Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-10-22
GERMANY Is wRICCLINC
IN THE ALLIED NET
Solrs Reply Seeks to Comply on Surface
With wilson's Demands, but II Shows
No Sign Of Necessary Repentance

Wilson.
Indeed. il may be said that unless Mr..
Wilson recedes from his earlier position
peace is farther away than it was before
German diplomacy perpetrated what must
be regarded as eliminating blunder
Plainly the note Of yesterday emanates
indirectly from the consciousness OF
distressed and chastened people. 1t is
filled with the evasions natural enough
to men who are searching way out OF
agonizing difficulties. Nowhere does the
text reveal the saving virtue of frankness
or direct statement.
Doctor Solf addresses an impassioned
and resolute world in the manner Of
suave and slippery bargainer. Not once
does he appear to recognize the profound
and essential moral obligations that
weigh at this hour upon the German
nation. There is no word to indicate
fat reputation of the PHILOSOPHERS OF
Potsdam or even the dstrust of the per-
sisting dynasty or of a determination
to be rid of the curse that was permitted
to spread from Germany to aftilct the
rest of mankind The note tells, rather, OF
things that are already known-of sur
face changes in the forms of the German
Government. 1t implies no honest hatred
of the evil forces nurtured at the heart
of the Government, which, presumably,
are left unchanged to grow and function
under the mask Of the new franchise.
Yet this is precisely what the world ex-
poets from Germany and what it will
continue to demand
The Kaiser and his house have been
stripped of the power to make war With
out consent of the whole German Govern
ment. That fact did not have to be
restated, since it is something that every
one has known since the German upper
house condescended to bestow upon the
Reichstag the power to participate in
the Governments power that has made
il at last something more than voice IN
the land without the attention or respect
of the people But at the same time Will
helm remains and his dynasty remains
as the dominant force in Germany, con-
secrated to falsehood and the dreams of
empire, to the plots and counterplots
and the secret Vaccinations that have
been adequate to intrigue even peaceful
nations into war against their will.
If Solf knew anything he must have
known that this condition would be un-
acceptable not only to President Wilson.
but to the rest of the world. Yet he
proceeded further to confuse all the
processes leading to peace with the Hat
suggestion that 1.-The actual standard of
power on both sides in the field has to
form the basis for arrangements safe
guarding and guaranteeing this stand
ard"
The implication here--and the appeal
is futile because it is constituted of i'm
plications-is that the Allied commanders
would be required to recognize the Ger
man army, prior to an armistice, as a
power with rights Of its own to make
demands and specify conditions. 1t is
clearly evident that the Allies and Mar
shal Foch will not now or later consent
to recognize the German army in France
as force to be dealt with other than in
battle or in surrender. To consider the
wishes and desires of the German mill
tary commanders in the conditions Of an
armistice is to recognize the German
army as an unbeaten force and to free it
from the stigma Of defeat. The Allies
cannot and will not recognize the Ger
man army in France as anything other
than a beaten army, subject to the con-
ditions that are imposed upon the van
quished. 1t is not an army that can be
parleyed with so long as it bears arms
in France.
1t must be remembered always that
Mr.. Wilson has not the power to make
an armistice. He has been asked only
to transmit the German request for an
armistice to the Allies. He has waited
and queried Germany with the purpose of
determining whether he might fittingly
make the suggestion for a cessation Of
hostlities and the conversations prelimi-
nary TO peace. Obviously the terms of
the latest German note are not such as
to make the appeal acceptable to the
other nations at war with Germany.
Germany, in other words, beaten and
disintegrating and facing the necessity
of paying for her sins, with all her sup
porting forces either going or gone,
advances with the manner of man upon
equal ground with his adversaries.
The clauses which plead innocence of
submarine outrages and of despoliation
and barbarity in the field must excite the
bitter mirth and the fresh resentment of
men who remember the Lusitania and
the transgressions of the German army
| in BelPium as recorded in thu Rrun.