The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-08-26
LOOK OUT FOR PEACE TALK

The glorious news which comes from
France, telling # how our troops and
those of our allies have beaten back
the army of invaders VIII hav~ cursed
every foot of ground over which they
have trod. may well Civ heart to the
nation and to all civilization. 1t
would. however. be a serious mistake
for US to imagine that this means the
ending of the war. for it does not.
We are q long way from Berlin, and
unit the American flag flies over Ber-
lin as a conquered city, and the terms
of peace are written there, and the
Hohenzollerns. the Hapsburgs and
their leaders in this world horror
have paid with their own lives the
penalty for their unspeakable crimes,
it would be premature to do much
shouting.
Germany, the blacklist criminal in
the worlds history, will, thru every
influence which 1t can exert in this
and every other country, seek to Sc
cure peace whenever its military
We shall have peace talk from a few
ministers OF the Gospel. We shall
have peace talk from many papers
some moved by pro-German infIu-
ence. some by sickly neurotic senti-
ment against punishment of crime
and wherever pro-German deviltry
can cary on its work we may rest as
sured it will be done
Many will seek to create an impress
sion that Germany must not be pun
ished and that it's people are differ
ent from its military leaders, when
every intelligent man who has studied
the situation now knows that the peo-
pie and the military leaders are one
and the same in the support of this
war.
The unspeakable individual crimes
which marked the movement of the
German army thru Belgium and
France, crimes which blacken the
pages of human history as they were
never blackened in the past; crimes.
to recount which Secretary Lansing
said would sicken a tiger" were not
committed individually by the kaiser
or the military leaders. but by the
people themselves in the armies of
Germany, encouraged thereto by the
military leaders as part of Ger
many's campaign of frightfulness.
These people should be made to real
i-s that sin must be punished and
that crime must be atom d for, or else
the blood of the millions of soldiers
who have died will have been shed
IN vain.
1t behooves every honest-heartsd
man and woman in this country, says
the Manufacturers' Record, to make
certain that neither in the pulpit nor
ton shall there be the lghtest word
said in favor of peace until that peace
is written in Berlin, after the crimi-
nails have paid the full measure OF
penalty for their crimes. ION to
Berlin." should be the unceasing de-
mand of every honest-hearted man
and woman.
Now that the turn of the war has
come and defeat begins to make the
German staff trembIe, 1t is of the
greatest Importance, says the Bache
Review, that the public should have
its opinions stabilized against a ne
gotiated peace and firmly set to de-
mand only the most rigid justice met
ed out as q verdict against the out
rageous and high-handed iniquities OF
Germany.
Innocent blood, mercilessly spilled
in torrents during four years of atroc-
tiles, cries out against any other set
Element of the war.
In debating terms to the destroy
ers of the worlds peace. after uncon-
| ditional surrender, it must never be
forgotten that German unity If not
effectively and permanently destroyed
now. will inevitably crystalline for a
repetition of the frightful scheme OF
world domination, no matter how long
it may tax to recover.