Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1917-01-22
PRESIDENT OUTLINES
that it might in all that it was and did, 4
show mankind the way TO liberty.

=
that it might in all that 1t was and did,
show mankind the way to liberty.
"They cannot in honor withhold the
service to which they are now about to
be challenged. They do not wish to
withhold it. But they owe it to them
selves and to other nations of the world
to state the conditions under which they
will feel free to render il.
"That service is nothing less than
this, to add their authority and their
power TO the authority and force of 9th
erf nations to guarantee peace and jus
tice throughout the world Such q set
tlement cannot now be long postponed.
1t is right that before it comes this
government should frankly formulate
the conditions upon which it would
feel justified in asking our people to
approve its formal and solemn adher-
enee to leagne for peace. am here to
attempt to state those conditions.
"The present war must first be end
ed; but we owe it to candor and to a
just regard for the opinion of mankind
to say that so far as our participation
in guarantees of future peace is con-
cerned, it makes a great deal of differ
enee in what way and upon what terms
it is ended. The treaties and the agree
ments which bring it to an end must
embody terms which will create a peace
that is worth guaranteeing and preserv-
ing, peace that will win the approval
of mankind, not merely peace that
will serve the several interests and i'm
mediate aims of the nations engaged.
We shall have no voice in determining
what those terms shall be, but we shall,
| feel sure, have voice in determining
whether they shall be made lasting or
not by the guarantees of universal
covenent; and our judgment upon what
/ is fundamental and essential as con-
dition precedent to permanency should
be spoken now, not afterwards when it
may be too late.
A covenant of cooperative peace
that does not include the peoples of the
new world can suffice to keep the fu-
ture safe against war; and yet there is
only one sort of peace that the peoples
of America could Join in guaranteeing.
The elements Of that peace must be ele-
ments that engage the confidence and
satisfy the principles of the American
governments, elements, consistent with
their political faith and the practical
convictions which the peoples of Am
erica have once for all embraced and un-
dertaken to defend.
81 do not mean to say that any Amer
lean government would throw any OBJ
stacle in the way OF any. terms of peace
the governments now at war might
agree upon, or seek to upset them when
made, whatever they might be. ! only
take it for granted that mere terms
of peace between the belligerents will
not satisfy the belligerents themselves.
Mere agremnts may not max peace Sc
cure.
cit will be absolutely necessary that
a force be created as guarantor of the
permanency of the settlement so much
greater than the force of any nation
now engaged or any alliance hitherto
formed or projected that no nation, nc
probable combination of nations could
face or withstad. If the peace presently
to be made is to endure, it must be a
peace made secure by the organized
major force of mankind.
| "The terms of the immediate peace
agreed upon will determine whether it is
peace for which such guarantee can
| be secured. The question upon which
| the whole future peace and policy of the
world depends is this: Is the present
war a struggle for just and secure
peace, or only for a new balance of
power; if it be only struggle for a
new balance of power, who will guaran
| tee, who can guarantee, the stable equil-
| ibrium of the new arrangement? Only
/ a tranquil Europe can be STABLE Eu
rope. There must be- not balance Of
| power, but community of power; not
organized rivalries but an organized
common peace.
Fortunately we have received very
explicit assurances on this point. The
statesmen of both of the groups of ma
tions now arrayed against one another
have said, in terms that could not bt
misinterpreted, that it was no part Of
the purpose they had in mind to crusl
their antagonists. But the implications
of these assurances may not be equally
clear to all, may not be the same OF
both sides of the water. l think it viii
be serviceable if I attempt to set fortl
that we understand them to be.
"They imply, first of all, that it mus
be a peace without victory 1t is no
pleasant to say this beg that ma
be permitted to put my own interprets
tion upon it, and that it may be under
stood that no other Interpretation wa
. in my thought l am seeking only
face realities and TO face them Withou