The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1917-12-07
to make conquest of peace by arms.
Must Crush Master.

4
| Must Crush Master.
believe that speak for them when
| [ say two things: First, that this in
solerable thing of which the masters
Of Germany have shown us the ugly
| face, this menace of combined intrigue
and force which we now see so clearly
as the German power, a thing without
conscience or honor or capacity for
! covenanted peace, must be crushed.
and if it be not utterly brought to an
End, at least shut out from the friend
w intercourse Of the nations; and,
second, that when this thing and its
power are indeed defeated and the
time comes that we can discuss peace
| when the German people have
spokesmen whose word we can believe
and when these spokesman are ready
in the name of their people to accept
the common judgment of the nations
! as to what shall henceforth be the
| bases of law and of covenant for the
| life of the world-we shall be willing
and glad to pay the full price for
naace and pay it ungrudgingly.
Hears Voice of Humanity.
We know what that price will be.
It will be full, impartial justice, JUS
tice done at every point and to every
! nation. The final settlement must
| affect our enemies as we'll as our
| friends. You catch, with me, the voic-
es of humanity that are in the air.
They grow daily more audible, more
| articulate, more persuasive, and they
| come from the hearts of men every
| where. They insist that the war shall
not end in vindictive action of any
| kind; that no nation or people shall
| be robbed or punished because the ir-
responsible rulers of single country
have themselves done deep and abom-
| Unable wrong.
| Huns Lead Slavs Astray.
It is this thought that has been ex-
| pressed in the formula mo annexa-
tons, no contributions, no punitive in
IDENTITIES" Just because this crude
| formula expresses the instructive judg-
| ment as to right of plain men every
| where, it has been made diligent use
of by the masters of German intrigue
to lead the people of Russia astray-
and the people of every other country
their agents could reach in order that
| a premature peace might be brought
| about before autocracy has been
taught its final and convincing lesson
| and the people of the world put in
| Of hni
To Base Peace on Justice.
! But the fact that a wrong use has
| been made of a just idea IS no reason
why a right use should not be made
of it. 1t ought to be brought under
! the patronage of it's real friends. Let
| it be said again that autocracy must
| first be shown the utter futility OF its
claims to power or leadership in the
modern world 1t is impossible to APP
| ply any standard of justice so long as
| such forces are unchecked and unde-
feated as the present masters of Ger
| many command Not until that has
been done can Right be set up as ar
J bitter and peacemaker among the ma
| tons But when that has been done
as God willingly it assuredly will he
| we shall at last be free to do an un-
! precedented thing and this is the time
| to avow our purpose to do it. We shall
| be free to base peace on generosity
and justice to the exclusion of all sci
fish claims to advantage even on the
part OF victors.
To Give All To Win War.
| Let there be no misunderstanding.
Our present and immediate task is to
win the war and nothing shall turn us
aside from it until it is accomplished.
Every power and resource we possess
whether of men, of money or of mate
rails, is being devoted and will con-
tinue to be devoted to that purpose
until it is achieved. Those who desire
to bring peace about before that pur-
pose is achieved l counsel to carry
their advice elsewhere. We will not
entertain it. We shall regard the war
as won only when the German people
say to us, through properly accredited
representatives, that they are ready to
agree to settlement based upon JUS
tice and the reparation of the wrongs
their rulers have done. They have
done a wrong to Belgium which must
| be repaired. They have established a
power over other lands and peoples
than their own--over the great en-
pire of Austria Hungary, over hitherto
free Balkan states, over Turkey and
within Asia-which must be relin-
| quished.
German Industry Admired.
| "Germany's success by skill, by in
! dustry, by knowledge, by enterprise
we did not grudge or oppose, but adj
| mired rather. She had built up for
herself real empire of trade and in
auence, assured by the peace of tine
world. We were content to abide the
rivalries of manufacture, science and
commerce that were involved for us
in her success and stand or fall as we
had or did not have the brains and
the initiative to surpass her. But at
the moment when she had conspicu-
ously won her triumphs of peace she
threw them away to establish in their
stead what the world will no longer
permit to be established-military and
| political domination by arms, by
| which to GUST where she could not
excel the rivals she most feared and
hated The .Deace we make must rem