The daily banner., 1918-02-12
UNITED STAIt.S III
FIGHT FOR PE.CE:
President Replies to Czernin and
Hertling Before Congress,
MUST CRUSH MILITARY RULE
NationaIities Must Not be Bartered
to Bolster UP Discredited Balance
of Power.

OF POWER
Washington. Feb. u. - President
Wilson, appearing unexpectedly De
fore congress again, replied tI
the recent peace speeches by Count
Won Hertling, the German chancellor
and Count CZS rnin, the Austro-Hunga-
rian foreign minister.
He reminded the statesmen OF the
central empires that peace can be dls-
cussed only on the basis OF perma,
nency ana essential justice.
He broadly warned the people OF
the Central Empires the participation
of the United States in the war for
the emancipation of humanity only
has begun.
Plainly the President warned the
German military autocracy there was
to be no pausi0g in the mobilization
of America, vast military resources
now steadily on their way to the bal
tie fronts. If peace were to he dis
cussed. il would have to be on basis
of sincerity.
The presidents address follows:
Gentlemen of the Congress:
On the Sth Of January | had the
honor of addressing you on the OBJ
jects of the war as our people con,
ceive them. TIE prime minister o.
Great Britain had spoken in similar
terms on the 5th OF January. no
these addresses the German ch&ncel-
lor replied on the oath, and Count
Czernin for Austria on the same day.
1t is gratifying to have our desire so
promptly realized that all EXCHANGE
of view on this great matter should
be made in the hearing OF all tie
world.
Count Czernin's reply. which is di-
rected chiefly to my own address on
the Sth of January. is uttered In 4
very friendly tone.
He finds in my statement sutt
ciently encouraging approach to the
views of his own Government to Ju'-
q basis for more detailed discussion
of purposes by the two Goyernm ents;
He is represented to have intimated
that the views he was expressing ha9
been communicated to me beforehand
and that | was aware of them al the
time he was uttering them, but N
this | am sure he was misunderstood. /.
l had received no intimation of what
he intended to say. There was, OF
course, no reason why he should com
municate privately with me. I am
quite content to be one OF his puSI
q tSfe &c Re les-<e llesS-<ee-------------->
Count Won Herling's reply is, I
must say, very vague and very con-
fusing. 1t is full of equivccal PHRASES
and leads. it is not clear, where. Bu'
It is certainly In very different tone
from that of Count Czernin and ap
parently of an opposite purpose. /,
confirms, I am sorry to say. rathet
IL ~ TO INV,
sion made by what we had learned
of the conferences at B~est-Litovsk
His discussion and acceptance e chr
general principles lead him to 10 prac-
tical conclusions. He refuses to ap-
ply them 10 the substantive items
which must constitute the. bodL
any final settlement. He IS jealous
of international action and Of inter
national counsel.
He accents. he says, the princip e
Of public diplomacy but he appeafs
to insist that it be confined, at any
rate in this case, to generaIties. and
that the several particular questions
eral questions upon whose settlement
must depend the acceDtance o. peace
by the twenty-three states now en-
gagged in the war; mus be discussed
and settled, not in general council.
but severally by the nations most i'm,
IHSuldtSly ~ ill' Z 60
neighborhood.
He agrees that the seas should he
free, but looks askance at any lin ia
ton to that freedom by information !
action in the interest of the common
order He would. without reserve, BE-
glad to see economic barriers removed
between nation and nation, for. thai
could in no way impede the ambincns
of the military party with whom he
seems constrained to keep on terms
Neither does he raise objection 10 ?
limitation Of armaments. That mat
ter will be settled of itself, he thinks,
by the economic conditions which must
follow the war
But the German colonies he demands
must be returned without debate. He
will discuss with no one but the rep
resentatives Of Russia what disposi,
ton shall be made Of the peoples and
the lands Of the Baltic provinces: with
no one but the government Of France
the conditions" under which French
territories shall be evacuated; and
only with Austria what shall be done
with Poland.
In the determination OF all ques-
tons affecting the Balkan states he