New Britain herald., 1917-12-04

in vindictive action of any kind; that
, no nation or people shall be robbed
| or punished because the irresponsible
| rulers of single country have them
! selves done deep and abomnia BILE
wrong. 1t is this thought that should
| be expected in the formula, no an
nexations, no contributions, no puni-
| tive indemnities.
: Just because this crude formula ex-
presses the instructive judgment as
to right of plain men everywhere it
has been made diligent use of by the
! masters of German intrigue to lead
the people of Russia astray-and the
| people of every other country their
! agents could reach in order that a
premature peace might be brought
about before autocracy has been
taught its final and convincing lesson,
and the people of the world put in
control Of their own destinies.
But the fact that q wrong use has
been made of a. just idea is no rea
son why a right use should not be
made of it. 1t ought to be brought
! under the patronage of it's real
friends. Let it be said again that
autocracy must first be- shown the
utmost futility of it's claims to power
; or leadership in the modern world.
1t is impossible to apply any STAN
dard of justice as long as such forces
are unchecked and undefeated as the
present masters Of Germany COM
mand. Not until that has been done
can right be set up as arbiter and
peacemaker among the nations. But
when that has been done-as God
willing, it assuredly will be done-we
shall at last be free to do an unpre-
cedented thing and this is the time to
aVow our purpose to do it. We shall
hC free to base peace on generosity
and Justice. to the exclusion of all
selfish claims to advantage even on
: the part Of the NiCtOrS.
Let there be no MISUNDERSTANDING
Our present and immediate task is to
win the war and nothing shall turn
us aside from it until it is accom-
plished. Every power and resource
we possess, whether of men, of money
or of material Is being devoted and
will continue to be devoted to that
purpose until it is achieved. Those
who desire to bring peace about be-
fore that purpose is achieved, I coun-
sci to carry their advise elsewhere. We
will not entertain it. We shall re-
gard the war only as won when the
German people say to us, through
properly accredited representatives
that they are ready to agree to
settlement based upon justice and the
reparation for the wrongs their
rulers have done. They have done
wrong to Belgium, which must be re-
paired. They have established
power over other lands and peoples
than their own-over the great en-
pire of Austria Hungary, over hitherto
free Balkan states, over Turkey and
within Asia-Which must be relin-
Quished
Germanys success by skill, by in
dustry, by knowledge, by enterprise
we did not grudge or oppose. but ad-
mired rather. She had built up for
herself a real empire of trade and in
fiuence, secured by the peace OF the
world. We were content to abide the
rivalries of manufacture, science and
commerce that were involved for us
in her success and stand or fall as we
had for did not have the brains and
the initiative to surpass her. But at
the moment when she had conspicu-
ously wonsher triumphs of peace, she
threw them away to establish in their
stead what the world will no longer
permit to be established, military and
political domination by arms, by which
to GUST where she could not excel the
rivals she most feared and hated. The
peace we make must remedy that
wrong. 1t must deliver the once fair
lands and happy people of Belgium
and northern France from the Prus-
sian conquest and the Prussian men
ace but it must also deliver the peo-
pies of Austria Hungary, the peoples
of the Balkans and the peoples of Tur-
key, alike in Europe and in Asia from
the mpudent and alien domination of
the Prussian military and commercial
autocracv.
We owe it however, to ourselves. to
SAY that we do not wish in any way
to impair or to re-arrange the Aus
tro- Hungarian empire. 1t is no affair
Of ours what they do with their own
life, either ndustrally or politically.
We do not purpose or desire to dictate
to them in any way. We only desire
WEATHER.