New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-10-03
The Only Way


Of a willingness to evacuate Belgium, even
with guarantees" Of their own making
ebould serve as a final demonstration to
the people Of the nations at war Of what
Germany is trying to do. German chances
of winning the war by her armies have
gone forever. German victory procured by
the submarine has been postponed indeh-
uitelv. There is left to Germany now only
the possibility of manipulating peace
propaganda through the world before the
next campaign, if she is to avoid decisive
defeat.
The German purpose is TO use peace
sentiment, which exists in all the civilized
countries Of the world-a sentiment grow
mo ont Of the natural horror of the brutal
tiles and the waste of war-as a means OF
breaking down the will of the nations in
arms against her and leaving her in pos
session of a considerable portion OF the
booty she has acquired by the foulest
means ever employed by a modern
nation
The truth is that those who control Ger
many cannot make peace without victory.
Any other peace would seal their doom.
They would have to confront people four
millions of whose manhood had been either
killed or permanently crippled, whose fut-
IRE at home had been burdened by colossal
debts and whose future abroad had been
DESTROYED by crimes like those which have
reused the United States, Argentina, the
people of North and South America, of
Australia and the Far East.
A peace based on the status quo ante, a
reace without indemnity or annexation,
would mean the death of that military and
autocratic party which controls Germany.
Therefore the German rulers will not
under any circumstances make peace on
such terms; they will, however, use AL
peace discussions all over the world to for
ward their own aims and their own ends
by offering and Withdrawing one sug-
gestion after another as in the case Of Bel
GUM recently.
The American people, like those of the
Allied countries, should recognize the fact
that until the German army is defeated
the German government will make nc
n peace which does not carry with it a pres
ID ent German victory and future German
peril Until the military prestige and
power of the army are broken all talk of
peace will simply serve to strengthen the
German army and to perpetuate its control
in Germany by weakening the forces ar
rayed against it on the battlefield.
Terrible as is the prospect, there is nc
chance Of peace in this world which can be
permanent, which can be tolerable, which
does not carry with it the absolute and un-
mistakable defeat Of German armies, with
the consequent SCATTERING of the legend OF
German military invincibility, already
broken in fact on all the battlefelds OF
Western Europe. Another year of war
with two million more casualties inflicted
upon the Germans, with those defeats
which are inevitable next year in view OF
German numbers, morale and material, is
the cheapest possible price by which civil
cation can win its victory over barbarisn
and the world put term to the German
threat.
The good people, the well-intentioned
people, all who are now talking about peace
in America serve German ends. Thou
sands of them do it with no thought of rem
dering such service other thousands do il
because their allegiance is TO the Kaiser
rather than to the country in which they
live: but the effect of the actions of both
IS the same. Could those honest people in
America who are talking about peace know
what the German thing is in fact they
would be silenced forever. Germany's
greatest advantage lies in the fact that
only those who have seen what the Ger
mans have done can believe that such
things could be done in a civilized world and
by people once believed to be civilized.