The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1918-01-17
WILSON GIVES PEACE TERMS

stated with a frankness, a largeness
OF view, a generosity of spirit and q
universal human sympathy which
must challenge the admiration of ev-
cry friend of mankind; and they have
refused to compound their ideals or
desert others that they themselves
may be safe.
They call to us to say what 1t IL
that we desire, in what, II In any
thing, our purpose and our spirit differ
from theirs; and believe that the
people Of the United States would
wish me to respond with utter simple
ity and frankness. Whether their
present leaders believe 1t or not, 1t is
our heartfelt desire and hope that
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.
at 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
permit henceforth no secret under
standings Of any kind. The day of
conquest and aggrandizement is gone
by; so Is also the day of secret cove
nants entered into in the interest of
particular governments and likely at
some unlooked-for moment to upset
the peace of the world. 1t 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 It possible for
every nation whose purposes are con-
sistent with justice and the peace of
the world to avow now or at any other
time the objects it has in view.
I'VE entered this war because vio-
lations 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 re-
currence. What we demand in this
war, therefore, is nothing peculiar to
ourselves. 1t is that the world be made
fit and safe to live in; and mainly, that
it be made safe for every peace-loving
nation, which, like our own, wishes to
live its own life, determine its own in
stitutions, he assured of justice and
fair dealing by the other peoples of
the world, as against force and selfish
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 be
done to others, 1t will not be done to
us. The program of the worlds peace
therefore, is our program, and that pro
gram, the only possible program, as
we see it, is this;
II. 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 OF
in part by international action for the
enforcement of international cove
nantS.
iii. The removal, so far as pos
s;ble, of all economic barriers and the
establishment of an equality of trade
conditions among all the nations con
senting to the peace and associatinG
themselves for its maintenance.
"IV. Adequate guarantees given ant
taken that national ornaments will bt
reduced to the lowest point consistent
with domestic safety.
"V. A free, open-minded and abso
lutely impartial adjustment Of all co
lonial claims, based upon a strict OBJ
servance of the principle that in deter
mining all such questions Of sovereign
ty the interests of the populations con
cerned must have equal weight will
the equitable clairus of the Govern
ment whose title is to be determined.
"VI. The evacuation of all Russian
territory and such settlement of al
questions affecting Russia as will Sc
cure the best and freest cooperation
of the other nations of the world il
obtaining for her an unhampered ans
unembarrassed opportunity for the in
dependent determination of her owl
political development and national po!
icy and assure her of a sincere wal
come into the society of free nation
under institutions of her own choos
ing; and, more than welcome, assist
ance also Of every kind that she ma!
need and may herself desire. Thu
treatment accorded Russia by her sis
ter nations in the months to come will
be the acid test of their good will, O
their comprehension of her needs a
distinguished from their own interests
and of their intelligent and unselfisl
sympathy.
"VII. Belgium, the whole world will
agree, must be evacuated and restored
: without any attempt to limit the soV
ereignty which she enjoys in common
with all other free nations. No othe
single act will serve as this will serv
to restore confidence among the na
tions in the laws which they hav
themselves set and determined for tn
government of their relations with on
another. Without this healing act tn
whole structure and validity of inter
national law is forever impaired.
VIII. All French territory shoul'
be freed and the invaded portions re
stored, and the wrong done to Franc
by Prussia in 1871 in the matter of Al
sace-Lorraine, which has unsettled tn
peace Of the world for nearly fift,
years, should be righted, in order tina
peace may once more be made secur
in the interest of all.
"X. A readjustment of the frontier
of Italy should be effected along clear
ly recognizable lines of nationality.
"X. The peoples of Austria-H Hungary
| H.