Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1918-04-12
Peace By Force without Limit.


Wilson from Baltimore last Saturday, from
the scene of lover There" from the very
spot where six years ago he was declared
to be the nominee of the Democratic party
for the Presidency Of the United States.
Following is his speech in full
Fellow Citizens: This is the anniversary
Of our acceptance Of Germany's challenge
to fight for our right TO live and be free,
and for the sacred rights Of free men
everywhere. The nation is awake. There
is no need to call to it, We know what
the war must cost. our utmost sacrifice.
the lives Of our fittest men and, If need
be, all that we possess. The loan we are
met to discuss is one of the least parts Of
what we are called upon to give and do.
though in itself imperative. The people
of the whole country are alive to the neces-
sity of it, and are ready to lend to the ut
most, even where it involves a sharp
skipping and daily sacrifice to lend out of
meagre earnings They will look with rep
rotation and contempt upon those who can
and will not. upon those who demand a
higher rate of interest, upon those who think
of il as a mere commercial transaction.
have not come, therefore, to urge the loan.
have come only to give you, if can,
more vivid conception of what it is for.
The reasons for this great war, the rea-
son why it had to come, the need TO fight
1t through. and the issues that hang upon
its outcome. are more clearly disclosed
now than ever before. 1t is easy to see
just what this particular loan means be-
cause the cause we are fighting for stands
more sharply revealed than at any pre-
vious crisis of the momentous struggle.
The man who knows least can now see
plainly how the cause Of justice stands
and what the imperishable thing is he is
asked to invest in. Men in America may
be more sure than they ever were before
that the cause is their own, and that, If il
should be lost. their own great nations
place and mission in the world would be
lost with it,
call you to witness, my fellow-country-
men, that at no stage Of this terrible bust
ness have judged the purposes Of Ger
many Unexpectedly. should be ashamed
in the presence Of affairs so grave, so
fraught with the destinies Of mankind
throughout all the world, to speak with
turbulence. to use the weak language of
hatred or vindictive purpose. We must
judge as we would be judged. have
sought to learn the objects Germany has
in this war from the mouths Of her own
spokesmen, and to deal as frankly with
them as wished them to deal with me.
have laid bare our own ideals, our own
purposes, without reserve or doubtful
phrase, and have asked them to say as
plainly what it is that they seek.
We have ourselves proposed no injustice.
no aggression. We are ready. whenever
the final reckoning is made, to be just to
the German people, deal fairly with the
German power, as with all others. There
can be no difference between peoples in
the final judgment. if it is indeed to be a
righteous judgment. To propose anything
but justice, even-handed and dispassion-
ate justice, to Germany at any time. what
ever the outcome of the war, would be to
renounce and dishonor our own cause.
For we ask nothing that we are not will
ing to accord.
II has been with this thought that l
have sought to learn from those who spoke
for Germany whether it YVES justice or
dominion and the execution Of their own
will upon the other nations Of the world
that the German leaders were seeking.
They have answered. answered in unmis-
taxable terms. They have avowed that it
was not justice but dominion and the I'M
hindered execution Of their own will.
The avowal has not come from Ger
many's statesmen. 1t has come from her
military leaders, who are her real rulers.
Her statesmen have said that they wished
peace, and were ready to discuss its terms
whenever their opponents were willing to
sit down at the conference table with them
Her present Chancellor has said-in indie
finite and uncertain terms, indeed. and in
phrases that often seem TO deny their own
meaning. but with as much plainness as
he thought prudent-that he believed that
peace should be based upon the principles
which he had declared would be our OWL
in the final settlement. At Breast Litovsl
her civilian delegates spoke in similar
terms; professed their desire to conclude
fair peace and accord to the peoples with
whose fortunes they were dealing the right
to choose their own allegiances, But &C.
ton accompanied and followed the pro.
fession. Their military masters, the men
who act for Germany and exhibit her pur.
pose in execution, proclaimed a very diff.
ferent conclusion. We cannot mistake
what they have done-in Russia. in Fin
land. in the Ukraine. in Roumania The
real test Of their justice and fair play has
come. From this way we may judge the
rest They are enjoying in Russia cheap
triumph in which no brave or gallant ma.
ton can long take pride. A great people
helpless by their own act, lies for the time
at their mercy. Their fair professions are
forgotten. They nowhere set up justice
but everywhere impose their power and
exploit everything for their own use and
Acknowledgement and the peoples Of con,
quered provinces are invited to be free
under their dominion
Are we not justified in believing that
they would do the same things at theil
western front II they were not there face
to face with armies whom even their count
less divisions cannot overcomeH If, wher
they have felt their check to be final, they
should propose favorable and equitable
terms with regard to Belgium and France
and Italy, could they blame us IL we con
cluded that they did so only to assure
- - . H. h.AA -. I