Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-05-27
: (By Theodore Rooeevelt)

Theodore Roosevelt sounds the fol-
lowing forceful warning on the. dan
gers of a premature peace in the Kan
sas City "Star." Permission for pub
LEGATION here was granted by the
"Star'' through the National Security
league.
If. as now seems likely. the great
German drive fails, it is at least pos
sible that, directly or Indirectly, the
Germans will then start a peace
drive. In such case they will prob
ably endeavor to make such seeming
concessions as to put a premium upon
pacifist agitation. for peace in the free
countries Of the west against which
they are fighting. To yield to such
peace proposals would be fraught
with the greatest danger to the allies,
and especially to our own country. in
the future. Let us forget that; no
promise Germany makes can be trust
ed. The Kultur developed under the
Hohenzollerns rests upon shameless
treachery and duplicity no less than
upon ruthless violence and barbarity.
For example, there are strong indt-
cations that Germany may be prepar-
ed. If she now fails on the western
front, to abandon all that for which
she has fought on her western front,
provided that in middle Europe and
in the asst there is no interference
with her. In other words, she would
be prepared to give back Alsace and
Lorraine to France. to give italian
Austria to Italy, to give Luxembourg
to Belgium. and to let the allies keep
the colonies they have conquered, on
condition that her dominance in Rus
STA n in the Balkans, her dominance
LOT the subject peoples Of Austria
through the Austrian 4Hapsburgs, and
her dominance Of Western Asia
through her vassa1 state, Turkey.
should be left undisturbed. To the
average American, and probably to
the average Englishman and French
man, there is much that Is al1uring in
such a program. It might be urged
as a method of stopping the frightful
slaughter Of war, while securing every
purpose for which the free peoples
who still fight are fighting. Yet it
would be infinitely better that this
war were carried on to The point Of
exhaustion than that we yield to such
terms.
Such terms would mean the definite
establishment Of Germany's military
as%cendency on a scale never hitherto
approached in. the civilized world. 1t
WouAu IIiedll tLdt II within a
dozen years, certainly within the life
time of the very men now fighting this
war, this country and the other free
countries would have to choose be-
tween bowling their necks to the Ger
man yoke or else going into another
war under conditions far more dis
advantageous to them.
A premature and inconclusive peace
now would spell ruin for the world;
just as in 1854 a premature and in
conclusive peace would have spelled
ruin to the United States-and in the
present instance the United States
would share the ruin of the rest of
the free peoples of mankind.
On the face of it, Germany would
not become a giant empire; just
exactly as on the face of it at pres
ent. Germany, Austria, Turkey and
Bulgaria call themselves simply four
allied nations, standing on equal
terms. But in reality those four
powers are merely Germany and her
three vassal states. whose military
and economic and political powers
are all disposed OF by the Hohen.
zoilerns. A peace such as that above
outlined would leave these as reall,
n huge empire. The population Of
these tour countries plus the popula.
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