Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1917-12-13

Of distrust, would in the very nature
of things sooner or later cure itself
by processes which would assuredly
set in.
The wrongs, the very deep wrongs
committed in this war, will have to be
rfghted- That is OF course But
they cannot and must not be righted
| by the commission of similar wrongs
against Germany and her allies. The
world will not permit the commission
aration and settlement. Statesmen
must by this time have learned that
the opinion of the world is every.
| where wide awake and fully compre-
bends the issues involved. No repre-
sentatives of any self governed ma
| ton will dare disregard it by attempt
ing any such covenants of selfishness
| and compromises as were entered into
at the congress Of Vienna.
The People Must Rule.
| The thought of the plain people
here and everywhere throughout the
! world, the people who enjoy no priv
lege and have very simple and unso-
phisticated standards of right and
wrong, is in the air and all govern
ments must henceforth breathe if
they would live. 1t is in the full dis
closing light of that thought that all
policies must be conceived and exc
cuted in this midday hour of the
worlds life.
The Truth Was Suppressed.
German rulers have been able to up
set the peace of the world only be-
cause the German people were not
suffered under their tutelage to share
the comradeship of the other peoples
of the world either in thought or pur-
pose. They were allowed to have no
opinion of their own which might be
set up as a rule of conduct for those
who exercised authority over them.
But the congress that concludes this
war will feel the full strength of the
tides that run now in the hearts and
consciences of free men everywhere.
All these things have been true from
the very beginning of this stupendous
war; and l cannot help thinking if
they had been made plain at the very
outset, the sympathy and enthusiasm
of the Russian people might have been
once for all enlisted on the side of
the Allies, suspicion and distrust
swept away and a real and lasting
union of purpose effected. Had they
believed these things at the very mo-
ment OF their revolution and hard they
been confirmed in that belief since,
the sad reverses which have recently
marked the progress of their affairs
towards an ordered and stable govern
ment of free men might have been
been poisoned by the very same false
hoods that have kept the German peo-
pie in the dark and the poison has
been administered by the very same
hands. The only possible antidote is
the truth. 1t cannot be uttered too
plainly or too often.
Attitude Not Altered.
From every point of view, there
fore, it has seemed to be my duty to,
Of
to add these specific interpretations
which 1 took the liberty of saying to
the Senate in January. Our entrance
into the war has not altered our atti-
tude towards the settlement that must
come when it is over. When said
in January that the nations of the
world were entitled not only to free
pathways upon the sea, but also to
assured and unmolested access to
those pathways 1 was thinking, and
1 am thinking now, not of the smaller
and weaker nations alone, which need
our countenance and support, but also
of the great and powerful nations,
and of our present enemies as well as
our present associates in the war, /
was thinking, and am thinking now
Of Austria herself, among the rest,
as well as of Serbia and of Poland.
Justice and equality of rights can be
had only at a great price. We are
seeking permanent, not temporary,
foundations for the peace of the
world and most seek them candidly
and fearlessly.
Austria, Turkey and Bulgaria.
Austria-Hungary is for the time be-
ing not her own mistress, but SIM
ply the vassal of the German govern
ment We must face the facts as
they are and act upon them without
sentiment in this stern business. The
government of Austria-Hungary is not
acting upon it's own initiative or in
response to the wishes and feelings
of it's own peoples, but as the instru-
ment of another nation. We must
meet it's force with our own and re-
gard the Central Powers as but one.
The war can be successfully conduct
ed in no other way. The same logic
would lean also to a declaration of
war against Turkey and Bulgaria.
They also are the tools of Germany.
But they are mere tools and do not
yet stand in the direct path of our
necessary action. We shall go wher-
ever the necessities of this war carry
us, but it seems to me that we should
go only where immediate and practi-
cal considerations lead us and not
heed any Others
The financial and military meas
ures which must be adopted will sug-
gest themselves as the war and its I'M
dertakings develop. But 1 will take
the liberty of proposing to you certain