New-York tribune., 1918-01-08
Exposed

1t is essential to recognize at this time
exactly what has happened as result Of
the latest peace offensive of the Germans.
The German design is patent. The peace
proposal was intended to make use Of the
Bolsheviki as German agents, and through
them to tamper with Labor and Radical
elements in belligerent countries. To OBJ
tain the assistance Of the Bolsheviki the
Germans adopted the principles and even
the language of the Trotzky-Lenine
group
Having adopted this language, the Ger
mans hoped and expected that, without
further discussion, the Bolsheviki would
undertake an assault upon the Allied
countries and endeavor to bring them to
general peace conference, at which Ger
many would be able to throw off the mask
Unfortunately for the Germans, the
Bolsheviki insisted upon seeing the Ger
man proposals before they appealed to
the Allied publics. In this situation, the
Germans were compelled to disclose
portion Of their real designs. They were
obliged to uncover the fact that they in
tended to steal all Russia's Baltic sea-
coast and make Poland a slave of the
Hapsburgs
Once their mask was off, the Germans
had lost their game. The Bolsheviki has
tened back to Petrograd and exposed to
the whole world the fact as contrasted
with the phrase of German peace propo-
sails, and the whole world was informed
that the Germans were seeking territorial
and economic aggrandizements surpassing
any single Napoleonic demand
And with the exposure the German case
with the Allied publics collapses. Not
desire to make peace ON German terms
which shall add 2O,O0O,OOO of people to
the subject races of Europe or put Rus-
sia's economic future at the mercy Of
Germany. The real danger in the Ger
man peace proposal lay in the fact that
before it was translated into specific de-
mands it had the appearance of q reason
able and honorable peace move.
But when the world knows that "no
annexation and no indemnity" means to
the German mind the annexation Of
10000 square miles of Russian terri
tory, containing 2OOOO,O0O of people
/ when it discovers "self- definition of peo-
/ pie" applies only to Russian subjects, and
/ the defining is to be done under the lash
+ Of German garrisons, the essential fraud
/ and hypocrisy of the whole German per
formance are no longer hidden 1t is at
once plain that Germany is still seeking
war profits, world power and European
supremacy. 1t is proven that whatever
words the Germans may use, these words
still cover the same purposes of aggran-
dizement and conquest.
This is the great value of the recent
episode. This is the great service the
Bolsheviki have rendered. No effort of
the German to saddle the Allies with re-
sponsibility for the failure of peace pro-
posals can succeed when the world knows
that German peace proposals included
vast territorial acquisitions and iniquitous
economic impositions. Germany has been
compelled to expose her design in part,
and the part exposed serves to leave no
doubt as to the part not yet revealed
It is curious fact that the world, that
portion Of it at war, keeps requiring a
new proof of the old truth which is the
German spirit and purpose. Again and
again the spectacle of the German MAX
ing peace gestures seduces war weary
public, despite all past evidence of the
true character of the German. On the
other hand, is it less curious that at the
critical moment the German always be-
trays himself? Had he but simulated
honesty at Brest-Litovsk ~ might have
fooled all his enemies. Yet always after