Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1917-01-26

have said in terms that could not be ]
misiaterpreted, that 1t was no part OH
the purpose they had in mind to crush
their antagonists. But the implications |
OF these assurances may not be equally
clear to all-may not be the same on
both sides of the water. I think it will
be serviceable if l attempt to set forth
what we understand them to be.
Peace Without Victory.
"They imply first of all that it must
be a peace without victory. 1t is not
pleasant to say this. l beg that ! may
be permitted to put my OWN interpre-
tation upon it and thai it may be un-
derstood that no other Interpretation
was in my thought. 4 am seeking only
to face realities and TO face them with
out soft concealment. Victory would
mean peace forced upon the loser, a
victor's terms imposed upon the van
pushed. 1t would be adopted in humil-
itation. under duress, at an intolerable
sacrifice and woul leave a sting OF re-
sentiment. a bitter upon which
terms OF peace would rest-not per-
manently, but only as upon quicksand.
Only a peace between equals can last.
Only a peace. tho very principle OF
which is equality, II a common par
ticipation i'm a common benefit. The
right state of mind, the right feeling
between nations, is AS necessary for a
lasting peace as is the just settlement
OF Vexed questions OF territory or OF
racial and national allegiance.
The equality OF nations upon which
peace must be founded. if it is to last.
must be on equality of rights, the guar
antees exchanged, must neither recog-
nize nor imply a difference between big
nations and small, between those that
are powerful and those that are weak.
Must Be Based On Equity.
Right must be based upon the com
mon strength. not upon the individual
strength of the nations upon whose
concert peace will depend. Equality OF
territory and resources, there of course,
cannot be: nor any other sort of equal
ity not gained in the ordinary peaceful
and legitimate development of The
people themselves. But no one asks or
expects anything more than an equality
of rights. Mankind is looking now for
freedom OF life not for equipoise of
power.
And there is a deeper thing involved
than even equality OF right among or
ganized nations. No peace can last, or
ought to last. which does not recognize
and accept the principle that govern
mentS derive all their just powers from
the consent of the governed, and that
no right anywhere exists TO hand peo-
Piles about from sovereignty to sover-
eighty as il they were property. l take
it for granted, for instance, IL ! may
venture uROu II Single example tIldl
statesmen everywhere are agreed that
there should be united, Independent and
autonomous Poland and that hence
forth in inviolate security OF life. OF
worship and of industrial and social
development shoul be guaranteed to
all peoples who have lived hitherto
under the power of governments de-
| voted to a faith and purpose hostile to
their own.
Il speak of this not because of any
desire to eXalt an abstract political
principle, which has always been held
very dear by those who have sought TO
build up liberty in America, hut for the
same reason that i have spoken of the
other conditions OF peace, which seem
to me clearly Indispensable because I
wish frankly to uncover realities. Any
peace which does not recognize and
accept this principle, will inevitably be
upset. 1t will not rest upon the af-
fections or the convictions of man
kind. The spirit of whole populations
will fight snbtly and constantly against
it. and all the world will sympathiZc.
The world can be at peace only il it's
life is stable and there can be no liberty,
where the will is rebellion. where there
is not tranquility OF spirit and u sense
OF justice and freedom and right.
80 far as practicable, moreover,
every great people now struggling
towards a full development of it's re-
OAASC "Iio u L POWSIS, SIlCoih w
assured a direct outlet to the great
highways of the seas. Where this can
not be done by the cessiOn of territory
it can, no doubt be done by the neu-
traliZation of direct rights of way I'M
der he general guarantee which will
assure the peace itself. With n right
comfy of arrangement no nation need
be shut away from free access to the
open paths of the worlds commerce.
Sea Must Be Free.
"And the paths of the sea must alike
in law and in fact be free. The free
dom of the seas is the sine qua O
OF peace. equality and cooperation. No
doubt a somewhat radical reconsid-
GRAFTON of many of the rules of inter-
national practice hitherto sought to be
established may be necessary in order
to make the seas indeed free and COM
NOR in practically all circumstances for
the use Of mankind. but the motive for
such changes is convincing and COM
polling. There can be no trust or in
world without them. The free, con-
slant, unthreatened intercourse Of ma
tons is an essential part of the pro-
cess OF peace n of development. 1t
need not be difficult to define or to Sc
cure the freedom of the seas if the gov
ernnlents of the world sincerely desire
to come to an agreement concerning it.
ut is a problem closely connected
with the limitation OF naval ornaments
and the cooperation OF the navies OF
the world in keeping with the seas at
once free and safe. And the question
wider and perhaps difficult question OF
the limitations of armies n OF all pro-
grams of military preparation. Diff
cult and delicate as these questions are
they must be faced with the utmost
candor and decided in a spirit of real
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