Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1917-06-15
President Wilson Exposes
Germany's Intrigue Of Peace

WC1C ICdOS W uSdl Will IL III liCIi OWi
way.
And they have actually carried the
greater part of that amazing plan into
execution. Look how things stand.
Austria is at their mercy. 1t has acted,
not upon Its own initiative or upon the
! choice Of its own people, but at Ber-
Inns dictation ever since the war be-
gan. Its people now desire peace, but
cannot have it until leave is granted
| from Berlin. The so-called Central
Powers are in fact but single Power.
Servia is at its mercy, should its hands
| be but for a moment freed. Bulgaria
has consented to its will, and Rou-
mania is overrun. The Turkish armies,
which Germans trained, are serving
Germany, certainly not themselves,
and the guns Of German warships ly-
ing in the harbor at Constantinople re-
mind Turkish statesmen every day
that they have no choice but to take
their orders from Berlin. From Ham
burg to the Persian gulf the net is
spread.
1T is not easy to understand the
eagerness for peace that has been man
| ifested from Berlin ever since the
snare was set and sprung? Peace,
| peace, peace has been the talk Of her
foreign office for now year and more;
not peace upon her own initiative, but
upon the initiative Of the nations over
which she now deems herself to hold
the advantage. A little of the talk has
been public, but most of it has been
private. Through all sorts Of channels
it has come to me. and in all sorts of
guises, but never with the terms dis
closed which the German government
would be willing to accept. That gov
eminent has other valuable pawns in
is hands besides those l have men
toned.
| 1t still holds a valuable part of
France, though with slowly relaxing
grasp, and practically the whole of
Belgium. It's armies press close upon
Russia and overrun Poland at their
will. 1t cannot go further: it dare not
go back. 1t wishes to close its bargain
before 1t is too late and it has little left
to offer for the pound of flesh it will
demand
| THE military masters under whom
Germany Is bleeding zee very clearly to
what point Fate has brought them. If
| ~HNS AoiA DdSh vi are IOTCeu Ddck an
inch, their power both abroad and at
nome will fall to pieces like a house Of
CARDS. 1t Is their power at home they
are thinking about now more than their
power abroad. 1t is that power which is
trembling under their feet land deep fear
has entered their hearts. They have but
| one chance to perpetuate their military
power or even their controlling political
influence. If they can secure peace nov
with the immense advantages still in
tnelr hands which they have up to this
point apparently gained, they will have
Justlfled themselves before the German
people; they will have .gained by force
what they promised to gain by it, an
lmense expansion of German power, an
immense enlargement of German indus
! trial and commercial opportunities
Their prestige will be secure, and with
their prestige their political power. If
they fail. their people will thrust them
aside; a government accountable to the
] people themselves will be set up in Ger
many as it has been in England in the
United States, in France, and in all the
great countries of the moder1 time except
Germany. If they succeed they are safe
and Germany and the world are undone
/ If they fail Germany is saved and the
world will be at peace. If they succeed,
America will fall within the menace We
and all the rest of the world must re-
main armed, as they will remain and
must make ready for the next step in
their aggression; If they fail the world
may unite for peace and Germany may
| be of the union
do you not now understand the new
intrigue. the intrigue for peace. and why
the masters of Germany do not hesitate
to use any agency that promises to effect
their purpose, the deceit Of the nations
Their present particular aim is to deceive
all those who throughout the world stand
for the rights Of peoples and the self gov
eminent Of nations; for they see what
immense strength the forces Of justice
and OF liberalism are gathering out of
this war. They are employing liberals In
| their enterprise. They are using men, in
Germany and without, as their spokes-
men whom they have hitherto despise /
! and oppressed, using them for their own
Observation-Disclosures. the leaders of
| labor, the thinkers they have hitherto
sought to silence. Let then once succeed
| and these men, now their tools, will be
ground TO powder beneath the weight OF
the great military empire they will have
set up; the revolutionists in Russia will
be cut Off from all succor or cooperation
in western Europe and counter revolu-
ton fostered and supported; Germany
| herself viii; lose her chance of freedom
and all Europe will arm for the next,
The final struggle
THE sinister intrigue is being no less
actively conducted in this country than
| In Russia and in every country in Europe
10 which the a. ents and dupes of the i'm
fperial German government can get access.
That government has many spokesman
here. in places high and low. They have
learned discretion. They keep within the
law 1t is opinion they utter now, not
sedition. They proclaim the liberal pur-
poses Of their masters; declare this for
eign war which can touch America with
no danger to either her lands or her in
situations; set England at the center of
the stage and talk of her ambition to as
sert economic dominion throughout the
world; appeal to our ancient tradition Of
isolation in the politics OF the nations
and seek to undermine the government
with false professions Of loyalty to it's