The Morgan County press. (Wartburg, Tenn.) 1916-1926, 1918-01-25
vii SON GIVES PEACE Terms

every public man whose thoughts do
not still linger in an age. that is dead
and gone, which makes it possible for
every nation whose purposes are con-
sistent with justice and the peace or
the world to avow now or at any other
time the objects it has in view.
1--WE entered this war because v1o-
lations Of right had occurred Whlcn
touched us to the quick and made the
life of our own people Impossible un
less they were corrected and the world
secured once FOR all against their re-
currence. What we demand In this
war, therefore, IL nothing peculiar to
ourselves. It is that the world be made
fit and safe to live in; and mainly, that
1t be made safe for every peace-lovlng
nation, which, like our own, wishes to
live its own life, determine its own IN
stitutions, be assured of justice and
far dealing by the other peoples OF
the world, as against force and selhsn
aggression. All the peoples OF the
world are in effect partners in this IN
terest and for our own part we see
very clearly that unless justice De
done to others, it will not be done to
us. The program of the worlds peace
therefore, is our program, and that pre-
gram, the only possible program, az
we see it, is this:
81. Open covenants of peace, open
ly arrived at, after which there shall
be no private international UNDER
standings Of any kind, but diplomacy
shall proceed always frankly and IN
the public view.
III. Absolute freedom of navigation
upon the seas, outside territorial wa
ters, alike in peace and in war, except
as the seas may be closed in whole or
in part by international action for the
enforcement of international cove
nants.
TII. The removal, so far as pos
s:ble. of all economic barriers and the
establishment of an equality OF trade
conditions among ali the nations con-
senting to the peace and assoclatlng
themselves for it's maintenance.
CIV. Adequate guarantees given ana
taken that national ornaments will be
reduced to the lowest point consistent
with domestic safety
"V. A free, open-minded and abso-
lutely impartial adjustment OF all CO.
lonial claims, basedsupon strict OBJ
servaexe of the principle that in deter
mining all such questions of sovereign
ty the interests of the populations con-
cerned must have equal weight with
the equitable claims of the Govern
ment whose title is to be determined.
"VI. The evacuation of all Russian
territory and such a settlement or all
questions affecting Russia as Will Sc
cure the best and freest cooperation
of the other nations Of the world in
obtaining for her an unhampered AMI
unembarrassed opportunity for the IN
dependent determination OF her own
political development and national POI!
icy and assure her of sincere well
come into the society Of free nations
under institutions OF her own choos'
ing; and, more than welcome, assist
ance also of every kind that she may
need and may herself desire. The
treatment accorded Russia by her SIS
ter nations in the months to come Will
be the acid test of their good Will, or
their comprehension of her needs as
DISTINGUISHED from their own interests
and of their intelligent and unselt1sh
sympathy.
"VII. Belgium, the whole world will
agree. must be evacuated and restored,
without any attempt to limit the SOW
ereignty which she enjoys in common
with all other free nations. No other
single act will serve as this will serve
to restore confidence among the ma
lions in the laws which they have
themselves set and determined for the
government of their relations with one
another. Without this healing act the
whole structure and validity OF inter
national law is forever impaired.
VIII. All French territory should
be freed and the invaded portions re-
stored, and the wrong done to France
by Prussia in 1871 in the matter OF Al
sace-Ldrraine, which has unsettled the
peace CT the world for nearly fifty
years, should be righted, in order that
peace may once more be made secure
in the iaterest of all.
"IX. ( readjustment OF the frontiers
of Italy should be effected along clear
ly recognizable lines of nationality.
ak. The peoples of Austria-Hungary,
whose place among the nations we
wish to fee safeguarded and assured
should be accorded the freest opportu-
nifty of autonomous development.
XXI. Rumania, Serbia and Montene-
gro SHOULD be evacuated; occupied ter
ritories reatored; Serbia accorded free