Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-11-30
GUILT IS PERSONAL EVEN
WHEN IT WEARS A GROWN
When Kings and Their Ministers Are Held
Criminally Responsible for Wars They
Start the Fra of Universal Peace
Will Be in Sight

Will Be in Sight
livery friend of world peace will hope
that the report which comes from
Vienna that the Austrians are planning
to put on trial in the courts the men
responsible for starting the war is based
on the deliberate purpose of the people
The dispatches mention Count Berch-
told, Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister
at the opening of the war; Count Ger
min, who succeeded him in the foreign
office, and the former Emperor as the
men to be arraigned for their offenses.
The Entente Allies are arranging to
demand the surrender of the former
Kaiser by the Netherlands that he may
be disposed of as the Judgment of the
world thinks best. Won Bethmann- Holl-
veg, who was the German Chancellor
when the war began, foreseeing what
is likely to happen, has begun to make
plea in avoidance and extenuation by
saying that he did not know anything
about the. Austrian ultimatum to Serbia
until after it had been delivered, and
that then he thought it was too severe.
The indication that there is to be an
attempt to make war-guilt personal con-
stitutes the most hopeful development
since the armistice was agreed upon, if
not the most encouraging sign of the
disposition of the world to put an end to
war, which has shown itself in the
heavens since the beginning of time. The
execution of this purpose would accom-
plish more than any international arbi-
tration tribunal or the largest league of
nations which could be formed.
1t is notorious that this war was not
begun because the people of Austria
Hungary willed it. They were not con-
suited. A group of statesmen arranged
it for their own purposes and for the
glory of the Habsburg dynasty. The
people had to submit, and they were led
to their slaughter and their country was
brought to ruin because of the ambition
of the small ruling group. Conditions
were almost the same in Germany, even
though the German people had been
trained for nearly two generations in
preparation for "der Tag" whenever that
| might dawn. The German leaders, with
out consultation with the people, de-
| cided when the day had come and in
| conspiracy with the Austrians they
| blocked every attempt of the other
| Powers to prevent war. 1t should sur
| prise no one if the Germans themselves
should demand that their leaders, from
the Kaiser down. should be put on trial
| for their crimes-for sendHg the Ger
man youth to slaughter and for running
| the German empire.
If the leaders in Germany and in
Austria-Hungary are led out before a
firing squad the guns will proclaim to all
the world that war-making by secret con-
spiracy does not pay. They will an
nounce that guilt is personal and that
the guilty cannot escape, and they will
be the heralds of a new day for this
troubled old world.
They may not mark the ending of all
war, for it is conceivable that issues may
arise between nations which cannot be
settled peaceably. But they will make it
impossible for nations to be suddenly
precipitated into war. 1t was secret
diplomacy which made this war possible.
The judicial killing of the men who con-
Quoted that diplomacy would do more to
discourage that sort of thing than any
thing else of which the mind can con-
ceive. 1t would force into the open the
discussion of the relations of one nation
with another, and it would open the way
for public sentiment to influence Gov
ernments toward a reasonable course OF
action.
While this course would discourage wal
and tend to end secret diplomacy, il
would place democracy on adamantine
foundations buttressed by recognition Of
the right of the people to make their owr
decisions for war or for peace. The worlc
is not yet safe for democracy, and it will
not be so long as the kings and emperor!
and their ministers who have plunged tn,
world into war by secret agreements ar,
allowed to go scotsfree.
We may not like to admit it, but it il
a fact that the most potent force il
causing evils to disappear is the demon
tration to the evil-doer that his cours
does not pay-if he is a little crimina
or if he indulges in personal vices
Drunkenness is disappearing because tn
man guilty of it cannot hold his own il
, competition with sober man. The dis
1 kI.~< n. l. a