Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1917-08-31
WILSON REJECTS
PEACE PROPOSALS
PEACE REMOTE TILL KAISER is
CRUSHED, PRESIDENT TELLS
POPE BENEDICT.
World Must Be Freed From Menace
of Military Machine Controlled by
irresponsible Government That
Stops at Nothing in Its Plots.


Washington.-Presi Wilson has
rejected the pope's peace proposals. In
note dispatched August q, but not
made public until the following night,
the president says that, while every
heart not blinded and hardened by the
terrible war must be touched by the
moving appeal of His Holiness, it
would be folly to take the path of
peace he points out If 1t does not in
fact lead to the goal he proposes.
To deal with such power as the
present rulers of Germany upon Pope
Benedict's plan, declares the president,
would Involve a recuperation of the
strength and renewal of the world
domination of that power, now baked
but not defeated, after sweeping
continent with the blood Of innocent
women and children and the helpless
poor, as we'll as of soldiers.
Permanent peace must be based up
on the faith of all the peoples and
upon justice and fairness and the
common rights of mankind, he adds,
land we cannot take the word of the
present rulers of Germany as a guar
antee of anything that is to endure,
unless explicitly supported by such
conclusive evidence of the will and
purpose of the German people them
selves as the other peoples of the
world would be justified in accept
ing"
Text Of the Note.
ho faxyf of bn
August 81, 1917.
''To His Holiness, Benedictus XIV,
Pope.
"In acknowledgment Of the COM
munication of Your Holiness to the
beligerent peoples, dated August /,
1917, the president Of the United
States requests 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 I;
must feel the dignity and force of the
humane and generous motives which
prompted it, and must fervently wish
that he might take the path of peace
he so persuasively points out. But it
would be folly to take 1t 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. II
is not mere cessation of arms he
DESIRES it is n stable and enduring
peace. This agony must not be gone
through with again and 1t must be
matter of very sober Judgment what
1K,fn a
Substance of Plan.
His Holiness, in substance, proposes
that we return to the status quo ante
bellum and that then there be IL gen
eral conformation, disarmament and II
concert of nations, based upon an ae-
ceptance of the principle of arbitra-
tion; that by Il 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
adjustments as may be possible In
the new temper of such Il peace, due
regard being paid to the aspirations
of the peoples whose political fortunes
and affiliations will be involved.
ut is manifest that no part of this
program can be successfully carried
out unless the restitution of the
status quo furnishes Il firm and salts
factory basis for 1t. The object OF
this war is to deliver the free PEG
pies of the world from the menace
and the actual power of a vast mill
tary establishment controlled by III
CT
ing secretly planned to dominate Tho
world, proceeded to carry the plar
out without regard either to the sacred
obligations of treaty or the long-es
tablished practices and long-cherishet
principles of international action ant
honor; which chose its own time fol
the war; delivered its blow fiereel,
and suddenly; stopped at no barrier
either of law or of mercy swept
whole continent within the tide o.
blood-not the blood of soldiers only
but the blood of innocent women anC
children also, and of the helpless.
poor-and now stands baked, but no
defeated, the enemy of four-fffths o
the world.
Must Protect the World.
This power is not the German PEG
pie. 1t is no business Of ours how
that great people came under its con
troll or submitted with temporary yes
to the domination of its purpose; bu
1t is our business to see to it that tn,
history of the rest Of the world is n,
longer left to its handling.
ITO deal with such power by wa,