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

address you because / thought that l
owed it to you as the ounse associ-
ated with me in the final determination
OF u international obligations, to dis
close to you, without reserve, the
taking form in my mind in regard to
h duty OF our government in these
days to come when it will be necessary
to lay afresh and upon a new plan the
foundation OF peace among the nations.
". S. Must Play Part.
at is inconceivable that the people
of the United States should play no
part in that great enterprise. To take
part in such a service will be the op-
portunity for which they have sought
to prepare themselves by the very
principles and purposes of their polity,
and the approved practices of their
government, ever since the days when
and honorable hope that it might, in
all that it was and did, show mankind
the way to liberty. They cannot, in
honor, withhold the service to which
they are now about to he challenged.
They do not wish to withhold it. But
other nations of III world to state the
conditions under which they will feel
free to render 1t.
THAT service is nothing else than
thls-to add their authority and their
power to the authority and force of
other nations to guarantee peace and
justice throughout the world. Such a
settlement cannot now be long post
poned. 1t is right that before 1T comes
this government should frankly for
mulate the conditions upon which it
would feel justified in asking our peo-
pie to approve its formal and solemn
adherence to a league for peace. l am
here to attempt to state those condi-
tons.
Must Be Lasting Peace.
"The present war u first be end
ed; but we owe it TO candor and to n
just regard for the opinion of mankind
to say that. so far as our participation
in guarantees of future peace is con
ceried, 1T makes a great deal of diff
ference in what way and upon what
terms it is ended. The treaties and
agreements which bring it to an end
must embody terms which will create
a peace that is worth guaranteeing and
preserving. a peace that will win the
approval of mankind; not merely q
peace that will serve h several inter
estS immediate aims of the nations
engaged. We shall have no voice in de-
termining what those terms shall be,
but we shall. / feel sure, nave a voice
made lasting or not by the guarantees
of a universal covenant. and our judg-
ment upon what is fundamental and
essential as a condition precedent tc
permanancy should be spoken now, no,
afterwards when it may be too late.
mo of cooperative peace
that does not include h peoples of the
enw world can suffice to keep the flu
ture safe against war and yet, there is
only one sort of peace that the peoples
of America could join in guaranteeing
The elements of hat peace must
no claimants that ep0a1a the confidence
and satisfy the peace Of the American
government, elements consistent with
their political faith and the practical
convictions which the peoples of Amer
lea have, once for all. embraced anc
undertaken to defend.
Must Create Big Force.
Il do not mean to say that any
American government would throw any
obstacle in the way of any terms OF
peace the governments now at wal
might agree upon. or seek TO upset
them. when made. whatever they migh'
be. i only take it for granted that mere
terms OF peace betWeen the belligerents
will not satisfy ever the be!ligerents
themselves. Mere agreements may no
necessary that a force be created as {
guarantee of the permanency OF thu
settlement, SO much greater than Thu
force of any nation now engaged or an.
alliance hitherto formed or projected
that no nation, nor probable combina'
tons of nations, could face or with.
stand it. If the peace presently to b.
made is to endure it must be a peac,
made secure by the organized majo
force of mankind. The terms OF thu
Immediate peace agreed upon will de
termine whether there is a peace wher'
, such guarantee can be secured.
The question upon which the who'll
future peace and policy of the worl'
depends is this:
: Urges Community Of Power.
l rs the present war a struggle for
! just and secure peace, or only for a ney
balance of power? II it be only
struggle for a new balance of powe,
: who will guarantee. who can guarantees
the stable equilibrium of the new ar
t rangement. Only Il tranquil Euror.
E can be a stable Europe. There must d
not a balance of power. but a commit:
nifty Of power, not organized rivalrie.
but an organized COMMON peace.
"~Fortuntely. VIZ have received yer
explicit assurances on this point. TIL
statement OF both OF the groups OF ma
> lions now arrsyed againss 2ns an0the