The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1917-09-08
WILSON ANSWERS
POPE'S PROPOSAL
Pontiff'S Plan to End the World
War Rejected by the United
States Government.
FRANK NOTE SENT TO VATICAN
Acceptance Now Would Mean German
Victory, President Says-Won't
Treat With Kaiser.

Washington, D. C.-President Viii
son has rejected the pope's peace pro-
posals.
In note dispatched recently, and
made public here later, the Presi-
dent says that while every heart not
blinded and hardened by the terrible
war must be touched by the moving
appeal of his holiness, it would be
folly to take the path of peace he
points out if it does not in fact lead to
the goal he proposes.
To deal with such a power as the
present rulers of Germany upon Pope
Benedict's plan, declares the Presi-
dent, would involve a recuperation of
the strength and renewal of the world
domination Of that power, now baked,
but not defeated, after sweeping a
continent with the blood Of innocent
women and children and the helpless
poor, as well as of soldiers.
Won't Treat With Kaiser.
Permanent peace must be based
upon the faith of all the peoples and
upon the justice and fairness and the
common rights of mankind, he adds,
and I'VE cannot take the word of the
present rulers of Germany as a guar
antee of anything that is to endure.
unless explicitly supported by such
conclusive evidence of the will and
purpose of the German people them
selves as the other peoples of the
world would be justified in accepting"
The text of the note follows:
ITO His Holiness, Benedictus XIV,
Pope:
"In acknowledgment of the commu-
nication Of your holiness to the belli-
gerent peoples, dated August 1, 1917,
the President of the United States re-
quests me to transmit the following
reply:
Every heart that has not been
blinded and hardened by this terrible
war must be touched by this moving
appeal of his holiness, the pope; must
feel the dignity and force of the hui
man and generous motives which
prompted it, and must fervently wish
that we might take the path of peace
he so persuasively points out. But it
would be folly to take it if it does not
LII 26GL 1CdQ " Tic SOdA liz proposes
"Our response must be based upon
stern facts and upon nothing else. 1t
is not mere cessation of arms he de-
sires; it is a stable and enduring
peace. This agony must not be gone
through with again, and it must be a
matter of very sober judgment what
will insure us against it.
His holiness in substance proposes
that we return to the status quo ante
bellum, and that then there be a gen
eral conformation, disarmament, and a
concert of nations, based upon accept
ance of the principle of arbitration;
that by a similar concert freedom of
the seas be established; and that the
territorial claims of France and Italy,
the perplexing problems of the Balkan
states, and the restitution of Poland
be left to such conciliatory adjust
ments as may be possible in the new
temper of such a peace, due regard
being paid to the aspirations Of the
peoples whose political fortunes and
affiliations will be involved.
Why Pope's Plan Won't Do. =.
at is manifest that no part of this
program can be successfully carried
out unless the restitution of the status
quo ante furnishes a firm and satisfac-
tory basis for it. The object of this
war is to deliver the free peoples of
the world from the menace and the
actual power of a vast military estab
lishment controlled by an irresponsi-
BILE government which, having secretly
planned to dominate the world, pro-
ceeded to carry the plan out without
regard either to the sacred obliga-
lions of treaty or the long established
practices and long cherished principles
of international action and honor;
which chose its own time for the war;
delivered it's blow fiercely and sudden
ly; stopped at o barrier either of law
or of mercy; swept whole continent
within the tide of blood-not the blood
of soldiers only, but the blood of inno-
cent women and children also, and of
the helpless poor; and now stands
baked but not defeated, the enemy of
four-fifths of the world.
The power is not the German peo-
pie. 1t is the ruthless master of the
German people. 1t is no business of
ours how that great people came I'M
der its control or submitted with tenn
porary Zest to the domination Of its