The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-01-22

a peace that is worth guarantee
ing and preserving, peace that
will win the approval OF MAJ
kind, not. merely a peace that
will seryes the several interests
and immediate aims of the ua-
tions engaged. We shall havs
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 a universal coven-
ant; and our judgment upon
what is fundamental and essen
tial as a condition precedent to
permanency should DO spoken
now. not afterwards, when 1t
may be too late.
Only Ono Kind Of Peace.
"A covenant Of cooperative
peace that does not include tes
peoples Of the new world can
suffice to keep the future safe
against war; and yet there 10
only one sort Of peace that the
peoples of America could Join In
guaranteeing. The elements Of
that peace must be elements that
engage the confidence and
satisfy the principles Of the
American government, elements
consistent with their political
faith and the practical convic-
tions which the peoples OF Amer
lea have once for all embraced
and undertaken to defend.
II do not mean to say that the
American government would
throw any obstacle In way Of
terms Of peace the governments
now at war might agree upon or
seek to upset them when made.
whatever they might be. ! only
take 1t for granted that mere
terms Of peace between the bel
ligerents will not satisfy even
the belligerents themselves.
Mere agreements may not make
peace secure.
'It will be absolutely necos-
sary that a force be created as
guaraptor as a permancy for
settlement so much greater tha
the force of any nation now en-
gagged or any alliance hitherto
formed or projected that no ma.
tion,. no probable combination of
nations could face or Withstand
it.
"The terms of immediate peace
agreed upon will determine
whether it is a peace for which
such a 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 a
lust and secure peace or only for
a new balance of power; if it be
only struggle for a new bal
ance of power, who will guaran-
tee, who can guarantee the
stable equilibrium of the new
arrangement? Only tranquil
Europe can be a stable Europe.
There must be not a balance OF
power but a community or
power; not organized rivalries
but an organized common peace.
fortunately we have received
very explicit assurances of this
point. The statesmen of both OF
the groups of nations now
arrayed against one another have
said. in terms that could not be
misinterpreted, that it was no
part of the purpose they had In
mind to crush their antagonists.
But the implications of these
assurances may not be equally
clear to all, may not be the same
on both sides of the water.
think it will be serviceable il 1
attempt to set forth that we un-
derstand them to be.
Peace Without Victory.
"They imply, first of all, that
1t must be peace without vic
tory. 1t is not pleasant to say
this. / beg that / may be per
mitted to put my own interpre-
tation upon it, and that 1t may be
understood that no other inter
probation was in my thought. I
am seeking only to face realities
and to face them without soft
concealments. Victory would
mean peace forced upon the
loser, a victor's terms imposed
upon the vanquished.
at would be accepted in
humiliation under duress under
intoIerable sacrifice and would
leave a sting. resentment, bit
ter memory upon which terms of
teace would rest not permanent
ly but only as upon Quicksand.
Only a peace between equals can
last Only peace the Yez