Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-04-16
NO CAUSE FOR WAR
EMPEROR IMPLIES
Karl's Peace Letter Implies Aus
tria Had No Right TO Make
Demands She Did of Serbia.
From New York Times. April IL

admission that Austria had no right to
make the demands she did on Serbia. 1t
goes so far as TO admit that by rights 1T
should have been Serbia which made
demands on Austria All this is by i'm
phcation, but is none the less clear.
IL is satisfaction of Serbia's wrongs
that Karl proposes. lie does not merely
propose TO undo the wrongs inflicted by
war. but anterior wrongs, the wrongs OF
peace He proposes to "rc-cstabllsh
Serbia in her sovereignty thus undoing
the work of war; but he then goes on
I'VE are ready to assure her equitable,
natural access to the Adriahc and also
wide economic concessions IN Austria
Hungary This is II confession that
Serbia should have these things; Il begin
ncr in the study of the war, Judging from
this letter alone, would surely conclude
that II was Austria S refusal TO grant them
which had brought on the war, and yet
] Serbia has made no such demand. No
clearer proof could be had than the attack
on Serbia was IA wanton outrage. that
Serbia was made the preteXt OF war nj
ready determined on.
In return Kaiser Karl asks only that
Serbia shall suppress anti-Austnnn polItl-
cal societies, especially the one called
Narodni Ochrann This was one of the
demands made in the famous ultimatum
delivered by Austria on July -, IVA.
and the only one of all those demands
which the Austrian KAISER still held to be
justified one in his letter to Prince SiStus
And this demand the Serbian govern
mcnt agreed to. IN lis reply 10 the ultima
tum on July ~. 1914 saving.
The Royal government Will
accept tho demand of the Imperial
and Royal government and viii dis
solve the Narudnl Ochrana Sacicty
and every other sortcty which naN
hc directing it's efforts against AUSTRIA
Hungary
Austria further demanded that dele
gates uf the Austro- Hungarian govern
incnt should be- mcnlcrs ~ the trIhu-
nails sitting on Serbian soil to Try pcrsons
suspected oi participation ~ the Scra-
icvn conspiracy Scrb,a refused this
demand M Il wuuld hc u violation ot
the Constitution and of the la" "i crlnn-
nal procedure This refusal Austria.
in 1871 regarded as cause at war
In 1917 Kaiser Karl contessca Tint II
was not cause ct war
Austria demanded that two individuals
he arrested Serbia replied that one 81
them had hecn arr stcd and that the
other WAS IN Austria Hungary, IA the
employ uf the directorate Of railways
. Austria demanded that ScrlHa prohlhu
| Serbia agreed Austria demanded that
/ serbia explain the anti AUSTRIAN utter
, anccs az otl erals whom she did not name
Serbia replied that Il AUSTRIA would tell
her who thcy were she would do as re
t quc+tcd
/ All these demands. those which were
! rejected those which were accepted
wholly, and those which were accepted
couditontlly seem to KAISER karl ~
loI- a> cnpty and frivolous As they
+ seemed ID lie whole world IN 1914 10
ham IN lal1 Austria has only one thing
q ia ask uf Serbia, the suppression oi anti
: Austrian propaganda, and that was
! demand io which Scrnia agreed III 1911
5 This. be il repeated. is the only demand
made hv Austria un Serbia which the
l Austrian Kaiser finds tcnabc after two
j. wears and half OF war W hat did
AUSTRIA say when Serbia replied accepting
q tins one tcnablc demand and most ot the
: others On July - the day following
Serbia : answer. Austria took notice Of 1t
in the following terms
Tho ROYAL Government of Serbia not
having gwen a satisfactory reply To the
: note presented 10 il 10y the Stro-Hun-
II parian Minister IN Belgrade on July 23.
e 1914. the Imperial and Royal Government
$ of Austro-liungary finds II necessary
'+'A'A
). and Ia have recourse for this purpose
y to force of arms Austrla-IIungary. there
9 fore. considers itself from tins moment III
a a state oi war with Serbia
= She found Il necessary 10 safeguard
!. her rights and interests by plunglng
the world into war because of Serbia 5
=, reply u her ultimatum What did she
demand. and what did Serbia refuse ;
| She demanded that Serbia agree IN adj
vance 10 dismiss ''all officers and function
aries. evil or military, whom Austria
should name for such dismissal. Serbia
agreed to this on condition that il should
apply only TO officials who were proved
10 have plotted against Austria This
| condition was not satisfactory to AUS
trla in 1914; she considered IT a cause OF
war In 1917 Kaiser Karl confesSeS
that 1t was not cause ot war
| In addition TO demanding tins privilege
| Of controlling SerbIas civil and military
| administration, Austria demanded that
Austrian officials should enter Serbian soil
for the purpose of stamping out anti
Austrian propaganda, and should be
received as joint authorities with the
Serbian officials in these legal proceedings.
Even 10 this Serbia asscntcd, on condition
that these Austrian officials should pro-
| ceed only in accordance with the prln-
ciples of international law, with criminal
| procedure. and with good neighborly
| relations This condition was not
satisfactory to Austria in 1914, 1t was
cause Of war In 1917 Kaiser Karl
confesses that it was not a cause of war
| No wonder, holding this contemptuous
view Of the trumped-up demands Of 1914,
| Kaiser Karl is glad in 1917 TO be able to
| cal! this war for which no response
| biity can fall on me On whom doc-
| il fall On his predecessor. the aged
Franz Josef? We might believe that
| possibly if We had never heard Of the con
| ference At Potsdam on July ), 1914, at
; which not Austrian but German swash-
: hucElcrs decided that the time had come
to set the world aHame and concocted
the pre- posterous pretence that the as
sassinat ion of Serajevo was the reason
for IT, There followed, on July % that
series Of demands on Serbia, and Austria :
pretended discovery that Serbias con
ciliatory reply made it necessary for
Austria ito safeguard its rights and IN
terests and TO have recourse for this ptr-
pose to force of arms" Did ever M
edifce Of sham fall to pieces so quickly,
and did anybody expect, when it was
solemnly raised in 1914, that an Austrian
hand, the hand Of an Austrian kaiser,
would destroy its Himsy foundations
before the war was over?