The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-02-19

for the peace of the world.
indemnity as any merely material
compensation can provide for the de-
vastation of her territory, and the
sufferings of her people.
A definite reply, which could be
given in a couple of sentences, to in
quiries like these would at this mo-
ment be worth a whole column of
pious platitudes-
When I say we are fighting for
peace I have in contemplation a set
tlement of which will once more in
dictate in a few words what are to my
mind both its negative and it's posi-
tive characteristics Negatively, it is
no part, and never has been any part,
of our war policy Gas the Pan-Ger-
mans pretend) to aim at the annihila-
ton of Germany or the permanent
degradation of the German people.
PrussianisIm and the German People
1t may not be wholly true, though
in the long run it comes pretty near
the truth, to say that every country
has the government which it de-
serves. AS history shows-and there
could be no more poignant example
than what we are witnessing this year
in Russia-the process of getting rid
of bad government is apt to be a
costly and protracted business. But
there is nothing in this war that has
aroused more worldwide surprise
and CONSERVATION than that German
opinion should have in the early
stages condoned with tolerance, and
should now have come to applaud it
further, the worst and most barbar-
Gus transgressions of the German gov
eminent
Prussian n1f1ftarism-that has been
and is our objective, since it chose to
force matters to an issue. But for
the German democracy we have no
other wish than that, having shaken
off this soul-destroying incubus, it
should learn the lessons and enjoy in
full measure the blessings of free
DOM
Evacuation Of Lands Seized
I pass to the positive side. of the
case, and here the peace for which
we are fighting has two aims, one
immediate, the other Interior, neither
Of which should be left out of view.
The first is not the restoration of the
status Quo-not the revival in some
revised shape Of what used to be call
ed the balance Of powerful the
substitution for the one and the other
of an International system, in which
there will be a place for great and
for small states, and under which
both alike can be ensured a stable
foundation and an independent de-
al
course the evacuation by the enemy
of the occupied territories of France
and Russia.
A New Europe
But wherever you turn in Central
and Eastern Europe you see territor-
ial arrangements which are purely
artificial in their origin, which offend
the wishes and interests of the popu-
lations most directly concerned, and
which have been, and so long as they
remain will continue to be-the seed
plots of unrest and of potential war.
There are the just claims, long over
due Of Italy and Runania. There is
heroic Serbia, who must not only be
restored to her old home, but given
the room to which she is entitled for
her expanding national life. There is
Poland, as to whom I, and believe
all our people, heartily endorse the
wise and generous words of President
Wilson There are the cases, not to
be forgotten, of Greece and the South
ern Slavs.
'tHe Maketh Wars to Cease"
I come now to the second and not
less important aspect Of the case
when we are endeavoring to forecast
the hneanents of an enduring peace
A peace, however, well initiated by
the necessary clinical and geograph-
ical changes Will not be worth many
years purchase if it permits the open
ing or reopening of an era or wha1
I may call yelled warfare.
} 1t is immaterial by what methods
= whether of preparation or precaution
} or in what forms, naval, military, dip
, lomatic, or economic, the disturbing
and descriptive forces are allowed tc
operate.
We must Danish once for all from
our catalogue of maxims the time
worn faIlacy that if you wish TO.
peace you must make ready for war
Speaking not as a Utopian or g
dreamy idealist, but as one who has
had long and close experience OF
the hard realities of politics, 1 assert
that we are waging not only a wal
for peace, but a war against war The
46th Psalm has been the favorite
battle song in all ages OF the soldiers
of liberty. But what is its climax;
He maketh wars to cease to the END
of the earth
L An Exalted Ideal
= For the first time in history we