The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1917-09-12

GIluuTCu uIiSldhcll, peace Uy 1T
gotiation was necessarily i'm
possible.
If Great Britain were fight
ling solely to possess German
colonies, if France had entered
the war simply to regain AL
sace-Lorraine; if Russia were
animated merely by territorial
ambition; if the United States
had material detectives, then,
| on the present situation in the
war, this would be an appropri-
ate moment for discussion.
! But Russia entered the war
/ to save Serbia, assailed by Aus
/ tria; France entered the war
because she was invaded, at
tackled England entered the war
because France was threatened
with destruction and Belgium
was invaded.
The chief purpose of the Eng
lish and the French and the Rus
slams was to prevent Germany
from dominating Europe by muir
ders that were abhorrent and
for purposes destructive of Eu-
ropean liberty.
The nations fighting Napoleon
often made peace with their
great enemy during the period
in which Napoleonic ambition
did not seek continental mas
terry, but when the nations of
Europe recognized that tempo
rary truces with Napoleon only
invited new attacks, then they
banded together and adopted as
platform the elimination of
Napoleon as the necessary con-
dition of peace. They proclaimed
that they had no intention to
dismember France, and at the
end of a long war they left
France substantially with the
boundaries of 1859.
Now the situation as to Ger.
many is not different. 1t is i'm
possible to make peace with a
nation which regards war as an
extension of policy and affirms
the right to use military eff
cheney to promote national aspi-
rations at the expense OF neigh
bors. It is impossible to make
peace when peace with such a
nation means but a period in
which new efficiency will be
sought to make such successful
attack.
There is not one single con-
vincing sign that Germany has
renowned her doctrines which
precipitated the war, just as
there is every possible evidence
that she continues to employ
the methods which made the war
what it is.
The German effort to seize
European domination and world
power has failed. The Germans
are quite as we'll aware of this
fact as their enemies. But they
are very far from being con-
WINGED that it cannot succeed,
and they are still able, as the
published statements of German
statesmen indicate, to cherish
the idea that where there was
failure this time there may be
success again if mistakes made
in 1914 are not repeated next
time.
The real obstacle to peace is
Germany as she has revealed
herself in this war.
Today Germany faces the di-
lemma of renouncing the policy
which has brought the world in
'arms against her, or else of see
ing her future ruined by the
terrible burdens Of the next year
or two Of war. And this is pre-
cisely the dilemma that the Al
lies have fought to put Germany
in, and this is precisely the mo-
ment when for all future safety
in the world the decision must
be made by Germany, and peace
negotiations can only follow such
a decision as eliminates German
policy.
We have come to one Of the
most interesting and critical mo-
ments Of the whole war. Those
in this country who are most
ardently seeking to save Ger
many are most eager to assert
that Germany is defeated and
to assume that the defeat that
she has suffered will cure her of
the errors of the past. This is
a pleasant, but a specious argu-
r L ~