearn, che neutral nations With the belligerent how. near the haven Of peace may be for which all mankind longs with an intense and increasing longing He believes that the spirit in which he speaks and the objects which he seeks will be understood by all concerned and he confidently hopes for response which will bring a new light into the affairs of the world
 Votes Go Forward.
 This latest development in the rapid ly moving world events toward a dis cussiOn of peace was not permitted to become known until tonight when the notes were we'll on their way to the American ambassadors in the belliger- ent capitals and probably already in the hands of some of them.
 It was a most distinct surprise to ali official Washington, which had been led to believe that with the f0rma. mic of bO 1e of Il powers the United States would await further moves between the belliger- ents themselves and that certainly in view of the speech of Premier Lloyd George and the announcement in Rus sia, France, and Italy, further action by neutrals, would depend upon the next careful and delicate moves Of the beiigerents.
 Propose Peace prospect3.
 The whole tenor of official opinion throughout Washington when the presidents action became known was that it immeasurably improved the prospects for some sort of exchanges looking toward an approach to peace discuss 'cn between the belligerants without impairing the position of the United S'ates should they finally be unable to approach one another.
 At the White House no statement whatever could be obtained as to whether any of the powers ever had intimated how they would receive the note and there was every indication that the same careful secrecy which prevented anything whatever becom- 'nS known about the presidents &C., ton until it had been taken, would surround any of the succeeding moves
 Nowhere on the surface appears any indication of the history making events which diplomatists generally are convinced mast have transpired, since the German allies brought forth their proposals to dispel the generally prevalent belief that such an action on the part of President Wilson would be unacceptable to the entente pow CTS
 Brit 'sh Diplomats Surprised.
 British embassy officials declared they were utterly taken by surprise, were wholly unable to explain it and were emphatic in their statement that no exchanges whatever had passed through the embassy here as preli- minary.
 The wish and hope of the German powers that President Wilson would intercede in some ways has long been we'll known and has been conveyed in different ways to the White House. The attitude of the entente allies has been that an offer by the United States would be considered almost the next