The Bridgeport times and evening farmer. (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1918-1924, 1918-02-11
WILSON SCORES
HUN HYPOCRISY
Continued from page -


in a spirit of unselfsh and unbiased
justice, with view to the WISHES
the natural connections and racial as
pirations, the security and peace u
mind of the peoples involved. no per
peace will have been atta1neu'
They cannot be discussed separately
or in corners None of them consul
tute a private or separate interest,"
from which the opinion of the Norlo
may be shut out. Whatever a1Iecls
the peace affects mankind, and noun
ing settled by military force, II set
tied wrong, it settled at all. 1t pres
emily will have to be reopened.
Is Count Won Hertnng aware ne IS
speaking in the court Of mankind that
all the awakened nations OF the
world now sit in judgment on WhaI |
every public man, of whatever natloh,
may say in the issues of con1llcC !
which has spread to every region OF
the world? The Reiclstag resolutions
of July themselves frankly accepted
the decisions of that court There
shall be no annexations, no contr1bu-
tons, no punitive damages. Peoples
are not to be handed about from one
national conference or an understand
ing between rivals and antagonists.
National aspirations must be respect
ed;peoples may now be dominated and
governed only by their own consent.
self Discrimination is not a mere
phrase. 1t is an imperative principle
of action, which statesmen will hence
forth ignore at their peril. We can
not have general peace for the asking,
or by the mere arrangements of a
peace conference. 1t cannot be pieced
out of individual understanding be-
tween powerful states. All the par
! ties to this war must join in the set
Element Of every issue anywhere in
Volvd in it because what we are seek
ing is a peace that we can all unite to
| guarantee and maintain and every
item of it must be submitted to the
common judgment whether it be right
and fair, an act of justice, rather than
a bargain between sovereigns.
The United States has no desire to
interfere in European affairs or to act
as arbiter in European territorial dis
putes She would disdain to take ad-
vantage of any internal weakness or
|
another people. She is quite ready to
be shown that the settlements she
has suggested are not the best or the
most enduring. They are only her
own provisional sketches of princi-
pies, and of the way in which they
should be applied. But she entered
this war because she was made a
partner, whether she would or not
in the sufferings and indignities in
f1icted by the military masters of
Germany, against the peace and Sc
curity of mankind; and the conditions
of peace will touch her as nearly as
they will touch any other nation to
which is entrusted a leading part in
the maintenance of civilization. She
cannot see her way to peace until the
causes of this war are removed, it's
renewal rendered. as nearly as may
be impossible.
This war had its roots in the disre-
gard of the rights of small nations and
of nationalities which lacked the I'M
ion and the force to make good their
claim to determine their own allegi-
ances and their own forms of political
life. Covenants must now be entered
into which will render such things i'm
possible for the future; and those
covenants must be backed by the unit
J ed force of all the nations that love
justice and are willing to maintain ii
at any cost. If territorial settlements
and the political relations of great
, populations which have not the orga-
, niZed power to resist are to be deter
mined by the contracts of the power
full governments which consider them
o selves most directly affected, as Coun'
D Won Hertling proposes, why may moi
, economic questions also? 1t has
come about in the altered world in
= which we now find ourselves that jus.
tice and the rights of peoples affec1
= the whole field of international deal
. ing as much as access to raw materials
= and fair and equal conditions of trade
Count Won Hertling wants the essentia
" bases of commercial and industrial life
q to be safeguarded by common agree
lment and guarantee, but he canno
expect that to be conceded him if the
IL other matters to be determined b!
Il the articles of peace are not handled
: in the same way as items in the fina
IS accounting. He cannot ask the bene
IS fit of common agreement in the on,
e field without according it in tn
# other. I take it for granted that h,
1t sees that separate and selfish com
l. pacts with regard to trade and the es
y sential materials of manufacture
s. would afford no foundation for peace
l. Neither, he may rest assured, will sep
IS arate and selfish compacts with re
s, gard to provinces and peoples.
d Count Czernin seems to see tn
= the fundamental elements of Deac
g with clear eyes and does not seek t
1t obscure them. He sees that an in
l. dependent Poland, made up of all tn
= indisputably Polish peoples who Ii
l. contiguous to one another is a mat
s. ter of European concern and must c
L course be conceded; that Belgium
a must be evacuated and restored, n
r matter what sacrifices and concession
v that may involve; and that natione
e. aspirations must be satisfied, eve
10 within his own empire, in the com
Is mon interest of Europe and mankin(
Of If he is silent about questions Whic
10 touch the interest and purpose of h
Of allies more nearly than they touc
IN those of Austria only, it must
IN course be because he feels col
IN strained, 1 suppose, to defer to Gel
OF many and Turkey in the circun
OF stances. Seeing and conceding as /
IS does, the essential principles invoI7
he 80 +bo pacossi+1, Of n.ndia1,r -,
is Lying them, he naturally feels tn;
on .,,a+r;, oo-, ,.os,,o,,d 80 ~ -
y. of peace as expressed by the Unite
~ States with less embarrass ent tina
- could Germany. He would probab