The states-graphic. (Brownsville, Tenn.) 1???-1984, 1918-10-11

Of right and privilege for all people:
and nations, or shall the strong do a:
they will and the weak suffer without
redress?
Shall the assertion of right be hap
hazard and by casual alliance, or shall
there be a common concert TO oblgs
the observance of common rights?
mo men, no group of men chose
these to be the issues of the struggle
They are the issues of it and they must
be settled-by no arrangement or com
promise or adjustment of interests, but
definitely and once for all, and with 8
full and unequivocal acceptance of the
principles that the interest of the weak
est is as sacred as the interest of the
strongest.
This is what we mean when we speak
of a permanent peace, if we speak sin.
eerely, intelligently and with a real
comprehension of the matter we deal
with.
"We are all agreed that there can be
no peace obtained by any kind of bar
gain or compromise with the govern
ments of the central empires because
we have dealt with them already and
have seen them deal with other gov
ernments that were parties to this
struggle at Brest-Litovsk and Bucha-
rest. They observe no covenants, &C
cept no principles but force and their
own interest We cannot come to
terms with them. They have made il
Impossible. The German people must
by this time be fully aware that we
cannot accept the word of those who
forced this war upon US. We do not
think the same thoughts or speak the
same language of agreement.
ut is of capital Importance that we
should also be explicitly agreed that
no peace shall be obtained by any kind
of compromise or abatement of the
principles we have avowed as the prin-
ciples for which we are fighting. There
should exist no doubt about that. | am
therefore, going to take the liberty
of speaking with the utmost frankness
ebout the political implications that
are involved in it.
"If it be indeed and in truth the
common object of the governments as
sociated against Germany and of the
nations whom they govern, as | be-
lieve it to be, to achieve by the CON-
ing settlements a secure and lasting
peace, it will be necessary that all who
sit down ct the peace table shall come
ready and willing to pay the price, the
only price, that will procure it; and
ready and willing also, to create, in
some virile fashion the only instru-
mentality by which it can be made
certain that the agreements of the
peace will be honored and fulfilled.
"That price is impartial justice in
every item of the agreement, no mat.
ter whose interest is crossed; and moi
only impartial justice, but also the sat
isfaction of several peoples whose for
tunes are dealt with. That indispen
sible fundamentally is a league of ma
tons formed under covenants that will
be effcacious. Without such an instr
mentality, by which the peace of tn,
world can be guaranteed, peace vii
rest in part upon the word of outlaws
and only upon that word. For Ger
many will have to redeem her charac
ter not by what happens at the peace
table, but by what follows:
"And as I see it, the constitution o.
that league of nations and the clea
definition of the objects must be par
is in a sense the most essential part
of the peace settlement itself. 1t can
not be formed now. If formed now, i
would be merely new alliance con
fined to the nations associated agains
common enemy. 1t is not likely tina
it could be formed after the settlement
1t is necessary to guarantee the peac
and the peace cannot be guaranteed a
an afterthought. The reason, to speal
in plain terms again, why it must b
guaranteed, is that there will be par
ties to the peace whose promises hav
proven untrustworthy and means mus
be found in connection with the peac
settlement itself to remove that sourc
of insecurity. 1t would be folly t.
leave the guarantee to the subsequen
voluntary action of the government
we have seen destroy Russia and de
ceive Rumania.
'But these general terms do not dis
close the whole matter. Some. detail
are needed to make them sound les
Ike a thesis and more like a practica
program. These, then, are some o.
the particulars, and l state them will
the greatest confidence because car