Bonners Ferry herald. [volume] (Bonners Ferry, Idaho) 1904-current, 1917-09-04
AMERICAS REPLY
TOPEACE PROPOSAL
PRESIDENT WILSON REJECTS
THE POPE'S IDEA OF SET
THING THE WAR.
GERMANY MUST BE CHANGED
Our Government Acts as Spokesman
of Allies Before the World-The
Kaiser and Military Power
Must Go.

NdlSeT anu MILITARY FOWcT
Must Go.
Washington, d. president Will
son has rejected the pope's peace pro-
posals. The text of the note follows:
ITO His Holiness, Benedictus XIV,
Poue:
"In acknowledgment of the commu-
nication of your holiness to the bellig-
erent peoples, dated August 1, 1917.
the president of the United States re-
quests me to transmit the following
reply:
Every heart that has not been
blinded and hardened by this terrible
war must be touched by this moving !
appeal of his holiness, the pope; must
feel the dignity and force of the hui
name and generous motives which
prompted it and must fervently wish
that we might take the path of peace
he so persuasively points out. But it
would be folly to take ii if it does not
in fact lead to the goal he proposes.
Our response must be based upon the
stern facts and upon nothing else. 1t
is not a mere cessation of arms he
desires; it is a stable and enduring
peace. This agony must not be gone
through with again, and it must be
a matter of very sober judgment that
will insure us against it.
Pope's Proposals Summarized.
His holiness, in substance, pro-
poses that we return to the status quo
ante bellum and that then there be a
general conformation, disarmament and
a concert of nations based upon an
acceptance of the principle of arbitra-
ton; that by a similar concert free
dom of the seas be established; and
that the territorial claims of France
and Italy, the perplexing problems of
the Balkan states and the restitution
of Poland be left to such conciliatory
adjustment as may be possible in the
new temper of such peace, due re-
gard being paid to the aspirations OF
the peoples whose political fortunes
and affiliations will be involved.
Deliver People From Menace.
1T is manifest that no patr of this
program can be successfully carried out
unless the restitution of the status
quo furnishes a firm and satisfactory
basis for it, The object of this war is
to deliver the free peoples of the world
from the menace and the actual power
of a vast military establishment con-
trolled by an irresponsible government
which, having secretly planned to dom
mate the world, proceeded to carry the
plan out without regard either to the
sacred obligations of treaty or the long
established practices and long cher
ished principles of international action
and honor; which chose its own time
TO rthe war; delivered its blow fierce
~ and suddenly; stopped at no bar
rier either of law or mercy; swept
whole continent within the tide of
blood-not the blood of soldiers only,
but the blood of innocent women and
children also, and of the helpless
poor: and now stands baked, but not
defeated-the enemy of four-fifths of
the world. This power is not the Ger
man people. 1t is no business OF ours
how that great people came under its
control or submitted with temporary
zeal to the domination of its purpose;
but it is our business to see to it that
the history of the rest of the world is
no longer left to its handling.
Questions German Word.
ITO deal with such a power by way
of peace upon the plan proposed by
his holiness. the pope, would, so far
as we can see, make it necessary to
create a hostile combination OF ma
lions against the German people, who
are its Instruments; and would result
in abandoning the newborn Russia tc
the intrigue, the manifold subtle inter
ference and the certain counted-revo
luton which would be attempted by
all the malign influences to which the
German government has Of late accus
toned the world. Can peace be based
upon a restitution of its power or up
on any word of honor it could pledge
in a treaty of settlement and accom-
mediation?
Desire No ReprisaI.
Responsible statesmen must nov
see, if they never saw before, that M
peace can rest securely upon poluca
or economic restrictions meant to ben
eft some nations and cripple or EN-
barrass others, upon vindictive actor
of any sort or any kind of revenge o
deliberate injury. The American pee
pie have suffered intolerable wrong
at the hands of the imperial German
government, but they desire no repris
al upon the German people, who hav
themselves suffered all things in thi
war. which they did not choose. The
believe that peace should rest upol
the rights of peoples, not the right
of governments-the rights of people
great or small, weak or powerful, thei