The Washington herald., 1918-01-09
Ask for Statement.

our nedTlIelI ueSlTe ana nope lndI
some way may be opened whereby we
may be privileged to assist the people
OF Russia to attain their utmost hope
Of liberty and ordered peace.
It will be our wish and purpose that
the processes of peace, when they are
begun. shall be absolutely open and
that they shall involve and pefmit
henceforth no secret understanding Of
any kind. The day of conquest and
aggrandizement Is gone by; so is also
the day of secret covenants entered
into in the interest of particular gov
srnments and likely to some unlocked
for moment to upset the peace Of the
world.
It Is this happy fact. now clear to
the view of every public man whose
thoughts do not still linger in an age
that Is dead and gone, which makes
II possible for every nation whose
purposes are consistent with Justice
and the peace of the world to avow
now or at any other time the objects
1t has in view.
Rights violated.
We entered this war because viola
tons Of right had occurred which
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 recurrence.
What we demand In this war. there
fore, Is nothing peculiar to ourselves.
It is that the world be made fit and
safe to live in; and particularly that
1t be made safe for every peace low
ing nation. which, like our own.
wishes to- live its own life. deter
mine its own institutions. be assured
of justice and fair dealing by the
other peoples of the world as against
force and selfish aggression.
All of the peoples of the world
are In effect partners I'm this In
terest and for our own part we
see very clearly that unless JUS
tIee be done to others IL will not
be done to us The program of
the worlds peace, therefore. In
our program; and that program, the
only possible program, as we see
Il, isI
1-Open covenants of peace,
openly arrived Mt, after which
there shall be no priavte interna-
tionnl Understandings of any kind
hut diplomacy shall proceed al
ways frankly and in the public
view.
@AbsOlute freedom of naviga-
tion upon the seas, outside terri
tOrial waters, alike I'm peace and
In war, except as the seas may he
closed I'm whole or In part by in
ternational action for the enforce
ment of international covenants.
SThe removal, so far rs pos
sIble, of all economic barriers and
the establishment of nm equality
Of trade conditions among all the
nations consenting to the peace
and associating themseleys for Its
maintenance.
adequate guarantees given
and taken that national armn-
ments will be reduced to the low
est point constituent with domes-
tie safety.
5-A free, open-minded and ab-
sOlutely impartial adjustment OF
all colonial claims, based upon n
strict observance of the principle
that I'm determining all such ques-
tions of sovereignty the Interests
of the population concerned must
have equal weight with the equita-
BILE claims of the government whose
title Il to be determined.
Russ Territory Free.
@The evacuation of all RussIau
territory and such n settlement OF
all questions affecting Russia as
will secure the best and freest co.
operation of the other nations OF
the world In obtaining for her an
unhampered and unembarrassed op-
portunity fer the independent deter
mInation of her own political de-
yelopment and national policy and
assure her of n sincere welcome
into the society of free nations un-
der Institutions of her own choos-
Ing; and more than a welcome as
distance also of every kind that she
may need and may herself desire.
The treatment accorded Russla by
her sister nations i'm the months to
come VIII be the acid test of their
good VIII, of their comprehension
of her needs ms distlnguished from,
their own interests and of fheif in
teIligent and useful sympathy.
belgium, the whole world will
agree, must be evacuated and re-
stored. without any attempt to
limit the soverignty which she en-
Joys LIN common with all other free
nations. No other single net will
serve as this will serve to restore
confidence among the nations I'm the
laws which they have themselves
set and determined for the Eoyern-
ment of their relations with one
another. without this healing act
the whole structure and validity Of
International law is forever Inn
paired.
8. All French territory should he
freed and the invaded portion. re-
stored, and the wrong done to
France by Prussia I'm 1871 I'm the
matter of Alsaee-Lorraine, which
has unsettled the peace of the world
for nearly atty years, should he
arighted In order that peace NAV
once more be made secure In the In
terest OF all.
D. A readjustment Of the frontiers
of Italy should be effected along
clearly recognizable lines of na-
tlonality.
10. The peoples of AustrIa-Hun-
gary whose place among the ma