The Republican journal., 1918-10-17
A. |. BROWN, Editor,
OUR PEACE TERMS.

forth by President Wilson. Peace is in
sight although no one can tell whether it
will be Christmas present to the world,
or whether it's coming will be delayed till
the summer of 1920. But peace is now
only few months away. This being the
case our peace proposals should be studied
and understood by all our citizens. We
advise that copy of these be kept for
ready reference They are summarized
as follows:
t. Open covenants of peace, no pri
waite international understandings of any
kind.
2 Absolute freedom of navigation
upon the seas, outside territorial waters,
in peace and in war, except as closed in
whole by international action to enforce
international covenants.
g Removal of all economic barriers
and establishment of equality of trade
conditions among all Nations conserving
TO the peace and associated for its main
Eenance.
A. Adequate guarantees that National
ornaments will be reduced.
s. A free OPEN minded and absolute
" impartial adjustment of all colonial
claims, based upon the interests of the
population concerned and the equitable
claims of the Government.
6. Evacuation of all Russian territory
and such settlement of all questions af-
fecting Russia as will secure the best and
freest CO. operation of the other Nations
of the world in obtaining for her I'M
hampered and unembarrassed opportunity
for Independent determination of her own
Il i ND Lot, al
:. Belgium must be evacuated and re-
stored, without any attempt to limit her
sovereignty.
3. All French territory should be freed
and the invaded portions restored, and
the wrong done to France by Prussia in
1877 in the matter of Alsace-L Lorraine
should be righted.
o a readiustment of the frontiers of
r+alv should be effected along clearly
recognized lines of nationality
10 The peoples of Austria Hungary
sbould be accorded the freest opportunity
If autonomous development.
~ Rumania, aSerbia, etc, should be
.,,-acuated; occupied territories restored
Sarbia accorded free access to the sea and
-.ha relations of the several Balkan States
one another determined along histori-
~allv established lines.
10 The Turkish portions of the Otto
man Empire should be assured secure
sovereignty, but the other nationallties
now nnder Turkish rule should be assured
an nndoubted security of life and I'M
notested opportunity OF autonomous de-
ve,onment and the Dardanelles should be
permanently opened as free passage.
- An independent Polish State should
10 arected which should include the terri
tories inhabited by indisputably Polish
oon,,Iations. which should be assured a
zoe and secure access to the sea.
IA A general association of Nations
,,o,,st no formed to afford mutual guaran-
-ees of no|itical INDEPENDENCE and terri
foriaI Integrity to great and small States
alike.
We feel sure that the above PROPOSE
tjons. with the exception of Nos. and 5,
will be approved by all. In the case of
No 3. we confess that we do not know
lust what the President means when he
saws. Removal of all economic barriers
The protective tariff is an economic bar
-ier protecting our workers and our bust
ness from the influx of foreign made
goods. If, in his third peace plank the
PRESIDENT IlCduS II SS-SlaNSr wv eii'AAiA WA
people will protest If the phrase means
that goods made in Germany shall not be
barred from England, France and the
United States because of the war, and by
reason of hatred of Germany nobody will
seriously object While we do not con-
denim the statement without hearing,
we would like to know just what plank
No. 3 means.
Plank No. 5 deals with the colonial
question Germany has lost her colonies
by conquest The question will be, when
peace is made, what shall be done with
these? The President says the adjust
ment should be based upon the interests
of the population concerned. That is
sound doctrine. He then adds: "And the
equitable claims of the Government.
What government? Not ours, because
we have acquired no German colonies by
CONQUEST. The meaning here is not clear.
With these two exceptions it seems to us
that the President has stated our peace
terms vigorously and well, and in terms
which do honor to him and to the nation
Germany would like to refer the whole
question of peace to tribunal made up
of diplomats from the neutral nations
But that cannot be. Germany will be
driven to surrender in the open field or
she will accept the terms set forth by the
President of the United States, whom
our allied powers have signally honored
by making him their spokesman in diplo-
macy. Those terms have been supple
mented by the statement that uncondl-
tional surrender must precede the settle
ment of the negotiations for the peace
treaty. Germany knows now that the
people of the United States are con-
quering people and when necessary are