Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-01-22
HAS MR.. WILSON
TORPEDOED WAR?
John Burns's Opinion of the
Presidents Note Not Popular
in England-Determination
to Humble Germany
BY GILBERT VIVIAN. sELDEs

| Specfal Correspondence Of the Evenino Ledger.
LONDON, Jan. 8.
! TIME afternoon on which President VIII.
! i sons peace note" was published here
was at the National Liberal club. the CEN
ter Of Liberal opinion in England and
home of the less violent pacihsts. TO my
host there came the Right Hon. John Burns,
the first workingman who ever held Cabi-
net rank in England and one of the two
who resigned when the Cabinet declared
for war in August, 1914.
Blank" he said, catching his arm as
he spoke the name, Wilson has torpedoed
| the war"
The next morning Mrs Rowe. who was
| lead-blacking my fireplace, turned for a
minute and said apologetically, II see your
| President Wilson is trying to make peace.
| What is he doing that fore"
| / told her that | didn't know I supposed
he wanted peace for the good of the world
! Mrs. Rowe kept at her work for a min
! ute. Then she said bitterly, "Td rather
| have my man out there in France three
years more than for us to have a patched-up
! peace"
"A patched-up peace" To be sure rec
! ognized the phrase. 7 had seen II where
Mrs. Rowe had seen IT, on every placard
| and in every headline. But placards have
no husbands in France and no children TO
| support by going out and earning seventy
! five cents day cleaning other peoples fats
! Mrs. Rowe said nothing very startling; her
! ideas about the war are nj orthodox as those
| of any jingo editor or as those of Mr. LIovd
! George. only she spoke with a little more
| passion than the present Prime Minister
| ana little more simply than the preceding
one She didn't talk about "knockout"---
! ITS not a game for us she told me-and
! she didn't call the Germans Huns" which
! proves that she is a soldiers wife She did
not talk about Mttel.Europa or of the
| rights Of small nationalities. She talked
| about her children. a son and daughter
And she gave me the Allies terms of peace.
Restitution, Reparation, Retribution
Since the Presidents note was published
perhaps a hundred American newspapers
! have been quoted here, all wondering why
| the terms of peace are not made public in
| definite and precise words At the same
! time the general terms have been harden
! ing perceptbly. Mr.. Asquith said "restitu-
! ton; Mr.. Lloyd George without the Balliol
! training, said, more crudely, "renaraton"
| Religious Russia spoke of 'retribution." but
| the hardest blow came in the English trans.
! laton of the reply to Germany, where the
| French word Sanctions was translated
! penalties" Exactly what John Burns's
| terms are ! do not know; he wants peace,
| probably not at any price, but there are a
| number of persons who want 1t now. Mrs
! Rowe does not want it now because shs
wants it to last; she wants guarantees and
| she wants victory
From papers and letters which come here
| it seems that in the United States people
| are ceasing to believe that there is any
! thing serious in this war. They no longer
| think that there is deep division between
! the Entente and Germanc Powers; they
| think that the differences can be adjusted
| and that there is longer any need for
| continuing the slaughter There is also
suggestion that the British people will be-
| gin TO think the same way as soon as Ger
man offers of peace Become moderate and
definite.
The exact opposite seems to be the case.
| Except for the professional pacihsts, have
not met n man or woman who knows OF any
| man or woman who has yielded inch Of
| ground to German proposals. The fact is
| that, whatever the British people thought
! at the beginning of the war. they are
| realizing more and more, every day, that
| there is something between them and Ger
many which cannot be compromised. The
| war began over Belgium, to be sure There
| was never any jingo spirit in the people,
! no matter what the press was saying. But
| very gradually the real reasons of the con-
| nict began to become common knowledge.
| Intelligent people may decide that there can
be no solution in the field or that 1t would
he better to leave Germany and Austria in.
| tact But the great mass of people be-
lieye that Germany has done an "unspeak-
| able wrong'-ths was Mrs. Rowes one
flight of rhetoric and she seemed little
| uncertain of it when she said the words
| And they think that what they are doing
| is an unspeakable right. They never speak
| of it, at any rate. But they think of 1t.
night and day. Life goes on almost as
| usual getting harder and harder, OF course
| and with more and more men whose stay
| in France is ended. But they are NOT
| ninching And the men come back ana
tell them that in another six months II VIII
be over 90
Atom a bus last night Canadian, still
| in training told me he was going out next
| week "Pm a mediterranean he SAID.
| "and / guess it's coming TO me- lot OF
chaps can get killed in six months en-!
He was afraid of it, every soldier Is uhtl
| the last minute. But then it'll be done
right | wouldn't go home now, can tell
you, with all this to do over again
Germany Must Be Humbled
The terms of peace are definite enough
for the average Briton. He knows what
| he is fighting for and he is not concerned
| with territorial questions. He expects ths
Allies to pool their demands at the emo
and to adjust them. But one demand they
| will not adjust because 1t is the same Tor
all That is that Germany shan not rule
over central Europe, To them and to thels
people the war is the simplest as IL Is ths
grandest, thing in the world They DO not
see that Germany, actual or potehlal ruleI
| over everything from Berlin TO Bagdad
! will necessarily be satisfied with What shs
| has Nor do they see why they shouId
allow the Serbs and the Croatians IN Hun
gary and the Rumanians and the SloNehes
and the Lithuanians and the other subject
races of Hungary to become the subject
nations of the new German Empire They
really believe that they are fighting for the
liberty of Europe. The things which were
only words in 1914 are terrible actualtles
now.
That is why the people of England cam
not understand the United States They
haven't heard both sides as frequently or
! as persuasivey as the United States has
heard them they perhaps blinded by
war. But they wonder that it should be SO
| hard for the liberty loving people on the other
| side of the Atlantic Ocean to understand the
| struggle of the libeTty-loving people on
this side 1t hurts them, and in their re-
| sentiment they say many sharp things But
they will not be deferred from the object
of their war They are in dreadful earnest
! and they have a moral purpose which
grows 1ercer every day. If Mrs, Rowe had
| heard Mr. John Burns say that Wilson's
| note has torpedoed this war she would
have told him that it a greater crime
| than the I.usitania And / should not like