Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1918-12-27
BY CLARENCE L. SPEED

L..
written for and Approved by the War
Committee of the Union League Club of
Chicago)
The war is won. The armistice has
been signed The German military
machine has been crushed. The world
has been freed from the immediate
threat of German conquest or domino.
ton. The peoples of Europe and
America once more may breathe free
ly.
Nevertheless the greater part Of the
task for which the. allied nations were
fighting remains to be accomplished.
1t must be accomplished at the peace
table The delegates who sit there
must fix the terms of a lasting peace.
Unless they do this all the sacrifices
il blood and treasure of the United
States and the other nations which
fought autocracy will have been in
vain and the world will have to live
in constant fear of future wars.
Must Establish Just Peace.
The task of the diplomats is to es-
tablish q peace which will come as
near as possible to doing absolute JUS
tice to all the peoples concerned. In
so far as human wisdom will permit
the trainers of the treaty must remove
the causes of friction which brought
the war about so that the world will
not have to live under the constant
menace of future aggression. They
RI Incl In
tional rride or prejudice would die.
tate, but on the basis of full justice
to the inhabitants of the territories
involved. IF they do not the world
war with all it's misery and all its
sacrifices will have been in vain
The representative of the allies at
the peace conference will find many
obstacles in their way. Some of these
will come from the German side. the
diplomats of the central powers seek
ing always to retain as much as pos
sible of the unfair advantages their
governments had before the war and of
the gains they made during the early
part of the struggle. Other obstacles
possibly the greatest-may come
from the conflicting aspirations of the
nations which have fought on the al
lied side
Compromises Are Likely
All of these must he harmonized
Compromises, no doubt, will have to
be made in some instances. but the
ends of justice must always be kept
first in mind. If this is not done the
peace settlements will he like
other settlements which have ended
wars in the past. The rights of PEG.
Piles will be subordinated to the desires
of rulers and the treaty of peace will
Be only q stepping stone to strife.
The destinies Of, roughly speaking.
hundred million persons who. at the
beginning of the war, either had no
separate political rights or were in
hahitants of nations so small as to have
little weight in European councils. must
be fixed around the peace table. These
people are mostly of Slavic stock.
They embrace the Let's. Lithuanans.
Poles, Czecho- Slovaks. Little Russians
or UkralnanS. R0umanlanS ana Jug0-
Slavs, including the heroic Serbians.
SIav Lands Suffer Much.
All of these lands. shown on the map
above, have suffered cruelty from the
E war-more cruelty than during the
weary ages which preceded it. All
must first be fed or their desperate
populations may be driven to anarchy.
All must he helped to establish order
and guided along the path of self-gov-
ernment All must be given financial
| and economic assistance until they are
able to stand on their feet.
Il this is not done it is certain that
all OF these lands will. in time. again
fall into the clutches of Germany. 1t