New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-01-14

/ Jfal HOWeIS can 90 no more. iHey nave
reached the full length of the tether. Hence
forth, they will scowl at the avengers from
an ever-diminishing circle. You remember,
you readers of Balzac, how that master
of the written word drew fascinating
picture of man who possessed a wild
ASS skin which had the magic property OF
granting its owners wishes, but shrank
vsibly after the fulfilment of each de-
sire? Germany and Austria, between them
constitute a veritable and sinister Pedu de
Chagyin spread over the map of Europe.
A few more ''offers" of a peace so ardently
desired by the men who thought to conquer
the world, and behold, the shrinkage of the
skin will reveal free Poland, Russia
extending to the Bosporus, restored
Belgium, and a France who has folded
once more to her maternal bosom the fair
provinces Of Alsace and Lorraine.
In that sentence | have sketched the
terms on which Germany and Austria will
be permitted to lay down their arms.
There will be other onerous conditions, OF
course. Belgium must be recouped for
the wholesale looting she has suffered az
the hands of her temporary conquerors.
The Central Powers, impoverished, prob
ably bankrupt many times over, will not
have the money or the credit TO pay All
immediate indemnity, so the international
izing of the Kiel Canal and the payment
of its dues in perpetuity TO Belgium will
not only provide an annual tribute, but
remove menace from the map. Germany
will lose all her colonies and be forbidden
to maintain or build a feet. She will have
to dismantle her fortresses for many a
league along the Rhine and on the BEL
gian frontier Austria must relinquish
her control over the I:alian-speaking PEG
pie on the shores Of the Adriatc, while
strong and virile Slav and Bohemian king
doms will buttress Russia's ice-free port
in Constantinople.
The Vilensss Of tho Foe
Germans may scoff at such pipe dream'
in view Of their claims Of victory on lanC
and threats Of frightfulness at sea. Blu
the time can be nssasured by months ir not
by weeks when the stricken peoples of Cen
trail Europe will be glad to escape worse
evils by accepting these or even more
strenuous terms. They will begin then TO
understand that England and France, un-
willing to fight, but literally forced TO de-
fend their national existence, are all the
more terrible because Of the alternative
which Germany herself offered. The pres
ent generation must pass away before Ger
many, whether empire or republic, is re-
stored to the comfy Of nations. Clad
though she was in almost impenetrable
armor and conducting herself on the field
of battle with brute courage which COM
manded the respect Of her adversaries, her
European neghbors will be slow to forget
that she also soiled her escutcheon with
every sort of vileness, and stopped to in
effable meanness in time Of peace so as to
make easy her path in war. England,
France and Russia will never again permit
the emissaries of Teutonc world-empire 10
worm their way into positions Of trust and
responsibility in each country. Never was
plot so well laid as the preliminaries to the
German attack on Europe.
BY subtle and complete espionage which
pried into every nook and corner of friend
ly kingdoms, by open and blatant trumpet
ing of German superiority in every branch
of human endeavor, the world was not only
parceled out beforehand for the advance
of the armed legions, but almost bulldozed
into the belief that resistance would be
foolish and impossible. Britain, ! regret
to say, was absurdly lax in her official su-
pervsion. She allowed Germans TO be her
consuls in the four quarters Of the earth.
She let Germans learn her trade secrets
and see with their own eyes her military
unpreparedness. II was as though some
great bank, bursting with treasure, enr-
ployed the very burglars who hungered for
the spoil to become caretakers and cash
iers How did she escape? As have said
already, miracles were needed TO save Eu-
rope, and miracles happened IL is not my
place TO lecture the United States. but it
will be strange, indeed if your authorities
fail to take warning not alone from the
events which are writ in blood since Aug
ust, 1914, but from the determined, almost
fanatic, preparations for the holocaust
made during the preceding decade.
Germany Was Ready War!
Some innocent minded people are In
cined to ask why the war broke out when
it did. They cannot reconcile cause and
effect. They say, reasoning along sane
lines: "Why should millions of men die
and whole nations be overthrow because
Of some petty squabble between Austria
and Serbia" OF course, this sort Of po-
litical analysis is merely confusing the
detonator with the she'll it explodes. The
war began at that precise moment because
Germany was ready and her antagonists
] L., t,t1