The Pickens sentinel. (Pickens, S.C.) 1911-2016, 1917-12-13

have protested to live by and to hol,
most sacred throughout u life as
nation.
The people of Germany are bein;
told by the men whom they noW per
nit to deceive them ana to act a:
their masters that they are fighting
for the very life and existence O
their empire, a war of desperate self
defense against deliberate aggression
Nothing could be more grossly OF
want0niy false, and we must seek by
the utmost %openness and candour as
TO our real aims to convince them OF
its %falsencss. We are, in fact, fight
ing for their emancipation from fear,
along with our own-from the fear
as we'll as from the fact of unjust at.
tack by n%eighbors or rivals or schem.
crs after world empire. No one is
threatening the existence or the in
dependence or the peaceful enterprise
Of the German empire.
detrimcnt OF the German people is
this, that if they should still, after
the war is over, continue to be oblig-
ed to live under ambitious and in
triguing masters interested to dis.
turb the peace Of the world, men or
classes OF men whom the other PEG
pies of the world could not trust, it
might be impossible to admit them
to the partnership Of nations which
must henceforth guarantee the
peace. That partnership must
be a partnership Of peoples. not a
mere partnership Of governments. 1t
might be impossible, also, in such
untoward circumstances, to admit
Germany to the free economic inter
which must inevitably spring
out Of the other partnerships OF a
real peace. But there would be no
in that; and such a situa.
ion, inevitable because of distrust,
would in the very nature Of things
sooner or later cure itself by pro.
which would a%ssuredly set in.
Te wrongs, the very deep wrongs,
committed in this war will nave to be
That, Of course. But they
IAN not and must not be rightcd by the
commission OF similar wrongs against
and her allies. The world will
not permit the commission of similar
wrongs as a means of reparatiOn and
settlement. Statesmen must by this
inn have learned that the opinion Of
world is everywhere wide awake
and fully compartments the issues in
No representative of any self
governed nation will dare disregard it
by attempting any such covenants Of
and compromise as were
entered into at the congress of Vienna.
The thought Of the plain people here
and everywhere throughout the world,
the people who enjoy no privilege and
have very simple and unsophisticated
standards Of right and wrong, is the
air all governments must henceforth
breathe IL they would live. 1t Is in the
full disclosing light Of that though
that all policies must be conceived AM
executed in this midday hour Of thu
worlds life. German rulers have beer
able to upset the peace of the worlt
only because the German people were
not suffered under their tutelage t
share the co%mradeship Of the othel
peoples OF the world either in though
or in purpose. They were allowed t
have no opinion Of their own which
might be set up as a rule Of conduc
for those who exercised authority owe
them. But the congress that cor
Guides this war will feel the full
strength Of the tides that run now il
the hearts and conscicnces Of free mel
everywhere. Its conclusions will rul
with those tides.
All these things have been true from
the very beginning of this stuper
dous war; and | mo help thinkin.
that if they had been made plain a
the very outset the sympathy and er
thusiasm of the Russian people Nigh
have been once for all enlisted on tn
side Of the allies, suspicion and dil
trust swept away. and a real and las
ing union Of purpose effected. Ha
they believed these things at tn
very moment Of their revolution an
had they been confirmed to that belle
since, the sad reverses which have RI
Gently marked the progress Of thei
affairs towards an ordered and stabl
government Of free mon might hay
been avoided. The Russian peopl
have been poisoned by the very sam
falsehoods that have kept the Germa
people in the dark and the poison ha
been administered by the very sam
hands. The only possible antidote
the truth. 1t cannot be uttered to
plainly OF too often.
From every point Of view, therefore
It has seemed to be my duty to spea
these declarations of purpose, to ad
these specific interpretations to wha
| took the liberty or saying to tn
senate in. January. Dur entrance int
the war has not altered our attitud