The Evening Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1917-1920, 1918-10-14
ARRANGING THE EVACUATION

wants TO discuss tnelf applCallOn'
and she says she and her ally, Aus
tria, are ready to eyacuate all inyad-
ed territory held by them.
On the last point, she suggests that
President Wilson arrange a confer
ence TO arrange the details of the
evacuation.
This country has had experience
with German statements and Ger
man promises before. Let's look this
over carefully before we accept it as
an evidence of unconditional sur
render.
Prince Max says he speaks for the
German people-that Germany is
democratic now. and that the cabinet
of which he is the head has the back
ing of the Reichstag
Can any sane person imagine
Prince Max making a different an 1
swer? 1t is doing no injustice to
Germany to say that. desiring GER
tain result. she has not hesitated in
lHe past " Sds ludl WHICH ShC lhOuShl
likely to produce that result rather
than that which was the truth.
Has not the kaiser insisted since
the beginning Of the war that he had
the united support of the German
people? Does Prince Max's statement
now carry more weight than the
lyaf in hn los
We have heard much of cleo
tOral reform in Germany lately,
but nothing of a general election.
Even if Prince Max's cabinet has
been formed. as he says, "by con-
ference and in agreement with the
great majority of the Reichstag,"
it would take a credulous person
indeed to regard that as guaran-
tee of democracy. The solemn
statements of German officials in l
this war have raised boots of I
laughter from one end of the {
earth to the other, but never was I
a better joke thus produced than f
Prince AIaxs statement, which he i
apparently takes seriously, that @
the chancellor, supported in all e
of his actions by the will of this I
majority. speaks in the name 5
of the German peO- a
Pile" t,
Prince Max says that Germany ac- c
cepts President Wilson's fourteen ~
principles, and merely wants to dis
cuss their practical application. VI
Here again. can anyone imagine
him saying anything else. To have
done so, under the circumstances, il
would have been to invite a rhetori- cl
cal slap in the face from President p
while the agreement to ac-
cept the principles is absolutely u
In the discussion of =
their application nothing would be :,
easier, especially for statesmen of G,
the German stripe, than to interpret
The principles in such a way as the tn
Allies would not stand for one min W
ute. nj
Finally, Prince Max says Germany ou
and Austria are ready to evacuate Vi
INVADED territory, as demanded by pI
President Wilson. Ss
Here is the most important part %.
of the note for the American peo- du
pie to read clearly. Prince Max S4
does not say that the armies of pu
the Central Powers have evacuat- alb
ed, are evacuating. or will evacu- no
ate the territory in Belgium and
Northern France where at this Re
very moment German dynamite,
German torches and German sci
ence are combined to lay waste On
to everything, regardless of mill at
tary value or lack of value. He tn'
does not say that German armies 80
are moving out of rayaged Ser ont
bia, nor out of Rumania, where ix
uhder cover OF peace treaty Dis
German soldiers have been busy "Tl
stealing everything they could lay Lii
their hands on lun
Instead Prince Max proposes that ic
he President may occasion the
Getting of a mixed commission for 5an 3
aking the necessary arrangements oYa
ncerning the evacuation" mo.
This following the Presidents re- Hell
sal to start peace negotiations while Fac
luton armies are on Allied soil,
neither the commission is designat- Fay
as one to discuss peace terms or l.
e to discuss the evacuation. it is in oOu ~.
ect the opening of peace negotia- >,
ms. Germany trickily words her "
lginal proposition differently and twin
IL insists that negotiations start
lille she is on Allied territory. While 4
meeting was dragging on she
n!d do with other French and Bel ,onn
IN cities as she has done to Cam -.sg
al she could reorganize her forces was
iei! "ilhdraw them 10 her out.