Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-03-03
|ASSA|LS ADDRESS
OF THE PRESIDENT
James N. Beck Regards Prin.
cipIes Stated as Peace
Basis unfortunate"
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK. March flames NJ.
Beck, publicist and former assistant
United States attorney general. today
assailed the four principles laid down
by President Wilson as basis for
peace in his address to Congress on
February IL. These proposals, Mr..
Beck said. have "mystified the mind
and paralyzed the will of the Ameri-
can people. Nothing more unfortunate
has happened" he continued, since we
entered the war"
at luncheon in the Republican Club
here. Two hundred leading men heard
him speak and greeted his words with
thunderous' applause. Time and again
they cheered him, and once every man
in the banquet hall arose and shouted
wild approval. This was after he said !:
''If the President will eliminate from
his councils the intriguers, the paci-
fists. the doctrinaires, the anarchists
and the near-anarchists, the intellect
ual bolsheviki of the new republic
type. he will give new confidence to his
countrymen.
Opposed to Compromise.
IF the war is to be compromised by
diplomatic f1nesse, if It is to be settled
on the basis of four innocuous and al
most meaningless principles, then all
the dead will have died in vain
Il say these things out of a sense of
solemn duty as an American citizen"
continued Mr.. Beck. Before we en-
tered the war exercised my right as
an American to denounce the policy
Of neutrality. But since we threw our
lot with the allies I have been silent,
Today / feel that. while the American
people will forgive grave blunders,
they will not tolerate any attempt to-
compromise the great principles at
stake.
With Russia PROSTATE. we here in
America must realize the danger to
our own morale that turks in phrases:
the danger that the spirit of the Amer
lean people may be dissipated by mere
words. The Presidents peace pro-
posals of February II were unfortu-
in it perhaps generous abstraction,
but not the basis of a. discussion for
peace at time when Berlin and
Vienna are flushed with victory The
any peace formulate. The only way to
force peace is by whipping the enemy
This war rises above all formulate and
conventions; 1t is a thing that cannot
be defined in words.
Not to Be Settled on Parchment.
ut cannot be settled on parchment
our minds and weakens our arms is a
mistake, no matter how noble and lofty
the pacific spirit that utters it. II to-
morrow q peace were arranged on a
concrete Interpretation of these four
formulae proposals millions of soldiers
would leave the trenches and, backed
up by millions of civilians. they would
say to Germany: You have defled the
world with your lust for power. you
have Knocked humanity. you have vio-
lated our women, ruined our lands We
will not have intercourse with you, We
will not talk with you, we will not
trade with you as long as you stand,
cynical and defiant. leering at the civil
ICED world"
Mr.. Beck spoke without referring to
his prepared speech. This he gave to
the newspapers following his address.
He adhered to the written manuscript,
without exception.
Cites Deadly Phrases.
Mr.. Beck added: There are phrases
and phrases. Too proud to fight was,
w