Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1918-12-26
THE sLAv LANDS OF CENTRAL EUROPE

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BY CLARENCE L. SPEED
(Written for and Approved by the War
Committee of the Union League Club of
Chicago.)
The war is won. The armistice has
been signed. The German military
machine has been crushed. The world
has been freed from the immediate
threat Of German conquest or DONNA
ton. The peoples Of Europe and
America once more may breathe free
".
Nevertheless the greater part Of the
task for which the allied nations were
fighting remains to be accomplished.
1t must be accomplished at the peace
table. The delegates who sit there
must fix the terms Of q lasting peace.
Unless they do this all the sacrifices
in blood and treasure of. the United
States and the other nations which
fought autocracy will have been in
vain and the world will have to live
in constant fear of future wars.
Must Establish Just Peace.
The task of the diplomats is to es-
tablish peace which will come as
near as possible to doing absolute jus
tice to all the peoples concerned. In
so far as human wisdom will permit
the trainers of the treaty must remove
the causes of friction which brought
the war about so that the world will
not have to live under the constant
menace of future aggression. They
must readjust boundaries, not as ma
tional pride or prejudice would die
tate, but on the basis of full justice
to the inhabitants of the territories
involved. If they do not the world
war with all its misery and all its
sacrifices will have been in vain.
The representatives of the allies at
the peace conference will find many
obstacles in their way. Some of these
will come from the German side, the
| diplomats of the central powers seek
| ing always to retain as much as pos
sible Of the unfair advantages their
governments had before the war and of
| the gains they made during the early
| part of the struggle. Other obstacles
! possibly the greatest come
from the conflicting aspirations of the
nations which have fought on the al
I lied side.
Compromises Are Likely.
All of these must be harmonized
Compromises, no doubt, will have tt
/ be made in some instances, but the
4 ends of justice must always be KEEP
/ first in mind. If this is not done the
peace settlements will be like
4 other settlements which have endet
wars IN the past. The rights of PEG
! pies will be subordinated to the desire:
i of rulers and the treaty of peace vii
4 be only stepping stone to strife.
The destines of, roughly speaking
a hundred million persons who, at thu
1 beginning of the war, either had M
separate political rights or were in
4 hahitants of nations so small as to hav
little weight in European councils, mus
be fixed around the peace table. Tkes
people are mostly of Slavic STOCK
They embrace the Let's, Lithuanians
Poles, Czecho- Slovaks, Little Russian
OF UkfalHlilHS, Rou1HaHiaDS anu JuSs
Slavs, including the heroic Serbians.
slav Lands Suffer Much.
All of these lands, shown on the ma
above, have suffered cruelty from til
war-more cruelty than during tn
weary ages which preceded it. A
must first be fed or their desperat
populations may be driven to anarch,
All must be helped to establish orde
and guided along the path of self-go'
erpment. All must be given financi;
and economic assistance until they al
able to stand on their feet.
If this is not done it is certain tn,
all of these lands will, in time, agai
fall into the clutches Of Germany.