The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-01-18

ish rule over alien races shall, if pos sible. be brought to an end; and we
 may hope that the expulsion of Tur-
 key from Europe will contribute as
 much to the cause of peace as the restoration of Lorraine to France. of Italia Irredenta to Italy, or
 any of the other territorial changes 1 indicated in the allied note
 NO SECURITY OF PROVIDENCE Evidently, however. such territorial rearrangements, though they may di- minish the occasions of war, provide
 no sufficient security against its re- l, ourrence. If Germany. or rather those
 In Germany who mold it's opinions l out to domineer the world they may i find that by the new order of things | the adventure is made more difficult, ! but hardly that it is made impossible. I They may still have ready to their | hand a political system organized i through and through on a military | basis; they may still accumulate vast l stores of military equipment; they may still persist in their methods of at- l tack, so that their more pacific neigh l bors will be struck down before they l can prepare themselves for defense. 1 If so, Europe when the war is over | will be far poorer in men, in money and in mutual good will than it was 1 when the war began; that it will not ] be safer and the hopes for the future 1 of the world entertained by the Pres ! ident will be as far ever from full l fillment.
 There are those who think that for this disease international treaties and inter
 national laws may provide a sufficient l cure. But such persons have ill learned 1 the lessons so clearly taught by recent | history. While other nations, notably the United States of America and Great
 Britain, were striving by treaties of arbi- i tration to make sure that no chance quar-
 rel should mar the peace they desired to make perpetual, Germany stood aloof. 1 Her historians and philosophers preached ] the splendors of war, power was pro- | claimed as the true end of the state; and
 the general staff forged with untiring l industary the weapons by which at the
 appointed moment power might be l achieved. These facts proved clearly l enough that treaty arrangements for
 maintaining peace was not likely to find much favor at Berlin; they did not prove ] that such treaties once made would be l utterly intellectual. This became evident l only when war had broken out; though l l overwhelming. So long as Germany re- mains the Germany which, without a shadow of Justification, overran and bar | barously ill treated a country it was pledged to defend, no state can regard 1 it's rights as secure if they have no bet | ter protection than a solemn treaty.
 | CALCULATED BRUTALITY
 "The case is made worse by the refIec- ! ton that these methods of calculated l brutality were designed by the central ! powers, not merely to crush to the dust | those with whom they were at war, but l to intimidate those with whom they were still at peace. Belgium was not only a victim, it was an example. Neutrals were intended to note the outrages which ac-
 coripanied its conquest. the reign of ter ] TOT it created, the cruel oppression of | the remainder. And lest the nations hap | oily protected by British fleets or by their l own from German armies should suppose | themselves safe from German methods, l the submarine has (within it's limits) as- l siducusly initiated the barbarous practices 1 of the sister service. The war staffs of l the central powers are well content to horrify the world if at the same time they ! can terrorize it.
 If then the central powers succeed, it will be to methods like these that they | will owe their success. How can any re- | form Of international relations be based 1 on peace thus obtained. Such a peace would represent the triumph of all the 1 forces which make war certain and make l it brutal. It would advertise the futility :! of all the methods on which civilization | relies to eliminate the occasions of inter- l national dispute and to mitigate their fe- l rocity. Germany and Austria made the
 present war inevitable by attacking the | rights of one small estate, and they l gained their initial triumphs by yiolat- 1 ing the treaty guarantees of the terri l tories of another. Are small states going | to find in them their future protectors l or in treaties made by them bulwark against aggression? Terrorism by land and sea will have proved itself the in- | strument of victory. Are the victors like ! ly to abandon it on the appeal of neu- trals? If existing treaties are no more than scraps of paper can fresh treaties help us? If the violation of the most fun damental canons of international law be crowned with success, will it not be in vain that the assembled nations labor to improve their code? None will profit by their rules but powers who break them. It is those who keep them that will suf- far