The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1917-01-25

portunity for which they have sought
TO prepare themselves by the very
principles n purposes of their polity,
and the approved practices of their
goVernm ent, ever since the lays when
they set up a new nation in the high
and honorable hope that it might, in,
all that it was n did, show mankind
honor, withhold the service to which
they ar now about to be challenged.
They do not wish to withhold it. But
they VA it to themselves and to the
other nations of the world to state the
conditions under which they will feel
free to render it.
THAT service is nothing else than
this-to add their authority and their
power to the authority and force of
other nations to guarantee peace and
justice throughout the world. Such q
settlement cannot now be long post
poned. 1t is right that before it comes
this government should frankly for
mulate the conditions upon which it
would feel justified in asking our peo-
pie to approve it's formal and solemn
adherence to a league for peace. I am
here to attempt to state those condi-
tons.
Must Be Lasting Peace.
1.-THE present war must first be end
ed; but we owe it to candor and to a
5uSt tStIu lOE Tie OplllOu OIL mankind
to say that, so far as our participation
in guarantees of future peace is con-
cerned, it 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 a
peace that will serve the several inter-
estS and immediate aims of the nations
engaged. We shall have no voice in de-
t~er1nining what those terms shall be,
but we shall I feel sure, have a voice
in determining whether they shal be
| made lasting or not by the guarantees
! of q universal covenant. and our judg-
! ment upon what is fundamental and
| essential as a condition precedent to
! permanancy should be spoken now. not
! afterwards when it may be too late.
! N covenant of cooperative peace
7 that does not include the peoples of the
enw world can suffice to keep the fu-
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
be elements that engage he 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 and
undertaken to defend.
Must Create Big Force.
II do not mean to say that any
| American government would throw my
obstacle in the way of any terms OF
peace the governments now at war
might agree upon, or seek to upset
them, when made, whatever they might
be. l only take it for granted that mere
terms Of peace between the belliGerents
will not satisfy wen the belligerents
themselves. Mere agreements may not
make peace sure. 1t will be absolutely
necessary that a force be created as a
guarantee 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, nor probable comblna-
tons of nations, could face or with
stand it. If 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
immediate peace agreed upon will de-
termine whether there is a peace where
such guarantee can be secured.
The question upon which the whole
future peace n policy of the world
depends is this:
Urges Community of Power.
rs the present war a struggle for a
/ JuSl ana secure peace, VI ollly loA Il liSN
balance Of power? If it be only a
struggle for a new balance of power,
who will guarantee, who can guarantee,
the stable equilibrium Of the new ar
rangement. Only a tranquil Europe
can be a stable Europe. There must be
not q balance of power, but a onfnu-
nifty OF power, not organized rlValrles,
but an organized onlmon peace.
"~Fortuntely, we have received very
explicit assurances on this point. The
statement Of both of the groups of ma
tons now arrayed against n another
have said in terms that could moi be
nlisinterprcted, that it was no part or
the purpose they had in mind to crush
their antagonists. But the Implications
of these assurances may not be equally
clear to all-Tnay not be the same on
both sides of the water. | think 1t Will
be scvviceable if ] attempt TO set forth
what we understand them to be.
Peace Without Victory.
They imply first of all that it must
( be a peace without victory. 1t is not
pleasant to say this. | beg that / may
be permitted to put my own interpre-
tation upon It and thai it may be UNI
derstood that no other interpretation
was in my thought. | am seeking only
to face realities and to face them with
out soft concealment. victory Wou4d
mean peace forced upon the loser, &
r~ictor's terms imposed upon the van
quished. 1t would be adopted in aulnil-
itation, under duress, at an 1ntoleraDie
sacrifice and would leave a sting OF re-
sentiment, 2 bitter memory upon which
terms OF peace would rest-not per-
malently, but only as upon quic'1sand
Only a peace between equals can last
Only a peace. the very principle OF
which is equality, and 4 nnIno par
ticipation in a common benefit. The
right state of mind, the right feeling
between nations. is as necessary for a
lasting peace as is the just settlement