The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-10-15
WILSON'S LAST WORD.


second German peace note in way
that cannot be misunderstood. Per-
sons Qnschooled in the art of diplo-
macy may wonder why he did not so
speak at first. 1t may be that he
wished to hear from the country. If
he did he has heard.
The president has now referred the
Huns to the proper authorities-th
military leaders. Germany has known
all along that her appeal should be
made to Marshal Foch but possibly
she thought she might win a diplo-
matte victory in a contest with the
president. If SO she was mistaken.
The president has sounded a new
note in his latest reply to Germany.
in his reference to the atrocities which
are being perpetrated by the Hun SOL
diery in violation of international law.
1t is well that this phase of the war
should be mentioned now. The day
of settlement is approaching rapidly
and this matter should not be lost
sight of.
1t is not enough that these atroci-
peace are written they must include
even and impartial justice to all con-
cerned.
Let us not forget justice to Bel
GUM, to Serbia, to Rumania, to
France, to Italy; justice to the thou
sands of women who have suffered
| the last agony that can be inflicted
upon womanhood; justice to the man
gled children who in the innocence of
babyhood have been ruthlessly de-
/ stroyed by Germany: justice to the
aged men and women ~who, without
provocation, have been murdered in
cold blood; justice to the tens of thou
sands of women driven back from
Belgium behind the armies of Ger
many to endure all the horrors which
that drive means; justice to the thou
sands of men who have been enslaved
and made to work to produce food and
munitions for Germany; justice to the
Belgians who have been placed in ad-
vance of German troops in order that
their bodies might stop the bullets
intended for German soldiers
| The Huns, Infatuated by defeat, are
endeavoring to vent their malice on
the defenseless people and cities,
towns. villages and hamlets of the
occupied districts. Not satisfied even
| with this they are again. devastating
the very countryside, destroying or
chards. poisoning the soil, and reduc-
ing the very wells to cesspools.
There has been in the German ex-
hibition of almost meticulous bes-
tiality, says the Christian Science
Monitor, a minuteness of detail which
would never have occurred to the ro-
bust and brutal animality of the Hun
who marched with Attila. The care
full orders for ths filling of wells with
filth of the most disgusting descriip-
ton, the careful rendering uninhabi-
table OF private houses by means quite
other than dynamite and fire, have
hardly been realized by the public of
the allied countries, but must be real
lied before justice can be done.
What happened when Chateau
Thierry was evacuated is only a sin
gle object lesson in what is happening
in hundred towns and in hundreds
of villages and hamlets where not even
a patched quilt or a bent poker have
escaped the search of efficiency Val.
liable furniture, irreplaceable pictures
magnificent tapestries. and works OF
} art which could not be removed, fol-
mere want of transport, have beer
ruined and defaced by the retiring
! troops. And it must be remembered
that these troops are not the untl1.
. tored savages who burst into Europe
) in the Dark Ages, but the disciplined
battalions Of Christian power, which
is bringing to the work of destruction
} not only the aninality of the anima
! but all the organized resources known
: to chemistry and natural science gen.
: orally.