The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1917-12-05


Z. to hold most sacred throughout our lif
d as nation. The people of Germany ar
: being told by the men whom they nov
! permit to deceive them and to act a
I their masters that they are fighting TO
4 the very life and existence of their EN-
pire, a war of desperate selfdefens,
: against deliberate aggression. Nothin,
could be more grossly or wantonly false
& and we must seek by the utmost open
i ness and candor as to our real aims t.
) convince them of its falseness. We are
. in fact, fighting for their emancipation
from fear, along with our own, from the
: fear as well as from the fact of I'm just
/ attack by neighbors or rivals or schemers
after world empire. No one is threaten
ing the existence or the independence OF
the peaceful enterprise Of the German
empire.
The worst that can happen TO the Diet.
riment of the German people is this, that
if they should still, after the war is over
continue to be obliged to live under am
bilious and intriguing masters interested
to disturb the peace of the world, men
or classes of men whom the other peo-
Piles of the world could not trust, it
might be impossible to admit them to
the partnership of nations which must
henceforth guarantee the worlds peace.
That partnership must be a partnership
of peoples, not a mere partnership of
governments. II might be impossible.
also, in such untoward circumstances, to
admit Germany to the free economic in
tercourse which must inevitably spring
out of the other partnerships of real
peace But there would be no aggression
in that; and such situation, inevitable
because of distrust, would in the very
nature of things sooner or later cure it.
self by processes which would assuredly
set in.
Must Not Do Germany's Wrongs to Her.
| The wrongs the very deep wrongs,
committed in this war will have to be
| righted. That of course. But they can
not and must not be righted by the COM
mission of similar wrongs against Ger
many and her allies. The world will not
permit the commission Of similar wrongs
as means of reparation and settlement.
Statesmen must by this time have
learned that the opinion of the world is
everywhere wide awake and fully com
prehends the issues involved No repre-
sentative of any self-governed nation
will dare disregard it by attempting any
such covenants of selfishness and com
promise as were entered into at the con
gress of Vienna. The thought of the
plain people here and everywhere
throughout the world, the people who
enjoy no privilege and have very simple
and unsophsticated standards of right
and wrong, is the air all governments |
must henceforth breathe If they would |
live
II is in the full disclosing light of that |
thought that all policies must be con-
ceived and executed in this midday hour |
Of the worlds life German rulers have |
been able to upset the peace Of the world /
only because the German people were not /
suffered under their ttitelage TO share /
the comradeship of the other peoples of /
the world, either in thought or in pur.
pose They were allowed TO have no
opinion of their own which might be set
up as rule OF conduct for those who
exercised authority over them, But the
congress that concludes this war win feel
the full strength of the tides that run
now in the hearts and eonsciences of free
men everywhere Its conclusions win
run with those tides,
All these things have been true from
the very beginning of this stupendous
war: and | cannot help thinking that if
they had been made plain at the very
outset, the sympathy and enthusiasm of
the Russian people might have been once
for all enlisted on the side of the allies.
suspicion and distrust swept away and
real and lasting union of purpose effect
ed. Had they believed these things at
the very moment of their revolution. and
had they been confirmed in that belief
since, the sad reverses which have recent
" marked the progress of their affairs to-
wards an ordered and stable government |
Of free men might have been avoided !
The Russian people have been poisoned
BY the very same falsehoods that have ,
Kept the German people in the dark, and
he poison has been administered by the !
very same hands. The only possible an. !
.idote is the truth. II cannot be uttered !
90 plainly or too often.
Seeking Permanent Basis Of Peace. G
From every point of view, therefore Q
t has seemed to be my duty TO speak
hese declarations of purpose, to add
hese specific interpretations to what
ook the liberty Of saying to the Senate
n January. Our entrance into the war 7
las not altered our attitude towards the G
ettlement that must come when il lie q
ver When ! said in January that the I
Iations of the world were entitled not 8
My to free pathways upon the sea, but 0
lso to assured and unmolested access to
hose pathways. | was thinking, and ! y
m thinking now, not of the smaller and Z
weaker nations alone, which need our q
ountenance and support, but also of the 9
reat and powerful nations and of our a
resent enemies as well as our present D
ssocates in the war. | was thinking 81
nd am thinking now, of Austria herself. u
mong the rest, as well as of Serbia and C
{ Poland. Justice and equality of rights "
an be had only at a great price. We y
re seeking permanent, not temporary p
for the peace of the world, n
nd must seek them candidly and fear V
,ssly. As always, the right will prove p
, be the expedient. ~
What shall we do then, TO push this &c
reat war of freedom and justice TO its OF
ghteous conclusionf We must clear ei
way with a thorough hand all impedi u
ents to success and we must make M
rery adjustment of law that will facili- q,
tie the full and free use Of our whole III
opacity and force as a fighting unit
Urges War on Austria.
One very embarrassing obstacle that a