The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-11-02

longed defense.
Compromise Peace Bring Early End.
Under these circumstances it seems
possible that the Teutons may hold
out for a compromise peace and if
they fail. fight one more campaign
before they surrender.
The drive for a negotiated peace is
now well under way and it is by no
| means improbable that it is being used
as a means of slackening the war ac-
tivities and the war spirit of the allied
peoples as well as for the ostensible
purpose of securing a compromise. :
Negotiations Have Done Harm.
Already America has felt the effect.
The liberty loan Jagged and was only
put over by heroic efforts at the last
moment. Laborers in nonessential in
dustries are refusing to leave their jobs
and go to the munition factories in the
fear that an early end of the war will
leave them unemployed. That the
peace interchanges that have already
taken place between this country and
Germany have done incalculable harm
is manifest to all.
No Time to Confer With tho Enemy.
This Is no time for writing notes
and comforting with the enemy. 1t is
a time for the dealing of sledge-ham-
mer blows, accompanied by an I'M
equivocaI demand for unconditional
surrender as the only proposition that
can be considered even for a moment.
1t makes little difference whether
we are dealing with the kaiser or the
German people. The terms must be
the same, the only distinction being
that in the one case the HOhenZollernS
would go down before the nation sur
renders. while in the other they would
be disposed of afterward.
German People Must Pays
The final peace terms that will be
laid down to defeated Germany will
be the supreme test of allied foresight
and craftsmanship. The German peo-
pie have backed the kaiser in this war
and are, Jointly with him, responsible
for the ruin and disaster this war has
brought upon the civilized world.
There should be no spirit of revenge,
but the German people must pay to
the last dollar for the damage they
have wrought. Also they must give
up once for all the dream of world
dominion.
How Shall We Judge Germany
And how shall we know that they
have learned their lesson for all time?
Only by the test of the years. Ger
many as A nation has run amuck and
plunged the world into a weller of
blood and slaughter. When a man
crimes. we do not turn him loose again
on his mere promise to be good. We
lock him up where he can do no harm
until he has proved by his conduct
that he is a changed man and worthy
of a pardon. The same rule must ap-
ply to Germany. Until such time as
she has proven her sincerity by a long
period of good behavior, the means
for disturbing the peace of the world
must not again be placed in her hands.
By all means let us have a league of
nations, but into that league Germany
must come as humble probationer
until she has proved, not by words,
but by her conduct among the nations,
that she is fit to be received into the
full fellowship of the great liberty low
ing states.
In dealing with Germany the future
of civilization must not be imperiled
By soft sentimentality that may be en-
gendered by an overnight transforma-
ton into a democracy and an eleventh
hour repentance of her sins.
America Must Not Plead Gegmany's
Cause.
Above all the United States must
not be placed in the position of a spa
cial pleader for the criminal a the
bar of the allies. Neither must this
nation presume to dictate the terms of
peace to our sister democracies who
bore the terrible burdens of war for
three long years while we fattened on
their misery and who even now are
bearing and sacrificing in a measure.
which makes our efforts and depriva-
tons, genuine and earnest as they
have been, pale into insignificance by
comparison.
The American Elections.
And now what about the effect of
the coming congressional elections?
In the past in these articles we have
studiously avoided the discussion of
anything that T 'ght be construed as
remotely relating to politics. But now
the president has coupled the elections
with the war ,aS raised the Ques-
ton of the effect of those elections on
the war situation in Europe. He has
forced us to consider those elections in
their bearing on the questions of war
and peace, and any discussion of con-
ditions overseas would be incomplete
if it omitted all reference to those cleo
tons One of the uppermost ques-
tons in the minds of all American
citizens is this. What will the eff
feet of the present contest on the fu-
ture of the WARP
1t will be largely this. The presi-