St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1918-01-12
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.
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and purpose, while the concrete
.erms of actual settlement came
no th ought but to keep what they
have got.
Tile negotiations have been brok-
on CT. The Russian representa-
t.yes were sincere and in earnest.
They cannot entertain such propos
ais Of conquest and domination.
"The whole incident is full Of sig,
| ty. With whom are the Russian
representatives Of the contra. en-
| pires speaking? Are they speaking
for the majorities Of their respective
| parliaments or for the minority par
ties, that military and imperialistic
! minority which has so far dominat-
ed their whole policy and controlled
the affairs of Turkey and of the Bal
kan states which have felt obliged
TO become their associates in this
war?
1.-The Russian representatives have
| insisted, very justly, very wisely
| and in the true spirit of modern de-
! mocracy that the conferences the,
have been holding with the Teutonlo
Mr. ioh or roc M
held within open, not closed doors,
and all the world has been audience,
| as was desired. To whom have We
been listening, then? To those VIII
speak the spirit and intention of tn,
resolutions of the German Reichstas
of the ninth of July last, the spirll
and intention of the liberal leaders
and parties of Germany, or to those
who resist and defy that spirit anG
! intention and insist upon conquest
and subjugation?
! COR are we listening, in fact, to
both, unreconciled and in open and
1 hopeless contradiction? These are
very serious and pregnant questions.
| Upon the answer of them depends
the peace of the world.
| but, whatever the results OF the
parleys at Brest-Litovsk, whatever
the confusions of counsel and of pur-
| pose in the utteranceS of the spokes-
men of the central empires, they
have again attempted to acquaint
! the world with their objects in the
| war and have again challenged their
! adversaries to say what their objects
are and what sort of settlement they
| would deem just and satisfactory.
| There is no good reason why that
| challenge should not be responded
| to. and responded to with the utmost
| candor. We did not wait fer it.
| Not once, but again and again, We
have laid our whole thought and
! purpose before the world, not in gen
eral terms only, but each time with
sufficient definition to make it clear
what sort of defnitive terms of set
element must necessarily spring out
| of them Within the last week Mr.
| Lloyd George has spoken with ad-
| m Irable candor and in admira BILE
spirit for the people and government
| of Great Britain.
sci among the adversaries of
the central powers, no uncer-
tainty of principle, no vague
ness OF detail. The only sec
recy of counsel, the only lack OF
fearless frankness, the only fail
ure to make definite statement
Of the objects of the war, lies
with Germany AMI her allies.
"The issue of life and death hang
upon these definitions. No states
man who has the least conception CT
sI2 possibility ought for a mo
aent o permit himself to continue
IS y. cal and appealing outpour-
Ng c '31ood and treasure un'e She
sure beyond a paradyenture that
ne { iects of the vital sacrifice are
-t ID parcel CT the very life cf
to- md t'7e- the reoole for whom
| Sc aks think them right and I'M
~ r e as he does.
The is. moreover, a voice call
ig for these definitions Of principle
md OF purpore which is, it seems tc
me, more thrilling and more COM
pelling than any Of the many NOV
'ng voices with which the troubled
air of the world is filled It is the
voice Of the Russian peop.e. They
are PROSTATE and all but helpless, it
would seem, before the grim power
of Germany. which has hitherto
known no. relenting and mo- pity.
Their power apparently, Il shattered.