New Iberia enterprise and independent observer. (New Iberia, La.) 1902-1944, 1917-09-08
THE ICE BREAKING.

Inc German press comments Oh
the President's note to the Pop
is full of acerbity. That was t.
be expected. But when one ex
amines critically this common
and reads between the lines h
cannot fail to observe the effect
even in Germany, of the Presi
dent s statement that what make:
peace negotiations impossible i
the fact that the world will no
trust the present rulers Of Ger
many. and, hence, if there is to
be peace it will only be after the
Allies are convinced that they are
dealing with the German people
and not with a German autoc
racy.
"Thes accredited representative
of the German people," says The
Vorwaerts, lis the Reichstag.
But, it adds. that the Reichstag
must be elected by democratic
suffrage, for. it acknowledges,
Germany still lacks govern
ment responsible to the people s
representatives, as it exists in all
other countries Of the world. "
That is the sort of government
mot the expatriation Of the
Kaiser and his family, not the ere
alton of new St. Helena-that
President Wilson is asking.
The Vossiche Keitung discusses
the note at great length, with the
usual resentment Of an outsider 5
attempt to tell the German people
how they should run their internal
affairs. Yet in the same breath it
acknowledges that Germany is
not yet possessed of the form OF
government which puts control OF
national affairs in the hands OF
the people, but is only striving fo-
it and hopes to obtain ito wiring
It from an obstinate autocracy I'M
der stress of the world s repudla.
ton Of that autocracy. the Zeitung
might have added-by parlia-
mentarization.
eff President Wilson" says
the Zeitung and this again is the
effect of the Presidents irresist-
ible logic. "desires to negotiate
with Germany on this basis, he
may soon have the desired OPP
The ice is breaking. The Ger
man papers themselves furnish
the evidence that democratic
is on the way, and If IT
comes-the will Of the people sub.
stituted for the within of the au-
tocracy-it will be one blessing
which the war has brought to
Germany, the result alike OF the
Junkers' failure to conquer the
world and the irresistible pressure
Of the public opinion of its dem
ocracies.
Amsterdam is not an infallible
news center. But a significant
Press cable came from
there Monday, saying that the
majority of the Reichstag has de-
cided to challenge the statement
"of the government regarding its
minimum peace program, and, IT
is said. the government will yield
with a view Of peace negotiations
before Christmas.
This can very well be true,
as we do how impossible
It is for Germany to impose her
will upon the rest of the world
and how desperate is her effort to-
bring the war to an end before
she is expelled from France and
Belgium. If it is true, if the
Kaiser's government is finally to
surrender to the Reichstag and
on the peace terms
would carry with it parliamentary
ization or revolution when the
war is over-no one need have the
slightest doubt that just as surely
as dripping water wears away the
stone Woodrow Wilson's persist
ent differentiation between the
German people and the German
autocracy has forced this conces-
sion Of Potsdam to the proletariat.