The Washington herald., 1917-07-29
D. JOHN 1. BALDERsToN.

( ton are preparing a formal peace Of
( fer, which will be issued during the
summer, probably in'the month Of July
II the negotiations now in progress are
completed by that time. This offer
win be addressed, not to Russia alone
but to all the allies. including the
United States. Germany has there
fore abandoned tor the present, as
4 hopeless, her attempt to catole the
Z iedgiing democracy Of Petrograd, into
separate peace.
..s Whatever wording may be chosen,
i,' whatever method used to fy this new
I peace kite, the proposition put for
ward will Be essentially this:
Germany will satisfy the principal
war aims OF the allies in the West, re-
store and compensate Belgium and re-
tire from Northern France; possibly
even offer territorial concessions in
Alsace-Lorraine, including the fortress
Of Metz and the Briey ore fields, to
France. At the same time, under
cover of glittering and attractive for
muIas about democracy, Germany will
attempt to realize, in the East, her
dream Of q central European bloc
under the military and economic con-
troll Of the Hohenzollern Autocracy.
Ny authority for these statements
Is q high official parsonage, who be-
lieves that the coming peace move
should be understood and discussed
In advance by the allied peoples. Ac-
eording to this man. the change IN
the German policy and the decision
to try again for peace this summer,
has been caused by two factors.
~ Il
distress in Germany and the other
Germanic powers, with resulting dis
content and overpowering desire for
peace. Strong and Increasing pres
sure Is being brought upon Berlin not
only by the cabinets cs Vienna, Buda-
pest, Constantinople and SOMA, but by
important sections Of opinion in Ger
many and even in Prussia, to make
peace. The harvest this year is late,
and q food crisis must be surmounted
in August, when a state OF semi-star-
walton may be expected, to increase
the popular determination to end the
war. Accordingly. the var lords are
preparing to tide their deluded people
through the dangerous time OF empty
stomachss by first again raising hopes
Of immediate peace, as they did last
December, and then when these break
down turning public wrath from
themselves to the wicked Lloyd
Georges and Wilson's, who will not
listen to reason and are bent on an
initiating Germany.
Suspect TrIckery.
Fut while internal conditions in the
arrr.aI powers would compel the
pu-ssGn war directorship to pretend
@. o. peace this summer, even II it
sit Sc with its tongue in its cheek,
% exists reasons for believing that
.- Nv offer will be more serious
- the tricky proposals Of Won
-a--. ann-Hollweg last December. Al
10Th Prussia has found a separate
ss- with Russia impossible, Berlin
..I slieves IL can use the Russian
--s- Ion to win by diplomacy the
let It has been unable to achieve
~- he battlefield. Germany counts
R.lssia continuing its pressure
.- he other allies to agree to mod
..-r ,eace terms and end the war as
possible.
Russian governing party, in
E-rr n opinion, is unwilling to incur
tired Of the rest of the world by
"a separate peace, but it does
uch care what the terms Of
are so long as they can be ar
raazF in common. The loss of pres
tizs sulting to Russia from an un-
sLactory peace in the East and
the abandonment Of Russian influence
in the Balkans, can be blamed by the
Russian democrats, eager to start
their gigantic work Of internal social
reconstruction upon the old regime.
Accordingly. Germany counts upon
powers, and expects Russia then TO
say to England, France and America.
we care nothing about the imperial
Ist aims OF our old masters whom We
have put in jail. II you are satisfied,
so are we. Let US have peace" The
result would be, in German opinion
and in the opinion OF most allied
statesmen, q peace not without vic
tory. but with victory. and that VIC
tory would be German.
Confronted by Three Issues.
When Germany makes her supreme
diplomatic effort along the lines then
indicated. the Western allies and
America will be confronted with the
following three supreme issues. which
viii swallow up all the otherA None
Of them have been solved or even
fairly faced by allied statesmen, so far
as Is known. but Germany's coming
maneuyer viii force the allies to de-
eide them.
/. Is it possible to make peace, on
any terms, with the Prussian au-
totocracy, and should not the allied
answer be that no settlement can be
considered, excepting with duly chosen
representatives Of the German people?
.. Must the Austrian Empire be
broken up into a group Of independent
states, and the Hapsburg dynasty
abolished, or confined TO a small Ger
manic Austria, shorn Of Hungary, and
Of her own Slav nationalities?
.. May not the establishment OF a
fsderalBed United States Of Austria
be possible, based upon justice and
equal rights for all nationalities, with
q common parliament at Vienna un-
der q constitutionaliZed Hapsburg
Emperor; a country where majority
rule would sutomically end the sway
of the minority Germanic and Magyar
ascendsncies. and which could live in
peace and friendship with free Poland,
free Russia and the Balkan nations?
Believe Wilson FayOrs Republic.
To suggest answers to these three
questions is impossible, for It IL pre-
eissly because they bristle with such
difficulties that they have not been
dealt with by the allies. The writer
simply suggests that solutions must
be found, and very soon, since the
whole question of the continuance of
the war will depend upon them when
the German proposals outlined here
are put forward in the near future.
The speeches OF President Wilson
are generally interpreted in Europe
20 mean that he favors the deposi-
ton of the Kaiser and the formation
of q German republic, or at least a