Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1917-12-14

regard to Germany herself are of a
like kind. We intend no wrong against
the German empire; no interference
with her internal affairs. We should
deem either the one or the other abb
solutely unjustifiable, absolutely con-
trary to the principles we have pro
fessed to live by and to hold most
sacred throughout our life as ma
ton.
German People Deceived.
"The people of Germany are being
told by the men whom they now per
init to deceive them and TO act as their
masters that they are fighting for the
very life and existence of their en-
pire; war of desperate self-defense
against deliberate aggression. Nothing
could be more grossly or wantonly
false, and we must seek by the ut
most openness and candor as to our
real aims to convince them of its false
ness. We are in fact fighting for their
emancipation from fear, along with
our own-from the fear as well as
from the fact Of unjust attack by
neighbOrs or rivals or schemers after
world empire. No one is threaten
ing the existence of or the indepen-
dence or the peaceful enterprise of
tn German empire.
Not Again to Be Trusted.
"The worst that can happen to the
German people is this, that if they
should still, after the war is over,
continue to be obligated to live under
ambitious and intriguing masters in
| terested to disturb the peace of the
world, men or classes of men whom the
other peoples 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 mere
partnership of governments. 1t might
be impossible, also, in such untoward
circumstances, to admit Germany to
the free economic intercourse which
must inevitably spring out Of the other
partnerships of a real peace. But
there would be no aggression in that
and such a situation, inevitable be-
cause of distrust, would in the very
nature of things sooner or later cure
itself, by processes which would as
suredly set in.
Wrongs Must Be Righted.
1.-The wrongs, the very deep wrongs
committed. in this war will have to be
righted. That of course. But they
cannot and must not be righted by the
commission of similar wrongs agains
Germany and her allies.
"The world will not permit the com
mission Of similar wrongs as a means
of reparation and settlement. States
men must by this time have learned
that the opinion of the world is every
where wide awake and fully compre
hends the issues involved. No repre-
sentative of any self-governed natiol
will dare disregard it by attempting
any such covenants Of selfishness ant
compromise as were entered into at th
congress of Vienna. The thought o
the plain people here and everywher
throughout the world, the people VIII
enjoy no privilege and have very sim
pie and unsophisticated standards o
right and wrong, is the air all govern
ments must henceforth breathe if the
would live. 1t is in the full disclos
ing light of that thought that all pol
: cies must be conceived and executed i
this midday hour of the worlds life.
/ People Have No Say.
German rulers have been able to VI
set the peace of the world only becaus
: the German people were not suffere
, under their tutelage to share the con
: radeship of the other peoples of th
: world either in thought or in purpOs
= They were allowed to have no opiniO
: Of their own which might be set up g
: a rule of conduct for those who exc
cised authority over them. But tt
1 congress that concludes this war wi
e feel the full strength of the tides tn;
2 run now in the hearts and conscience
e of freedom everywhere. It's concl
Y sicns will run with these tides.
V "AIl these things have been trl
i from the very beginning of this st
t pendous war; and cannot help thin
j ing that if they had been made plai
t at the very outset the sympathy al
S enthusiasm of the Russian peOp
e might have been once. for all enlistt
It on the side of the allies, suspicion al
d distrust swept away, and real al
/ lasting union of purpose effected. Hs
It they believed these things at the We
It moment of their revolution and hf
/ they been confirmed in that bell
S, since, the sad reverses which have I
n Gently marked the progress of the
1t affairs towards an ordered and stab
n government of freemen might ha
been avoided.
"The Russian people have be
20 poisoned by the very same falsehoo
70 that have kept the German people
o. the dark, and the poison has been g
If ministered by the very same hanC
e, The only possible antidote is the tru
re 1t cannot be uttered too plainly or t
to often.
to Freedom of the Seas.
ir From every point of view, thel
Or fore, it has seemed to be my duty
le speak these declarations of purpose,
Id add these specific interpretations
re what I took the liberty of saying to t
ze senate in January. Our entrance il
r. the war has not altered our attitu
n towards the settlement that must col
of when it is over. When I said in jar
ary that the nations of the world we
tn entitled not only to free pathways l
u its files at the disposal of the gene
Dr. public The direct object in est