New-York tribune., 1918-03-19
Compromise Peace
Means Allied Defeat.
Borah Tells Senate


mocracy throughout Europe We all
nope tor great things, for we believe
IN the ultimate triumph of free insti-
suoions, but we must not expect these
things out Of hand
The broken sobs of nations strug-
Cling to be independent and free, so
often heard in that part Of the world
and then heard no more, the story of
Russia just now being written in con-
tentlon and blood, admonshcs anew
that the republican road to safety and
stao!lity is encompassed by all kinds
OF trials and beset by countless perlls.
democracy is the severest test of CHAR
acter when can be put upon :. people
ana must be earned and acquired in
the rigid school of experience. 1t can
not be handed whole and complete to
any people though every member OF
the community were a Socrates.
But what we have determined Ill
this crisis as I understand it, is that
we will keep the road of democracy
apen. No one shall close it. If any
nation shall hereafter rise to the sub
lime requirement of self government
and choose to go that way it shall have
the right to do so. Above all things
we have determined, cost what it may
IN treasure and blood. that this expert
ment here upon this Western continent
shall Justify the faith of its builders,
that there shall remain here IN all the
integrity OF its powers, neither
wrenched nor nlarred by the passions
of war from within nor humbled nor
dlshonored By military power from
without, the Republic of the Fathers;
that, since the challenge has been
n rsO n -l1o% ~ nj
death between two opposing theories OF
government. we are determined that
whatever else happens as result OF
this war, this form of organization,
this theory Of state. this last great
hope. this fruition of a hundred and
not perish from the earth.
$50, sir. stripped Of all incidental
and confusing things, the problem
which our soldiers will help to solve
is whether the theory Of government
cXemplifed in the dynasty of the
Hohenzollerns or the theory of gov
ernment exemplitied in the faith of
Abraham Lincoln shall prevail. 1t is,
after all, a war of ideas, a clash Of
systems, death struggle of ideals.
amid the sacrilege Of war it is our
: belief that the old order passeth. In
such contest there is little room for
compromise. We can no more quit
than Washington could have quit at
Valley Forge. We can no more COM
promise than Lincoln could have com
promised after charlottesville. We
can and should keep the issue clear OF
all selfish and imperialistic ambitions,
but the issue itself cannot be compro-
missed Cost what it may in treasure
and blood the burden as if by fate
has been laid upon us, and VIC must
meet it manfully and successfully. To
compromise is to acknowledge defeat.
THE policies of Frederick the Great,
which would make of all human souls
mere cogs in a vast mill machine, and
/ the policies Of Washington, which
would make government the expression
and the instrument Of popular power
! are contending for supremacy on the
battlefieds of Europe. Just that sim
/ gle, simple, stupendous issue, beside
which all other issues in this war are
trivial, must have q settlement as clear
and conclusive as the settlement at
Runnymede or Yorktown. To lose
sight of this fact is to miss the su-
/ preme purpose of the war and to per
nit it to be embarrassed or belittled
/ by questions of territory is to betrat
the cause of civilization. And to fail
! to settle it clearly and conclusively is
/ to fail in the most vital and sublime
task ever laid upon people.
eve need not prophesy now when
victory will come. Neither is it neces-
sary to speculate how it will come. Ii
I it is real and not a sham, peace Will
llave no trouble in recognizing 1t when
il does come. Whether il comes in the
floody and visible triumph Of arms or,
as we hope, through the overthrow and
obstruction Of militarlsm by the peo-
pie of the respective countries we DO
not know. But that it will come we
confidently believe. indeed, if the p1 IN
ciples of right and the precepts Of lib
erty are not myth, we know it will
come.
1T i.as been said bv some one that it
was not possible for Napoleon to win
lington, not on account of Blucher, but
on account of the unchanging laws Of
liberty and justice.
Let us call something of this faith
to our own contest. Let us 20 for
ward in the belief that it is not pos
siblt in the morning of the twentieth
century Of Christian civilization for
militarism, for brute force. to triumph
It would be in contravention of every
law, human and divine, upon which
rests the happiness and preservation
of the human family. 1t would be to
place brute force first in the divine
economy of things. 1t would be to
place might over right, and in the last
and final struggle that cannot be done.
"No, we cannot lose. We must win
The only question is whether we shall
through efficiency and concerted and
united action win without unnecessary
loss of life, unnecessary waste OF
treasure, or whether we shall through
only after fearful and unnecessary
sacriTcoc