El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-02-11
WILSON WOULD
SPLIT TEUT0NS
Approves Czernin's Peace
Speech, but Denounces
That of Hertling.
(ContInned from page ID


selves frankly accepted the decisions
OF that court
There shall be no annexations. nc
contributions. no punitive damages
Peoples are not to be handed about
from one sovereignty TO another by
international conferences, or an IN
Outstanding between rivals and an
tagonists. National aspirations must
! be respected Peoples may not be
dominated and governed only by their
own consent. Self determination is
not a mere phrase. It is an impera-
] tive principle Of action. which states
ment viii henceforth ignore at their
peril
I'VE cannot have a general peace
( for the asking or by the mere ar
rangements Of a peace conference. It
cannot be placed together out of in
dividual understandings between
powerful states.
All Parties Must Join In Settlement.
"All the parties to this war must
join in the settlement of every issue
anywhere involved in it, because what
we are seeking is e peace that We
can all unite to guarantee and main
tain and every item Of it must be sub
mitted TO the common Judgment
whether it be right or fair. an act Of
justice rather than q bargain be-
tween sovereigns-
Z. S. Is No Arbiter.
THE United States has no desire
to interfere in European affairs or to
act as arbiter in European territorial
disputes. We would disdain to take
advantage Of any internal weakness
or disorder to impose her own will
upon another people. She is quite
ready to be shown that the settle
ments she has suggested are not the
best or the most enduring. They are
only her own provisional sketch ~
principles and Of the way in which
they should be applied. But she
entered this war because she was
made a partner whether she would or
not, in the sufferings and indignities
inflicted by the military masters of
Germany. against the peace and secur-
ity of mankind; and the conditions of
peace will touch her as nearly as
they will touch any other nation to
which is entrusted a leading part in
the maintenance of civilization. She
cannot see her way to peace until the
causes Of this war are removed. its
renewal rendered as nearly as may
be impossible
National Rights Disregarded-
This war has its roots in the dis I
regard OF the rights Of small nations /
and OF nationalities which lacked the |
union and the force to make good 1
their claim to determine their own /
and their own forms Of po- |
litical life.
Covenants must now be entered /
into which wiz render such things /
impossible for the future: and those !
covenants must be backed by the !
united force Of all the nations that 4
love justice and are willing to main /
tain II any cost II territorial set
Elements and the political relations OF /
great populations which have not the
organized power to resist are to be (
determined by the contracts Of the 4
powerful governments which consider
most directly affected, as
count Won Hertling proposes. why may
not economic questions also2 It has
come about in the altered world in
which we now find ourselves that
justice and the rights Of peoples af-
feet the whole field of international
7ealing as much as access to raw ma
Lerials and fair and equal conditions
1f trade.
Difference Can't Be Made.
Count Won HertIing wants the es-
1ustrial life to be safeguardeo by
common agreement and guarantee,
but he cannot expect that to be con-
ceded him If the other matters to be
determined by the articles OF peace /
are not handled in the same way as
items in the final accounting He
,annot ask the benefit OF common
agreement in the one field without
according IL IN the other. ! take il L
for granted that he sees that separ-
ate and selfish compacts with regard l
to trade and the essential materials
Of manufacture would afford no foun-
dation for peace
Czernfa u More Definite.
Count Czernin seems TO see the