New-York tribune., 1918-10-20
Terms of Peace
Have Nothing
To Do With
ArmiStice
By FRANK H. SIMONDS
Author of "The World War;" ''They
Shall Not Pass"
WILSON'S response
to the German notes has cleared
~ the atmosphere and placed

the atmosphere and placed
squarely upon the shoulders of
the German government the response
bility for the success or the failure Of
it's effort to get an armistice. With the
preliminary conditions outlined in Mr..
Wilson's two notes, the German has to
comply if he desires to continue his ap-
plication for an armistice. If he con-
tinues his application, then it will be the
duty of the President to transmit any
further application to the governments
of our allies and, in concert with them,
frame a response. What we shall next
have, in case the German is ready to sur
render, is formal request made of the
President or made of the Allied govern
ments. collectively, for an armistice.
Let US be perfectly clear at the outset
that the request for an armistice is a
military matter, to be acted upon in the
light of military judgment. Our armies
are advancing from the Meuse to the
sea; the German has been beaten in
every engagement for four months, and
his armies are being pounded to pieces.
In this situation he asks for a cessation
of hostilities. The answer must be that
there can be a cessation of hostilities
only when he complies with the cond-
tions which would result from a contin-
uance of the struggle and therefore are
within the right of the victor to demand.
In the present situation these condi-
tions are obviously rehabilitation, evacu-
agreement to the occupation of genuine
ly German territory, not for purposes of
ACKNOWLEDGMENT, but as a guarantee of
the later compliance of the German gov
ernment with the decisions Of the Allied
countries in the matter Of peace terms.
On the map this means the permanent
evacuation of France, Belgium and Rus
sia, together with Alsace-Lorraine, and
the temporary occupation by the Allies
of the left OF west bank Of the Rhine
from Holland to Switzerland.
Now, the German gesture means one
of two things. 1t either means that Ger
many is prepared to surrender or is
seeking to repeat her success of 1916,
when her peace offensive broke the home
fronts of her enemies and nearly WON
the war for her. We may reason that
it is a genuine pursuit Of peace, because
the military conditions of to-day are so
different from those of 1916; but we have
no right to assume that it is an unquali-
fed application for peace until it is re-
vealed to be such by German tender of
appropriate guarantees. 1t is nothing
more than a "scrap of paper" until it
is secured; there can be no other security
than that of territory.
We are in this situation We have all
been attacked, and we have after four
years reached the point where our as
sallant asks us to "let up" on him. We
have got him down and he is rapidly
becoming helpless, but if we do "let up
now he may be able to fight again, and
we may be unable without new and even
greater efforts and sacrifice to compel
him to comply with our just demands,
which are that ne should pay for the
damages inflicted, for our injuries and
restore to us what he has stolen from us
recently and in the past
All this is Foch's business. 1t is not
making peace; it is not settling the oues-
tions of permanent peace. 1t is only
making sure that peace can be arranged:
it is only making sure that we are not
again face to face with our old foe, when
he has got his breath and his strength
back and finds himself on convenient
line Of defence. 1t is easier to continue
the present fight than to begin all over
again; we can only be sure we shall not
have to begin all over again by insisting
upon guarantees. :.
The first step is clear. We cannot ne
gotiate with Germany, we cannot talk
with our foe in arms; we cannot do any
thing but demand that as the price of
interruptng our military operations he
lay aside all of his weapons This is un-
conditional surrender; but there is no
other kind of surrender, and our enemy
is not beaten until ne surrenders. Any-
thing else would be sham and q sub
terfuge, less of all that we have
gained by fighting.
1t Germany is beaten if her proposal
flows from her defeat and is made in
good faith, she will comply, she will sur
render. II it is not made in good faith,
then she will resist; but her resistance
will be en- the battlefield, and we can
deal with that easily and completely.
She will simply choose to prolong the
conflict little and have her sword
struck from her hand. that is all. Next
week or next year she will have to sur
render and we shall have lost nothing.
But if me surrenders and agrees un-
conditionally to those terms which Mar
shal Foch must dictate, terms which