The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1918-01-26
PEACE WITH
Icontinued From Page One
them are wrong.

1
eft Germany. If it fails to beneff!
Germany, the people must conclude
| that this war was a mistake, and the!
will doubt their leaders and the stand
ards those leaders have taught them
! In other words the people may begif
| to think for themselves and take tn.
government out of the hands of theii
! hereditary leaders. On the othel
| hand, II the war ends with material
benefit to Germany, the people will be
lieve more strongly than ever in those
| leaders and be ready to follow theil
| War Lord into more good" wars.
@. Do all Germans accept the stand
ard that evil to others is good if il
means material good for Germany?
/, A. Evidently not, because though
the German leaders deliberately pro
voked and began this war in 1914
when all the world except themselves
| and Austria wanted peace, they pre-
| tended as well as they were able thai
Germany had been attacked. OF course
| this helped to make all the German.
| fight harder; and evidently there wers
some Germans who would have object
| ed to the war il they were not made
! to believe that Germany was attacked
@. Then could not these be reached
and the truth shown to them?
A. Most Of those who were moi
blind to the truth saw it from the be-
ginning. Those among them who
spoke out we're imprisoned or escaped
to Switzerland.
Q. Does not the suffering Of tbs
| world, caused by this war, affect the
German people?
A. No; they are affected by only
their own suffering. They have beer
| taught to believe that the world out
side of Germany is corrupt and decay
| ing, and that what happens to il does
not really matter. They have beer
taught to believe that increase Of Ger
,, man power is their gods plan and de
sire, and that the malignant jealousy
and money-lust Of the non-Germar
world should be punished for seeking
| to prevent the contamination of thai
| divine plan. The leaders allude 20 this
plan (partly in order to incite the sim,
| pier folk under them) as "the exist
,, ence of the Fatherland," or "the ma
tural right of a nation to attain its
just development"
@. And the German people will
keep their leaders in power until it Is
clear that the war is disadvantageou
to Germany?
A. Yes.
@. But If Germany were already
losing the war. would not the leaders
represent it to the people as winning
A. Yes, the leaders must do so OF
risk losing their power over the PEG,
pie.
@. Will the leaders ever voluntar
lily surrender that power?
A. No.
@. Do not the German leaders claim
that they have now won peace with
victory?
A. Yes, but they have neither.
Q. Then the war will go on eithet
until Germany conquers the world or
until the German leaders are unable
to convince the German people that
Germany Is, or can be. victorious?
A. Yes. We could make a truce
with Germany which we could call
peace" and it might last for several
years of intense military preparation,
training and invention on both sides.
Great improvement would be made in
liquid fire. poison gases, torpedoes and
airship bombing, and devices for ter
roriZation by atrocity. Then the strug
gle would be resumed.
G. When can we make real
peace?
A. We have this choice; we car
make peace whenever we are ready to
surrender our liberty to the German
leaders whose orders to US, violating
ntrr cnvoroionfty VIZ ro=icfirc-
or we can make peace when we
surely know that the German people
will be glad to keep the peace we Of
fer them.
@. What sort of peace shall we Of
fer them?
A. a peace which will insure TO
ourselves, and all other peoples, indie
pendence Of German rule, and free
dom from the fear Of German con-
quest-a peace which will insure all
nations, including the German nation,
against the fear of invasion Of rights
and arainst the desire to make foreign
conquests.
@. When will Germany accept such
a peace?
A. When defeat has taught the Ger
mans that the desire for conquest is
harmful to Germany.
@. But if they offer to make peace
that restores everything as it was he
fore the war, should we not accept It?
A. Everything as it was before the
war" Tor "status quo" by the German
definition) was precisely the condition
which produced war under the same
German leaders.
@. Then what peace terms would be
safe?
A. Only those which compel Ger
many to make all the reparation pos
sible for what she has destroyed, to
restore everything she has taken and
and retains by force. to reduce arma-
ments in common with other nations.
and to respect just international laws
between Germany and other nations.
c. What will America gain by en-
forcing terms so mild?
A. A new enlightenment for the