Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-08-31


| and ruin II that system be disestab-
| lished. 1t may not succeed. The Ger
| man people and their system may be
too much at one for any disintegration
from within. but there is no reason why
| we should perpetually stoke up the
| hre-eaters who are trying to persuade
| the German people that the allies are
bent on conquest and destruction, and
! do nothing to help the growth of mod
| crate opinion"
/ Brought Back to Bed Rock.
I In its comment on the Presidents
note. the Evening Standard says:
Mr.. Wilson brings US back to the
bed rock fact that Germany is a leper
state and that until she has cleansed
| ruption. Mr.. Wilson puts into plain
English what our statesmen clothe in
roundabout and unimpressive Ian
guage He is not afraid to call liar
extremely well connected.
| IN the light Of the Presidents note
| the talk Of Stockholm takes on an
additional tinge of absurdity. Stock
holm stands for communion with the
unclean thing. for that very condona-
! pudiates'
The Globe says: I'VE perhaps are not
assume that the strangely pro-Ger-
man spirit which permeates the sug-
gestions of his holiness is entirely free
| from all Austrian influence. nor are
We prepared to admit that the Ger
man people do not share the culpability
| of their rulers for this desolating war
| but these things are matters of opinion,
and do not affect the sincere concur
renee OF this nation in the main prin-
ciples which Mr. Wilson has laid
| down"
Counsels Only With Conscience.
PARIS. Thursday, August 30.-.Presi-
dent Wilson has taken counsel only with
his conscience in formulating his response
TO the Vatican's peace proposals." says
the Temps, but he has an ideal SO
similar to ours and such clear view
of European realities that his meditation
| has brought him to a finding of which
We approve. The sentiment which inspires
the entire note, Just as it inspires the
entire French policy. is the conviction
that We cannot treat with the German
government at present.
The President Of the United States
in his patient negotiations regarding
I submarine warfare had the same ex-
perience as France in ten years of dis
cussion of Moroccan questions, and has
drawn the same conclusion Nothing
would be gained by signing tomorrow
new scrap of paper 1t would not
conduce to world peace. 1t would mere
ly give the Prussian general staff time
to prepare for new aggression That
proposed. He said the Fundamental
point must be the substitution of the
moral force Of right for the material
| force of arms, but Mr. Wilson has seen
negotiations as suggested by the holy
! father would end in an entirely diff
| ferent result.
| Wants a Real Peace.
In Germany it would give to the i'm
strength. Outside Of Germany it would
compel persons who desire to remain
| free to create a permanent league
against the German danger. 1t would
sian militarism and in perpetuating a
| regime of armed peace. 1t is not to
| achieve this that the United States en-
tered the war. 1t is not for this that
! President Wilson wants a real peace.
one which will do away with the causes
Of war. His doctrine Is logical, from
one end to the other. 1t is because he
jects the idea of inclosing it within a
wall.
1T is because he counts upon the
opening of the eyes of the German
the Hohenzollern autocracy. He has
| confidence in the future. He believes
his idea can be imposed even on the
enemy.
we JOIN the PRESIDENT in this piOuS
hope. but this hope will not be realized
| unless the United States preserves in
defatigably in the battle for victory of
the right. The calmness with which Mr.
Wilson contemplates future peace cor
responds with the energy with which
| he will continue to conduct the war
That is the comforting impression left
by reading his note. More than ever we
have faith in his untiring frmness.'
Discussed in Amsterdam
AMSTERDAM. August 31.-The text
of President Wilson's reply to Pope
Benedict's peace note has not yet been
dispatch to the effect that the Presi-
dents response declared that there was
no basis for peace discussions since
Germany had not stated her terms, en-
courages the Roman Catholic Tijd to
express the opinion that peace is a step
nearer.
The Tijd takes the view that the re-
quisite basis for discussion will be fur
nished IL the central powers make the
proposition of the holy see even ap-
proximately their own. and 1t sees in
dications that the reply of the central
group will not be such as to make fur
Their negotiations impossible.
The Nieue Courant of The Hague also
thinks that President Wilson's reply ID
not an unconditional refusal and need
not deter his holiness from taking fur
Their steps.
The Calvinistic newspaper. Standard
in an EDITORIAL says that, judging from
American Newspaper comment. Pred.
ldent Wilson's reply TO the Pope appear