Meade County news., 1918-02-21


lltical life.
Count Won Hertling wants the es
sential bases of commercial and in
dustrial life to be safeguarded by com
mon agreement and guaranty, but he
cannot expect that to be conceded him
If the other matters to be determined
by the articles of peace are not han
died In the same way as items In the
final accounting.
"No Foundation for Peace"
HE cannot ask the benefit Of COM
mon agreement in the one field with
out according it in the other. take
1t for granted that he sees that separ-
ate and selfish compacts with regard
to trade and the essential materials of
manufacture would afford no founda-
tion for peace. Neither, he may rest
assured, will separate and selfish COM
pacts with regard to provinces and
| peoples.
Count Czernin seems to see the
fundamental elements of peace with
clear eyes and does not seek to OBJ
scure them. He sees that an independ-
putably Polish peoples who lie con-
tiguous to one another, is matter of
European concern, and must, of
course, be conceded; that Belgium
must be evacuated and restored, no
matter what sacrifices and concessions
that may involve, and that national as
pirations must be satisfied even within
his own empire in the common interest
Of Europe and mankind.
Seeing and conceding as he does
the essential principles involved and
the necessity of candidly applying
them, he naturally feels that Austria
can respond to the purpose Of peace
as expressed by the United States with
less embarrassment than could Ger
many. He would probably have gone
must further had 1t not been for the
embarrassments of Austria's alliances
and Of her dependence upon Germany.
after all, the test Of whether 1t
is possible for either government to
go any further in this comparison Of
views is simple and obvious.
Principles to Be Applied.
The principles to be applied are
these:
81. That each part Of the final set
tlement must be based upon the essen
tial justice Of that particular cause
and upon such adjustments as are
most likely to bring peace that will
be permanent.
'2. That peoples and provinces are
not to be bartered about from sover-
eighty to sovereignty as II they were
mere chattels and pawns in game,
even the great game, now forever dis
credited, of the balance of power;
but that,
"3. Every territorial settlement in
volved in this war must be made In the
interest and for the benefit of the
populations concerned and not as a
part of any adjustment or compromise
of claims among rival states; and,
"a. That all well-defined national
aspirations shall be accorded the ut
most satisfaction that can be accorded
them without introducing new or per-
petuating old elements of discord and
antagonlsm that would be likely in
time to break the peace of Europe
and consequently of the world.
Only Germany Fails to Concur.
"a general peace erected on such
foundations can be discussed, Un-
til such a peace can be secured we
have no choice but to 60 on. So far
as we can judge these principles that
we regard as fundamental are already
everywhere accepted among the
spokesmen Of the military and annex
ationist party in Germany. The trag-
ical circumstance is that this one party
in Germany is apparently willing and
able to send millions Of men to their
death to prevent what all the world
now sees to be just.
II would not be true spokesman
of the people of the United States II
l did not say once more that we en-
tered this war upon no small occasion
and that we never can turn back from
a course chosen upon principle. Our
resources are in part mobilized now,
and we shall not pause until they are
mobilized in their entirety. Our arm
les are rapidly going to the fighting
front and will 60 more and more rap
idly.
"Our whole strength will be put into
this war Of emancipation-emancipa-
ton from the threat and attempted
mastery of selfish groups Of autocratic
rulers-whateve the difficulties and
present partial delays.
1--WE Shall Not Turn Back"
1--WE are indomitable in our power
of independent action and can in no
circumstance consent to live in a
world governed by intrigue and force.
We believe that our own desire for a
new international order under which
reason and justice and the common in
terests of mankind shall prevail is the
desire of enlightened men everywhere.
Without that new order the world will
be without peace and human life will
lack tolerable conditions of existence
and development. Having set our
hand to the task Of achieving 1t we