The Washington herald., 1917-08-29
The President. Reply to the Pope.

The Presidents Reply to the Pope.
A more terrible indictment against
a government was never penned than
In President Wilson's words in reply
to Pope Benedict's feryent plea that
peace be restored to a bruised and
battered world. They are these:
I'VE cannot take the word of the
present rulers Of Germany as a
guarantee of anything that is to en-
dure. TFaties of settlement. If made
with the German government, no
man, no nation. could now depend on"
In other words, the stumbling block
m the way of the world peace is the
moral bankruptcy of the German
autocracy-the fact that any solemn
peace agreement would become a
mere scarp of paper" whenever it
suited the purposes Of Potsdam to
make it so. The President has
stripped the German government of
its last pretense of a moral standing
before the nations OF the world. Even
the pretense is gone now.
The pointing of the wilsonian finger
at the seat OF the canker that is
gnawing at the heart of Europe-the
canker that must be removed with
the knife, not temporized with by
palliative measures-thrusts aside the
last shadow of a German hope that
peace can be effected on the basis of
drawn war" or of a stalemate
which would afford a breathing spell
to make another murderous assault
upon the peace and civilization of the
world.
The Presidents message is a shud-
dering indictment of a government.
one which will make history. 1t puts
the brand of Cain upon the Hohenzol-
lern brow more clearly than anything
that has yet issued from the White
House; and it does It while solemaly
respecting overtures for peace made by
no less a parsonage than His Holi-
ness the Pope-overtures which. per-
haps, If the good faith of the enemy
had not been shattered in the eyes of
the world by his own monstrous
deeds. would be needed by the war
weary peoples.
But no; the slogan has been adopted
by all the peoples of civilization: the
Hohenzollern must go. The Presi-
dents message to Rome means that
above everything else. From London
and Paris will come the same word.
A magnificent opportunity is be-
fore the German people. The Presi-
dents ringing, singing phrases are
addressed to them. He holds out to
them an honorable peace"-a peace
without reprisal, without revenge,
without punitive damages, without
economic and commercial ostracism,
without the heel of a conqueror on
their neck. He says:
THE American people believe that
peace should rest upon the rights OF
peoples. not the rights of governments
the rights of peoples great or small,
weak or powerful-their equal rights
to freedom and security and self-gov-
ernment and to a participation upon
fair terms in the economic opportuni-
ties of the world-the German people
Of course included, if they will accept
equality and not seek domination"
/ A faiTer offer was never offered any
| people. 1t means condonation, for
giveness, a return welcome into the
community of nations, If they will
only repudiate their ruthless Master. =
1t Is not a snare, not a trap, although
the German reptile press will doubt
less call it such. 1t means that there
can be no return to the status quo
ante bellum; but it also means that
the German people can escape punish
ment for the crimes committed in
their name by the German govern
ment, and assuredly there is little ex-
cuse for doubling the future of
civilization when, in the midst of this,
the most cruel and terrible of all
wars that have blackened the history
Of the human race, so just and fair
and noble an offer can be made to
those who have sinned. and sinneu
deeply; sinned so deeply, indeed, that
generations will not serve to wipe out
the stain.
Will it be accepted? That is the
, question. Are the German people
strong enough to grasp it now, OF
must the maddened, desperate forces
Of revolution be held in leash through
the agonies of a fourth winter?