Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-25
HAS ONLY ONE VIEW
. OF WARS DURATION
Average Briton Declares Con-
! flict Will Last Until Eng
!. lands Aims Are Won.
SEES DOOM OF MILITARISM
BY FREDERIC ]. HAsKIN.

with which they entered ii are won
Therefore, it becomes important TO
know what those aims are; to kno"
! what sustaining causes have turned
every form of energy in this country
directly or indirectly toward prose-
cutting the war: that have led to COM
pulsory military service, and put
5000, 900 men ir the field with arms IN
: their hands.
, Another thing that the thoughtfui
Y Fnslishman will tell you is that ne is
not vet within measurable distance OF
achieving the purpose Tor Whicii .iie
country entered the war. lie cherlshes
no illusions about the German As
fighter: he does not allow himself 10
think that the German is beaten or
that the end of the war IS IN sig l.
What, then. is he fighting for. that ne
. holds so dear that he has been WiliiuS
10 offer his life and his accumulated
treasure to achieve"
Purpose Formulated by Mr.. Asquith.
Here is his purpose as formulated by
Mr.. Asquith: 1--WE shall never sheathe
! the sword which we have not lightly
drawn until Belgium RECEIVERS in fuli
measure all and more than all that
. she has sacrificed. until France is ade-
! ouateIv secured against the menace or
aggression until the rights or the
smaller nationalities of Europe are
placed upon an unassalfabfe 1oundatioh
and until the military domination OF
Prussja is wholly and finally destroyed.
wTo these terms Mi.iAsquith later aoaed
Serbia, and then ne expressed Tor the
country what was meant by the de-
struction of the military .oonlnatioh
OF Prussia in these words:
LAS a result of the war We intend 10
establish the principle that interna-
tional problems must be handed pN
free negotiation on equal terms pc
tween free peoples. and this settlement
shall no longer be hampered and
swaye,l by the overmasting dictatlon OF
a government controlled by military
caste This is what I mean by the de-
struction of the military domination OF
Prussia: nothing more, but nothing
less
That is the aim England has officially
set for herself in this war But ask
the average man in the street VINO IS In
khaki what he is fighting, for and the
chances are he will say never again.
He wants to make an end to war. He
knows from experience that 1t is bad.
bitter business He doesn't like ii and
he is fighting it in the same spirit In
which nurses and doctors fight a typhus
epidemic-an evil to be overcome and
stamped out, withoct regard to pres
ent cost. e.+. T.
War on Militarism.
The average Briton has been study
ing the German since the war began
and he now believes that the militarism
of the central empires must be uiscred-
tied and destroyed if he is ever to live
IN peace again He has seen with
amazement the blind obedience of the
German peoples to their rulers. leading
TO their acQuieScence in the perpetra-
ton of almost any barbarity which can
terrify or coerce other nations. He
feels that SO. long as this belief sur
wives the world can never be safe from
war, and he wants to be safe from war.
He is grirnly resolved 10 see it through
TO a finish. but he doesn't know when
and how that finish will come. He is
sure that the time has not yet come.
Everywhere people talk about the
war and hardly anything else but the
war. Thirty months of fighting have
crystallized public opinion and clarified
IT anu made it articulate, so that 1t Is
not difficult to discover what sound pub
lie opinion is 1t is virtually unani-
nous. too. and that makes 1T easier.
The first thing. then. the average Brit
on wants to do is to win the war, and
after he has won it he wants the help
of the world in devising some sort of
arran cement that will prevent
another war. He knows that the re-
mainder of the life of this generation
and the next will be taken up in re-
civilization and human society caused
by this overwhelming conflict.
View Not Rabid One.
He doesn't want to strangIe Ger
many nor wipe her off the map of Eu-
rope nor to destroy or mutilate her
national life. Neither does he want to
interfere with the free exercise of Ger
many's peaceful endeayors hut ba 5oao
seek to prevent her from establishing
a position of military menace and
dominance over her neighbors. The
average Briton wants the peace after
this war to be a durable peace, bull
warked by effective guarantees. Brit
ish statesmen. looking forward to the
end of the war. have been for months
endeavoriug TO formulate the terms of
Il durable peace such as will enlist the
cooperation of all the great powers.
Mr.. Balfour says such a peace can
hardly be expected unless three condi-
tions are fulfilled: The first is that
existing causes of international unrest
should be as far as possible removed or
weakened: the second is that the ag-
gressive aims and INSCRIPTIONS meth
DDS of the central powers should fall
into disrepute among their own peo-
pies: the third is that behind interna-
tional law and behind all treaty ar
rangements for preventing or limiting e
hostilities some form of international
sanction should be devised which would
give pause to the hardest aggressor."
An Englishman who is now a close
associate of Lloyd George summed up
the British aspiration in these terms:
According as Germany succeeds or
fails to remodel Europe according to its
own will, by force of arms and in de-
fance of public right. will militarism
itself be proved success or failure On
this fundamental issue of might versus
right. therefore, there can be no COM
promise. There is room for neRotia ton
and compromise on other points
=, Bound to Change Map of World.
THE war Is bound to change the map
of the world in many important re-
rpects. The hopes of lasting peace are
largely bound up with uniting races
>and nationalities now divided. and in
this process there will be much room
for give and take. But we shall be
false to the principle on which we en-
tered the war and the cause for which
we fight II we show the slightest will
tngness even to discuss this new map
until the Germans have agreed that the
free nations which have been wantonly
assailed are to be liberated and indem-
ni1ed. and that the treaties which Ger
many set out to overthrow, and which
were the guardians of right and liberty
On Europe. are to be it's guardians still"
Persons who knew England before
the war and who come hare now ars