Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-10-20
BY FRANK n. sIMONDs.

RESIDENT WILSON'S re-
Spouse to the German notes
has cleared the atmosphere
and placed squarely upon the
shoulders of the German
government the responsibility for the
success or the failure of its effort to
get an armistice. With the prelimi-
nary conditions outlined in Mr.. Will
sons two notes, the German has to
comply If he desires to continue his
application for an armfstice. If he
continues his application, then it will
be the duty of the President to trans
init any further application to the
governments Of our allies and, in con-
cert with them, frame a response.
What we shall next have, in case the
German is ready to surrender, Is a
formal request made of the President
or made Of the allied governments,
collectively, for an armistice.
Purely Military Matter.
Let US be perfectly clear at the out
set that the request for an armistice
is a military matter, to be acted upon
in the light of military judgment.
Our armies are advancing from the
Mouse to the sea; the German has
been beaten in every engagement for
four months, and his armies are being
pounded to pieces. In this situation
he asks for a cessation of hoStilltleS.
The answer must be that there can
be cessation of hostilities only
when he complies with the conditions
which would result from a continu-
ance of the struggle and therefore
are within the right of the victor to
demand.
In the present situation these con-
ditions are obviously rehabilitation,
evacuation of conquered allied terri
tory and agreement to the occupation
of genuinely German territory, not
for purposes of ACKNOWLEDGMENT, but
as a guarantee of the later compli-
ance of the German government with
the decision of the allied countries
in the matter of peace terms. On the
map this means the permanent evac-
uation of France, Belgium and Rus
STA, together with Alsace-Lorraine,
and the temporary occupation by the
allies of the left or west bank of the
Rhine from Holland to Switzerland.
May Be German Trick.
Now, the German gesture means
one of two things. 1t either means
that Germany is prepared to surrender
or is seeking to repeat her success of
1916, when her peace offensive broke
the home fronts of her enemies and
nearly won the war for her. We may
reason that it is a genuine pursuit of
peace, because the military conditions
of today are SO different from those of
1916; but we have no right to assume
that it is an unqualified application
la 4.
such by German tender of appropriate
guarantees. It is nothing more than
scrap of paper" until it is secured !:
there can be no other security than
that Of territory.
We are in this situation: We have
all been attacked, and we have after
four years reached the point where
our assailant asks us to 'let up on
him. We have got him down and he
is rapidly becoming helpless, but if
we do let up now he may be able
to fight again, and we may be unable
without new and even greater efforts
and sacrifice to compel him to comply
with our just demands, which are that
he should pay for the damages inf1ict-
ed, for our injuries and restore to US
what he has stolen from US recently
and in the past.
All this is Foch's business 1t is no.
making peace; it is not settling the
question OF permanent peace. It is
only making sure that peace can be
arranged; it is only making sure that
we are not again face 10 face with our
old foe. when he has got his breath
and his strength back and finds him.
self on a convenient line of defense
1t is easier to continue the present
fight than to begin all over again; we
can only be sure we shall not have
to begin all over again by insisting
upon guarantees.
First Step C1ear-Surrender. =.
The first step is clear We cannot
negotiate with Germany; we cannot
talk with our foe in arms; we cannot
do anything but demand that as the
price of interrupting our military
operations he lay aside all of his
weapons. This is unconditional sur
render: but there is no other kind of
surrender, and our enemy is not
beaten until he surrenders Anything
else would be a sham and a subter-
fuge. loss of all that we have gain
ed by fighting.
If Germany is beaten. if her pro-
posal flows from her defeat and is
made in good faith. she will comply
she will surrender. If it is not made
in good faith, then she will resist: but
her resistance will be on the battlefield.
and we can deal with that easily and
completely. She will simply choose to
prolong the conflict little and have
her sword struck from her hand. that
is all. Next week or next year she