Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-12-17
A LIGHT BREAKS

t~ RESIDENT WILSON is believed
Ito have seen a new light since
- he arrived in France regarding
the attitude which he should assume
toward the German autocracy. II
he left oul shores with any idea OF
an exaggerated sympathy for the
German people, he is likely to change
his viewpoint since learning from
those on the ground of the utter
indifference of the Hun to the
ideals for which the American SOL
dier and sailor have fought.
This paragraph from his first
speech in Paris shows that the
President is going to demand, with
the allied governments, a peace that
will mean justice for all the world:
am sure that 1 shall look
upon the ruin wrought by the
armies of the Central empires
with the same repulsion and deep
Indignation that they stir in the
hearts of men of France and Bel
gium, and l appreciate. rs you do,
the necessity of such action in
the final settlement of the Issues
of the war as will not only re-
buke such acts of terror and
spoliation but make men every
where aware that they can not
be ventured upon without the
certainty of just punishment.
The American people are of one
mind respecting the punishment due
Germany. They believe that any fall
ure to rid the world of the Kaiser
and his group of cut-throats and
thieves will simply encourage some
other "superman" to attempt the
same thing at another time. There
is no evidence of a change of heart
on the part of the German people.
They are being told, and manifestly
turning unconquered; that these sim
ply retired from France and Bel
GUM: that they prevented an in
vasion of Germany by the Allied
armies, and that Hindenburg and
the other bullies are the greatest
soldiers the world has ever pro-
duced and the finest humanitarians
because they. saved the German
towns from being ravaged and the
German women and children from
being outraged.
Also, Erzberger is continuing his
whining for better peace terms, the
raising of the blockade, the liberia
ton of prisoners and consideration
in other directions. Any weakening
in the peace terms will simply en-
courage the German barbarians to
plan future raids on an unsuspect-
ing world. Any failure to punish in
spirit of justice those responsible
for the crime of the ages is bound
to react upon the whole world and
disgust the men who have fought
while thousands of their comrades
died for decency and freedom.
Colonel George Harvey, in his
weekly comment, declares that day
by day German camouf1age becomes
more obvious. Our troops in the
Rhineland find no marks of famine
or dire distress. Meat markets and
groceries are we'll stocked, and the
people are we'll fed and prosperous
The plaintive bleatings for pity and
mercy and therefore for a relaxa-
ton of the armistice terms, because
of their lamentable plight, were
nothing but pretense. More and
more 1t appears probable that the
Germans surrendered not because
they were at the end of their re-
sources, but because they thought
that by shrewd camoufiaging they
could obtain better terms than would
be possible if they fought to a finish.
and also that they planned and are
still trying to work out trick that
would, if successful, win for them in
peace what they failed to win in
war"
Whatever the German purpose, it
is plainly evident that shrewdness
and a stern sense of justice must
govern the peace terms that the
scotched snake of Berlin may not
revive.