The Tupelo journal., 1917-06-22

So
Of the Balkans, the indomitable
Turks, the subtle peoples of the
East.
"These peoples did not wish to be
united. They ardently desired to di-
rect their own affairs, would be sat
isfied only by undisputed indepen-
dence. They could be kept quiet
only by the presence or the constant
threat of armed men. They would
live under a common power only by
sheer compulsion and await the day
of revolution. But the German mill
tary statesmen had reckoned with all
that and were ready to deal with it
in their own way.
Extent of Kai.er's Reach.
And they have actually carried the
greater part of that amazing plan
into execution! Look how things
stand. Austria is at their mercy. 1t
has acted, not upon its own ini-
~tiative or upon the choice of its
own people, but at Berlin's dictat;on
ever since the war began. Its people
now desire peace, but cannot have it
until leave is granted from Berlin.
The Nso-called Central Powers are in
fact but a single power.
Serbia is at its mercy should its
hands be but for a moment freed.
Bulgaria has consented to its will,
and Roumania is overrun. The Turk
ish armies, which Germans trained,
are serving Germany, certainly not
themselves, and the guns of German
warships lying in the harbor at
Constantinople remind Turkish
statesmen every day that they have
no choice but to take their orders
from Berlin. From Hamburg to the
Persian Gulf the net is spread.
as it not easy to understand the
e~agerness for peace that has been
manifested from Berlin ever since the
snare was set and sprung? Peace,
peace, peace has been the talk of her
Foreign Office for now a year and
more; not peace upon her own init
ative, but upon the initiative of the
nations over which she now deems
herself to hold the advantage. A lit
tie of the talk has been public, but
most of it has been private. Through
all sorts of channels it has come to
me, and in all sorts Of suises, but
never with the terms disclosed which
the German Government would be
willing to accept.
"That Government has other val
liable pawns in it's hands besides
those I have mentioned. 1t still holds
a valuable part of France, though
with slowly relaxing grasp, and prac-
tically the whole Of Belgium. Its
armies press close upon Russia and
overrun Poland at their will. It can
not go further; it dare not go back.
1t wishes to close its bargain before
it is too late, and it ha slittle. left to
offer for the pound of flesh it will de-
mand.
Menace of German Victory.
"The military masters under whom
Germany is bleeding see very clearly
to. what point Fate has brought them.
If they fall back or are forced back
an inch, their power both abroad and
at home will fall to pieces like a house
of cards. It is their power at home
the yare thinking about now more
than their power abroad. It is that
power which is trembling under their
very feet, and deep fear has entered
their hearts.
"They have but one chance to per-
petuate their military power or even
their controlling political influence.
If they can secure peace now with the
immense advantages still in their
hands, which they have up to this
point apparently gained, they will
have justified themselves before the
German people; they will have gained
by force what they promised to gain
by tan immense expansion of Ger