The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-12-30

that which Germany must yield 10 hu-
 manity before peace is possible, talkapie' l thinkable.
 Back in the middle of China. just after my country had entered the war, ran across the trail of this policy. A dis | tinguished Dane, veteran in official 1 foreign service, told me that a German | diplomatic official had prophesied that | America would enter the war.
 1 But America will not be able to de- | liver a decisive blow" the German had said. And America will dilute the moral strength of Germans enemies. The Americans are soft, eontented people; they are not prepared Tor war ' 1 they do not love war and will be eager
 to make peace. They are very senti- mental these Americans. They Will soften our way to a peace conference 1 when we are ready to make our terms. l Upon this insolent belief will be | founded all of Germany's attempts to dull the edge of Americas interest in
 our obligation to ourselves and to hu- manity to finish the job, Upon thls l insolent belief will be founded Ger many's attempts to sharpen our in terest in premature peace speculation. | It is the bait for towards and fools. Some day there will be exposed, in ! all it's extent. the systematic, elaborate methods which Germany has used in an endeavor to poison the opinion of neutral countries and plant among the weaker and more gullible citizens of | those countries fighting to rid the | world over of war and the tyranny of militarism the weed of premature peace. It has been Germany's purpose to choke the crop of courage and steal the nourishment away from determi nation.
 1 The trail of this well organized at tempt can be found everywhere. | In China and Japan, for instance. when it was thought possible to affect I the opinion of the peace-loving Chi nese, there was released not many months ago the news that Germany was ready to restore Belgium com pletely. pay her full indemnities, and
 turn Alsace and Lorraine over to France. The obvious purpose of the lie was to create, as it did create, even among educated Chinese who spoke of it to me, the impression that peace was not far off, that the war might end any day, that the responsibility for it's con tinuance lay with Germany's enemies and not with Germany.
 In Spain there is an elaborate cam paign of Influence" still going on merrily. From the beginning Germany has sought to enlist the 1and-owning proprietors and the affluent classes in pro-German propaganda. Today. through these tools of Germany the rumors, the lies, and the infection of premature peace is being pumped out
 In both Norway and Sweden nearly two years ago I found the trail. In the latter country the fear of Russia in the past has been such as to make the Swedes susceptible to anything which held out promise of protection for their northern border and for their iron mines upon which it has been their belief that Russia had an avehi- cious eye. Finland, separated from Russia, would act as buffer between Russia and Sweden, and accordingly the rumor was spread by German agencies that Germany, because of con sessions offered to Russia in regard to Poland, could obtain from Russia ,t promise of the autonomy of Finland. provided peace came quickly This was bait for peace talk in Sweden.
 Tn Norway, at the time the famous Ford peace party had arrived at Chris tlanla, l found there that many Nor Wegian officias,N who had considered giving welcome to this ill-fated expe- dltlon, did not dare to do so because the agents of Germany had been so oVerzealouS in their stimulation of welcome for the peace party and for anything which would encourage peace yearnings in Norway and America that to give countenance to the peace party was to come under suspicion of being the tool of Germany
 In Russia. back in the days of the Czar, industrial leaders of Petrograd and Moscow who came in contact with workmen, bureaucrats in the offices of government, and officers at the staff headquarters of the Russian army at Mohileff, who came in contact with soldiers recruited from various parts of the empire, told me that one of the well defined purposes and special ef- forts of German agents was to stimu- late among the industrial and laboring classes in Russia thoughts of peace, of the comforts, the relief, and the hope Of peace, all of which would serve to eat like a rot into the hearts of the people. tolling them away from the will to fight and the will to make final peace upon sound principe only and only when the job had been fin ished
 Men will not fight hard when there is peace talk behind the trenches,t General Alexieff said And he ex- pressed also almost the identical idea expressed to me by the retired British petty officer who took me to Scotland Yard, when the latter said: "If you see two men fighting, would you bet OH the one who was wondering when it would be over?"
 The experience of other countries and our own experience with the de- sire of Germany that her enemies shall think talk and wonder about the com ing of peace, ought to be enough for us,
 Any contribution made by any Amer ican citizen to aid this purpose of Ger many is an act which compares with q soldier at the front who turns his face to the rear.
 Such contribution may be actually traitorous. There are still constant in- stances of teason among those per sons who stimulate peace talk with full knowledge that they are aiding and abetting the enemy.
 Such a contribution may be morally rotten There are those who talk peace because peace to their warped souls is dearer than the end for which we have entered the war.
 Such a contribution may come from flabby sentimentality. There are still men and women who can only think of the horrors of this war instead of the greater horrors of other wars which are sure to come if we do not now make the menace of Prussian plotting and militarism impossible for the ages and generations of the future.
 Such contribution may be the result Of love of the sensational. There are still individuals and even newspapers who seek to attract attention by pre- tending that they have advance informa- tion of the coming of peace
 Such a contribution may pe Ignorant. There are still individuals so benighted that the cause of America Is not clear and real in their minds. They fail to tb,t An,erca ba entpred this