The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1918-10-15
REPLY TO KAISER
MEETS APPROVAL
Prevents Further Parley
With AutOcracy-Armi-
stice up to Foch
NO BARGAINING
WITH KAISERISM
Prerequisite of Final Peace is Elimina-
ton of Present Government-Ade-
quate Guarantees, Satisfactory to
Military Heads, Must Come First.

WASHINGTON, Oct l5.-President
Wilson's answer to Germany's peace
proposition, by this time no doubt in
the hands of the imperial government
officials, is the talk Of the capital today.
Everywhere are heard expressions OF sat
isfaction that the President has so clear
" translated the common thought of his
countrymen.
The Presidents answer TO the German
proposal and to the reply to his recent
queries is intended TO be final and de-
cisiye Whatever her spokesman may
proclaim Germany IN the Presidents
opinion still represents the arbitrary
power whose destruction was among the
very terms which the German govern
ment so glibly has accepted. Conse-
quently the President sees fit to make
clear that that condition still must be
met before peace can be had, and the
choice lies with the German people them
selves.
With the Presidents answer made. ii
is for the German people to elect whether
this issue of kaiserism. fundamental as
/ the President states it to be- shall be
put to the test of further battle, waged
relentlessly by the allies on land and sea
and in the air, or shall be decided by
themselves through the removal of their
present masters and the organization by
them of a real democratic government in
which arbitrary power shall have no
place whatever.
With the elimination of autocraey
laid down as the prerequisite of final
peace the President, addressing himself
directly to the armistice proposal, shows
that the German government or its com
manders in the field can expect no cessa-
ton to the hostilities as long as they
continue their present illegal and inhu-
name method of making war on land and
sea.
While il. would be for Marshal Foch
and the allied commanders to arrange
such an armistce, this government, the
President says, would consent to no ar
rangement that did not call for adequate
guarantees that would maintain the su-
premacy of the allied armies.
Although not expressly stated, the
meaning here is plain. Metz, Strass.
burg and other strategic strongholds
must be occupied by the allies before hos
| tilities can cease. Germany must cal
OH ltT llitS lIOHi lielt tditeI ol
murder on the high seas and the devasta
tion of France and Belgium must cease.
The terms to which the President de
mands adherence constitute mconditiona
surrender by the Germany controlled b,
: the Hohenzollerns or conditional surren
der under terms stipulated by the Unitet
States and the allies by German,
: purged of her autocratic militarism. Thi
distinction is vitally important.
| Should the German people now solidl,
embrace the kaiser's cause they will au
tomatically become co-partners with hin
in the responsibility for continuing tn
/ war, it is explained, and the opportunit,
which they might now have of endin
the war would very probably not be ope
to them under present conditions.
The President shuts the door to peac
to the Hohenzollerns except under condi
tions where their military power is sufii
GENTLY destroyed to reduce them to i'm
potency. But he leaves the door open t
the German people if they elect to them
selves destroy or reduce to impotenc
the kaiser and the war lords