Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1918-12-25
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BY CLARENCE L. SPEED
written for and Approved by the War
COMMITTEES Of the Union League Club Of
The war is won. The armistice hai;
been signed. The German military
machine has been crushed. The world
has been freed from the immediate
threat Of German conquest or domina-
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.
II must be accomplished at the peace
table. The delegates who sit there
must fix the terms Of 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 az
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 it's
sacrifices will have been in vain.
The representatives of the allies at
the peace conference win 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-may come
from the conflicting aspirations of the
nations which have fought on the al
lied side.
Compromises, Are Likely.
All of these must be harmonized.
Compromises, no doubt, will have to
be made in some instances, but the
ends Of justice must always be kept
first in mind. If this is not done the
peace settlements will be like
other settlements which have ended
wars in the past. The rights Of peo-
pies will be subordinated to the desires
of rulers and the treaty of peace Will
be only a stepping stone to strife.
The destinies OF, roughly speaking,
a hundred million persons who, at the
beginning Of the war, either had no
separate political rights or were in
habitants Of nations so small as to have
little weight in European councils, must
be fixed around the peace table. These
people are mostly of Slavic stock.
They embrace the Let's, Lithuanians,
Poles, Czecho- Slovaks, Little Russians
or Ukrainians, Roumanians and Jugo-
Slays, including the heroic Serbians.
SIav Lands Suffer Much.
All of these lands, shown on the map
above, have suffered cruelty from the
war-more cruelty than during the
weary ages which preceded it. All
must first be fed or their desperate
populations may be driven to anarchy.
All must be helped to establish order
and guided along the path of self-gov-
eminent. All must be given financial
and economic assistance until they are
able to stand on their feet.
If this is not done it Is certain that
all of these lands will, in time, again
fall into the clutches of Germany. II