New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-12-05
Our Single War Purpose


lreathes the country's true purpose IN
prosecuting the war. However much we
NAV define and redefne our attitude tow
ard diplomatic settlements at the end Of
the war, our main purpose remains clear
cut and unmistakable- The after-the-war
settlements are secondary and subsidiary
They are for the future and will depend
rot on what We think OF say now, but on
what the situation is when the war Is
finished. So long as we accomplish our
one definite purpose, which is 70 overthrow
the militaristic autocracy now intrenched
in the Central European states, 1t IS OF
minor consequence to us what particular
readiustments of territorial boundaries IN
Europe, Asia and Africa may come out OF
a peace congress
President Wilson restates emphatically
our one immediate war aim, and 1t Is
the only war aim with which we need
70 be concerned at present. 1t is that "this
intolerable thing of which the masters OF
Germany have shown US the ugly face, this
menace Of combined intrigue and force,
which we now see so clearly as the Ger
man power. a thing without conscience
or honor or capacity for coyenanted peace,
must be crushed" This means that the
German passion for expansion by conquest
must be subdued and German ability TO
indulge in world dominion enterprises IN
the future must be hobbled.
The President has said more than once
that the United States will not consent TO
make peace with the powers that be in
Germany. He has prescribed the Kaiser
and the German ruling class as partici-
pants in any peace conference. He re-
peated those phrases in yesterdays mes
sage. and by implication he has now eX-
tended the ban to the reigning monarch
and the ruling classes of Austria-Hun-
gary. He asks Congress TO declare war
Cd Austria-Hungary because the Dual
Monarchy has become a vassal of Ger
many and has accepted Prussian ideals
Ct terrorism and military aggression.
In committing the United States to
wage war until the present governments
of Germany and Austria-Hungary are de-
stroyed and the system on which their
power has been erected is shattered, Mr..
Wilson has gone further than the head of
any other Allied nation has ventured to
20. Great Britain, France and Italy are
bent on obtaining a military decision over
the Central Empires. But none of them
mas ever issued an ultimatum like the
Presidents, directed against the present
rulers Of Germany and Austria-Hungary
and the Junker aristocraces which sup
port them. Therein Mr.. Wilson has read
Alright the feeling of the American people,
who see that political systems like those Of
me NcUATdl lp4ltos lllt Aaob SUI VIVIAN VI
leudalism. with their secret diplomacy,
their militaristc arrogance and their lack
of any real responsibility to the masses
whose future they dispose of. are the real
obstacles TO the development Of common
sense relations between nations, Of lasting
peace and of higher conceptions Of inter
,,%fopo1 fuctioa nd brctbarbOCd
In the American view no lasting struct-
ure Of peace can be built on any other
basis than the extirpation of the Hohen-
zollern-Hapsburg regimes That is the es-
sential feature Of President Wilson's war
policy. Such policy means war TO a
finish in a sense in which our European
allies have never yet proclaimed their
purpose TO make war 10 a finish. There
/ are conceivable circumstances under which
the German and Austrian Kaisers might
concede defeat and ask for terms, and un-
der which France, Great Britain and Italy
might favor peace Of compromise. But
cur ultimatum against the two Kaisers
and the political orders Of which they are
the heads would compel US TO oppose any
settlement short Of the complete eradica-
tion Of the unspeakable and intolerable
thing which government as conducted by
them has shown itself to be.
II we are TO pursue this paramount aim
and if we are 10 persist until we slay the
German beast, it IS Of little consequence
What plans Of settlement, territorial or
other. we hold in allegiance in our minds