Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1917-12-08

shall at last be free 10 do an unpre.
cedented thing, and this IS the tins
to ayow our purpose to do it. We
shall be free to base peace on gen.
crosby and justice, to the exclusion
OF all selfish claims To advantage
even on the pant of the v%ictors.
Let there be no Misunderstanding
Our present and immediate task ia
to win the war. and nothing shall
turn Us aside from 1t until il Is &C.
compllshed. Every power and re-
source we possess. whether OF men,
of money, or of materials. Is being
devoted and will continue to be de
voted To that purpose until 1t IS
achieved. Those who desire to bring
peace about before that purpose IA
achieved | counsel TO carry their adj
vice elsewhere. We will not enter
tain II. We shall regard the war as
won only when the German people
say TO us, through their accredited
representatives. that they are ready
TO asree to a settlement based upon
justice and the repatriation OF the
wrongs their rulers have done. They
have done a. wrong to Belgium which
must be repaired. They have estab-
lished a power over other lands and
peoples than their own--over the
great empire of Austria4tluagary,
over hitherto free Balkan states,
over Turkey. and within Asia-1which
must DO relinquished.
Built Empire Of influence.
Germany's success by skill, by in
dustry. by knowledge, by enterprise
we did not grtdge or oppose, but adj
mired, rather. She had built up for
herself q real empire OF trade and
influence. secured by the peace OF
the world We were content to abide
the riyalries OF manufacture. science
and commerce that were involved
for us in her success and stand or
fall as we had or did not have the
brains and the initiative to surpass
her. But the moment when she had
conspicuously won her triumphs OF
peace she threw them away. to es
tabIisa in their stead what the world
will no longer permit to he establish.
ed, military and political domination
bv arms, by which to GUST where sh~
could not excel the rivals she mos
feared and hated. The peace we
make must remedy that wrong. It
must deliver the once fair lands and
Happy peoples OF Belgium and north
err France from the Prussian men
ace. but it must also deliver the peo-
pies OF Austria Hungary. the peoples
Of the Balkans and the peoples Of
Turkey, alike in Europe and Asia,
from the impudent and alien denim
ion Of the Prussian military and COM
mercial ~autocracy.
We owe it. however, TO ourselves
to say that we do not wish IN any
way to impair or to rearrange the
Austro-Hunearian empire. 1t Is no
affair Of ours what they do with
their W life. either indnstrially or
politically. We do not propose or
desire to dictate TO them in any way.
We only desire TO see that their al
fairs are left in their own hands, In
all matters. great and small. We
shall hope to secure for the peoples
OF the Balkan peninsula and for the
PEOPLE Of the TURKISH empire the
right and opportunity to make their
own lives 9afe. their own fortunes
secure against ~oppress.ot or injustice
and from the d~ictation OF foreign
courts or parties. .
Attitude and Purpose Alike.
And our attitude and purpose with
regard TO Germany herself are OF q
like kind. We intend no wrong
against the German empire no inter
ference with her internal affairs.
We should deem either the n or
the other absolutely unjustidable,
absolutely contrary TO the principles
we have ~professed TO live by ard to
hold most sacred throughout our life
as a nation.
The people OF Germany are being
told by the men whom they now per-
nit to deceive them and TO act as
their masters that they are fighting