Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1918-02-12
PRESIDENTS SPEECH BRINGS PEACE BACK
 TO FUNDAMENTALS
(Continued from page one.)

ereigns."
 The statement was made in high officials quarters thai the entente al lies were not consulted by President Wilson in his preparation of his ad- dress. nor was it even made known 10 them that il Was to be delivered However. it was pointed out. this fact was not to be taken as indicating any lack of unity of purpose and aim be tween the -billigerents, as mo- where in his address, did the president depart from any of the principles he had laid down in common with the British. French and Italian premiers in Their preceding public utterances regarding war aims.
 Negotiations Ready On.
 Diplomats of the older school are watching with keen interest the "eX- tra-officia negotiations" which de- part so radically from all of the anci- ent and accepted practices of diplo- macy. They point out that peace neeotiatos on great scale actually are going on, only, instead of being con- ducted in the, secrecy of the round table conference, which was the aim
  stags of tn war, tn great waT issus are now being expounded and critical ly analysed in the light ct publicity in the worlds form. President Will son himself today seemed to recog- nize and to call attnton to thot fact, when he inquired, "is Count von Hertling not aware that he is speak ing in the court of mankind. that all the awakened nations of tn world now sit in judgment on what every public man of whatever nation may say on the issues of the conflict. which has spread to every rfgion of the world"
 As has been done ill the past. the presidents speech today was prompt ly cabled to all principle capitals of the world for telegraphic distribu- tion.
 sees Peace Hope.
 Representative Slayden of Texas, president of the American peace so- ciety, issued a statement tonight say ing the presidents address was an impressive appeal for justice. and would do good in the theatre of war if carried to the people behind the line. He recalled that when the pope advised peace negotiations. he said it would make talk about peace, which would not cease until a treaty had been signed. and added, 'we are rapidly moving towards that event."
 President Wilson spoke as follows: Gentlemen of the Congress-:
 On the eighth of January I had the honor of addressing you on the ob- jects of the war as our people con- ce;vc them. The prime minister of Great Britain had spoken in similar terms on the fifth of January. To these addresses the German chancel- Tor replied oh the 24th and Count Czernin for Austria on the same day, It is gratifying to have our desire so promptly realized that all exchanges of view on this great matter should be made in the hearing of all the world.
 Says Czernin Sees Issue.
 Count Czernin's reply which Is di- rected chiefly to my own address on the Sth of January. is uttered in very friendly tone.
 He finds in my statement a suffi- ciently encouraging approach to the views of his own government to jus tify him in believing that it furnishes basis for a more detailed discussion of purposes by the two governments. He IS reprented to have intimated that the views he was expressing had been communicated to me before hand and that l was aware of them at the time he was uttering them; but in this I am sure he was misunderstood. ! had received no intimation of what he intended to say. There was. of course, no reason why he should con- mnnicate privately with me. I am quite content to be one of his public audience. ';f
 Hertling Avoids Issue.
 Count von Hertling's reply is, must say very vague and very confus- ing. It js full of eGuivocal phrases and leads 1t is not clear where. But it is certainly in very different tone from that of Count Czernin and ap- parently of an opposite purpose. It confirms. { am sorry to say rather than removes the unfortunate impress sion made by what we had learned of the conference at BrestLitovsk. His discussion and acceptance of our gen. eral principles lead him to no practi- cal conclusions.
 Ee refused to apply them to the sub- stantive items which must constitute the body of any final settlement He is jealous of international action and of International counsel. He accepts he says, the principle of public diplom acy but he appears to insist that il be confined, at any rate in this case to generalities, and that the several particular questions of territory and sovereignty. the several questions up on whose settlement must depend the acceptance by the 23 states now en gagged in the war. must be discussed and settled, not in general council, but severally by the nations most immedi ately concerned by interest or neigh, borhood. He agrees that the seas should be free but looks askance al any limitation to that freedom by in ternational action in the interest o the common order. He would, witl reserve. be glad to see economic bar riers removed between nation anC nation, for that could in no way i'm pede the ambitions of the military par ty with whom he seems constrained tt