The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1917-08-31
BENEDICT'S PEACE PLAN
IS REJECTED BY WILSON

would result in abandoning the new
born Russia to the intrigue, the man
fold subtle interference and the cer-
tain counter revolution which would
be attempted by all the malign infiu-
ences to which the German govern
ment has of late accustomed the
world. Can peace be based upon a
restitution of its power or upon any
word of honor it could pledge in a
treaty of settlement and accmmda-
ton?
Responsible statesmen must now
everywhere see, If they never saw be-
fore, that no peace can rest securely
upon political or economic restric-
tions meant to benefit some nations
and cripple or embarrass others; up
on vindictive action of any sort, or
any iknd of revenge or deliberate in
jury. The American people have suf-
fered intolerable wrongs at the hands
of the imperial German government,
but they desire no reprisal upon the
German people, who have themselves
suffered all things in this war, which
they did not choose.
Want Equal Rights
They believe that peace should rest
upon the rights of peoples, not the
rights of governments-the rights of
peoples great or small, weak or
powerful-their equal rights to free
dom and security and self-govern-
ment, and to a participation, upon
fair terms, in the economic oppor-
tunities of the world-the German
people, of course, included, if they
will accept equality and not seek
domination.
The test, therefore, of every plan
of peace is this: Is it based upon the
faith of all the peoples involved or
merely upon the word of an am
bilious and intriguing government,
on the one hand, and of group of
free peoples on the other? This is
test which goes to the root of the
matter; and it is the test which must
| be applied.
The purposes of the United States
in this war areN known to the whole
world-to every people to whom the
truth has been permitted to come.
They do not need to be stated again.
| We seek no material advantages OF
any kind. We believe that the intol-
erable wrongs done in this war by
the furious and brutal power of the
imperial German government ought
| to be repaired, but not at the ex-
pense of the sovereignty of any peo-
ple-rather a vindication of the SOW
ereignity. both of those that are weak
and those that are strong.
Damages Futile
Punitive damages, the dismember-
ment of empires, the establishment
of selfish and exclusive economic
leagues, we deem inexpedient and in
the end worse than futile, no proper
basis for a peace of any kind, least
of all for an enduring peace. That
must be based upon justice and fair
ness and the common rights OF man
kind.
We can not take the word of the
present rulers of Germany as guar
antee of anything that is to endure
unless explicitly supported by such
conclusive evidence of the will and
purpose of the German people them
selves as the other peoples OF the
world would be justified in accepting.
l
Without such guarantees, treaties OF
settlement, agreements for disarma-
ment, covenants to set up arbitra-
ton in the place Of force, territorial
adjustments, reconstitutions of small
nations, if made with the German
government, no man, no nation could
now depend on. We must await
some new evidence of the purposes OF
the great peoples of the central pow
ers. God grant it may be given soon
and in way to restore the contl-
dence of all peoples everywhere IN
the faith of nations and the possib1li-
ty of a covenanted peace.
ROBERT LANSING,
Secretary of State Of the United
States of America.