The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1918-04-08

and dishonor our own cause. For we ask
nothinp that we are not willing to ac-
cord
II has been with this thought that ]
have sought TO learn from those VINO
spoke for Germany whether II was Jus
! tice or dominion and the execution oil
their own will upon the other nations OF
the world that the German leaders were
seeking They have answered, answered
in unmistakable terms. They have
ayowed that il was not justice but do.
minion and the unhndered execution OF
their own will.
The ayowal has not come from Ger
many's statesmen. II has come from
her military leaders, who are her real
rulers. Her statesmen have said that
they wished peace, and were ready 10
discuss its terms whenever their oppo'
nents were willing To sit down at the
conference table with them, Her present
chancellor has said-in indefinite ana
uncertain terms. indeed, and in phrases
that often seem to deny their own mean
ing. but with as much plainness as he
thought prudent--that he believed that
peace should be based upon the principles
which we had declared would be our own
in the final settlement. AT Brest -Lltovsk
her civilian delegates spoke IN similar
terms; professed their desire TO conclude
fair peace and accord to the peoples
with whose fortunes they were dealing
the right TO choose their own alleglances.
But action accompanied and followed the
profession. Their military masters, the
men who act for Germany and exhibit
her purpose in execution, proclaimed
very different conclusion. We cannot
mistake what they have done-ln Rus
STA, in Finland, in the Ukraine, IN hu.
mania. The real test OF their justice
and fair play has come. From TINS we
NAV Judge the rest. They are enjoying
| in Russia cheap triumph IN which no
brave or gallant nation can long take
pride. A great people helpless by Their
own act. lies for the time at their mercy.
! Their fair professions are forgotten.
They nowhere set up justice, but every
where impose their power and exploit
everything for their own use and az
grandzement. and the peoples OF con
auered provinces are invited to be free
under their dominion
Are we not justified in believing that
they would do the same things at their
western front if they were not there
face to face with armies whom even their
! countless divisions cannot overcome! II
when they have felt their check to be
| final, they should propose favorable and
equitable terms with regard to Belgium
| and France and Italy, could they blame
us if we concluded that they did 50 only
to assure themselves OF tree hand IN
| Russia and the East?
| Their purpose is undoubtedly to make
all the Slavic peoples, all the tree and
ambitious nations of the Baltic PENN
sula. all the lands that Turkey has doml-
mated and misruled, subject to their Will
and ambition and build upon that do
minion an empire of force upon which
they fancy that they can then erect an
empire of gain and commercial suprem'
| acv--an empire as hostile to the Amer
| icas as to the Europe which it will over
awe-an empire which will ultimately
master Persia India and the peoples OF
the far East In such program our
ideals, the ideals of justice and human
| itv and liberty the principle OF the Tree
| self determination of nations upon which
| all the modern world insists can play no
part. They are rejected for the ideals OF
power. for the principle that the strong
must rule the weak, that trade must
follow the flag, whether those to whom
| il is taken welcome it or not, that the
peoples of the world are to be made sub
! iect to the patronage and overiordship
of those who have the power to enforce
| it.
! That program once carried out, Amer
;ca and all who care or dare to stand
with her must arm and prepare them
! selves to contest the mastery of the
world. a mastery in which the rights of
common men, the rights of women and
| of all who are. weak, must for the time
being be trodden underfoot and disre-
parded and the old age long struggle for
! freedom and right begin again at its be-
| ginning. Everything that America has
| lived for and loved and grown great to
vindieate and bring to a glorious reallza-
ton will have fallen in utter ruin and
the gates of mercy once more pltilessly
shut upon mankind
The thing is preposterous and impos-
sible; and yet is not that what the whole
course and action of the German armies
has meant wherever they have moved
do not wish, even in this moment of
utter establishment, to Judge harshly
or unrighteously judge only what the
German arms have accomplished with
IMPLYING thoroughness throughout every
fair region they have touched.
What then are we to do? For myself
am ready, ready still, ready even now,
to discuss a fair and just and honest
peace at any time that il is sincerely
purposed- peace in which the strong
and the weak shall fare alike. But the
answer. when | proposed such peace,
came from the German commanders IN
Russia and ! cannot mistake the mean
ing of the answer.
/ accept the challenge. know that
YOU accept il. All the world shall know
| that YOU accept il. 1t shall appear in
tho ui+er sacrifice and self -forgetfulness