Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1917-02-02
LastIno Peace 10 U. s. Demand.

Lasting Peace IL v. s. Demand.
The present war must first be end.
ed; but we owe II to candor and to
a Just regard for the opinion of man.
kind to say that so far as our par
ticipation In guarantees of future
peace is concerned, It makes a great
deal of difference In what way and
upon what terms It is ended. The
treaties and agreements which bring
1t to an end must embody terms which
will create a peace hat is worth guar
anteeing and preserving, a peace that
will win the approval of mankind; not
merely a peace that will serve the sew
eral interests and immediate aims Of
the nations engaged. We shall have
no voice in determining what those
terms shall be, but we shall, l feel
cure, have a voice in determining
whether they shall be made lasting or
not by the guarantees of a universal
covenant and our judgment upon what
is fundamental and essential as a con-
dition precedent to -permanency should
be spoken now, not afterward when 1t
may be too late.
No covenant of cooperative peace
that does not include the peoples of
the New World can suffice to keep the
future safe against war, and yet there
is only one sort of peace that the peo-
pies of America could join in guaran-
teeing.
Terms Must Satisfy America.
The elements Of that peace must be
elements that engage the confidence
and satisfy the principles of the Amer
lean governments, elements consistent
with their political faith and the prac-
tical convictions which the peoples of
America have once for all embraced
and undertaken to defend.
do not mean to say that any Amer
lean government would throw n OBJ
stacle 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 might
be.
/ only take it for granted that mere
terms of peace between the belliger-
ents will not satisfy even the belliger-
ents themselves. Mere agreements
may not make peace.
1t will be absolutely necessary that
a force be created as a gu~arantor Of
the permanency of the settlement so
much greater than the force Of any
nation now engaged or any alliance
hitherto formed or projected, that no
nation, no probable combination of ma
tions could face or withstand it.
II the peace presently to be made
is to endure it must be a peace made
secure by the organized major force
of mankind. The terms of the imme-
diate peace agreed upon will deter
mine whether there is a peace where
such guarantee can be secured.
Questions on Which Peace Hinges.
The question upon which the whole
future peace and policy of the world
depends is this:
Is the present war a struggle for a
just and secure peace, or only for a
new balance of power? If it be only
a struggle for a new balance of power,
who will guarantee the stable equilib-
rum of the new arrangement? Only
; a tranquil Europe can be a stable Eu-
rope. There must be, not a balance
of power, but a community of power;
/ not organized rivalries, but an organ
, lied common peace.
, Fortunately, we have received very
! explicit assurances on this point. The
: statesmen of both groups of nations
l now arrayed against n another have
said, in terms that could not be mis-.
+ interpreted, that it was no part of the
7 purpose they had in mind to crush
: their antagonists. But the implica.
l lions of these assurance may not be
equally clear to all-may not be the
! same on both sides Of the water.
! think it will be ~serviceable if attempt
: to set forth what We understand them
. to be.
They imply first of all hat it must
be a peace without victory. 1t is not
a pleasant to say this. l beg that may
be permitted to put my own i%nterpreta
ton upon it, and that it may be under
stood that no other Interpretation was
= in my thought. | am seeking only t
= face realities and to face them withou'
! soft concealments. Victory would
mean peace forced upon the loser {
victor's terms imposed upon the van
quished. 1t would be adopted in hu
e initiation, under duress, at an intoler
r able sacrifice, and would leave a sting
a resentment, a bitter memory upoI
h which terms of peace would rest, no
I permanently, but only as upon quick
sand. Only a peace between equals
can last; only a peace the very prlh
L ciple of which is equality and a com
mon participation in a common bene
o fit.
The right state Of mind, the RICH
l. feeling between nations, is as neces
sary for a lasting peace as is the JUS
!. settlement of vexed questions of terri
q tory or Of racial and national allee
n lance.
o Right to Be the Basis Of Terms.
: The equality OF nations upon whic.
! peace must be founded. if 1t is to las
:, must be an equality Of rights; tn
o guarantees exchanged must neitne
recognize nor imply a difference be
tween big nations and small, betwee
those that are powerful and thos
that are weak Right must be use
upon the common strength, not upo.
D. the individual strength, of the nation
II upon whose concert peace will depend