Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1918-10-03

who sit down at the peace table shall
come ready and willing to pay the
price, the only price, that will Pro
cure 1t, and ready and willing also to
create in some virile fashion the only
fundamentally by which it can be-
made certain that the agreements OF
the peace will be honored and fulfilled.
'That price is impartial Justice In
every item Of settlement, no matter
whose. interest is crossed; not only.
impartial justice, but also the salts
faction of the several peoples whose
fortunes are dealt with. That intiis-
pensable fundamentally 10 a league
OF nations formed under covenants
that will be efficacious.
without such instrumentality, by.
which the peace of the world can be
guaranteed, peace will rest in part
upon the word of outlaws and only
upon that word. For Germany Will
have to redeem her character, not ONLY,
by what happens at the peace table
but what follows.
"And, as / see it, the constitution
Of that league of nations and tho!
clear definition of it's objects must be-
a part, is In a sense the most essen
tial part, OF the peace settlement it
self. It cannot be formed now. +
formed now, it would be merely new
alliance confined to the nations asse-
ciated against a common enemy. Il
is not likely that 1t could be fOrme6
after that settlement.
1T is necessary to guarantee the.
peace, and the peace cannot be guar
anteed as an afterthought. The rea-
son, to speak in plain terms again,
why 1t must be guaranteed, 10 that
there will be parties to the peace
whose promises have proved untrust-
worthy, and means must be found In
connection with the peace settlement
itself to remove that source Of .inse-
curity.
'It would be folly to leave the guar
antee to the subsequent voluntary ae-
ton Of the government we have seen
destroy Russia and deceive ROumania.
Particulars OF Terms.
These, then are some Of the par-
ticulars, and / state them with thu
greater confidence because / can state
them authoritatively as representing
this governments Interpretation OF
its own duty with regard to peace:
FIRST The impartial justice
melted out must involve no discrimina-
ton between those to whom we wish
to be just and those to whom we dc
not wish to be just. It must be JUS
tice that plays no favorites and knows
no standard but the equal rights of
the several peoples.
"SECOND-No special or separate
interest of any single nation or any,
group of nations can be made the
basis Of any part Of the settlement
which is not consistent with the com
mon interest Of all.
"THIRD-There can be no leagues
or alliances or special covenants and
understandings within the general and
common family Of the league Of Ha-s
tions.
"FOURTH-And more specif1cally.i
there can be no special, selfish, eco
nomic combination within the league
and no employment of any force o.
economic boycott for exclusion except
as the power of economic penalty by
exclusion from the markets of the.
world may be vested In the league e
nations itself as means Of discipline
and control. /.
"FIFTH-Al international agree
ments and treaties of every kind must
be made known in their entirety VI,
the rest Of the world.
Special alliances and econmic riv-
alries and hostllities have been tho
prolific sources In the modern world
of the plans and passions that pro
duce war. 1t would be an insincere
as well as insecure peace that did mott
exclude them in definite and binding
terms. a
National purposes have fallen more
and more into the background and the
common purpose Of enlightened man
kind has taken their place. a
"Plain workaday people have de-
.uuuuSu iIluOSl every uLuc J1Cy CuAAS
together, and are still demanding, that,
the leaders of their governments de-
clare to them plainly what 1t is ex-
actly what 1t is-that they are SEEK
ing in this war and what they think
the items of the final settlement should
be. q
'They nre not vet satisfied with
what they have, been told They stiE*
seem to fear that they are gcttings
what they ask for only in statesmcn'sV
terlns--only in the terms Of territorial
arrangements and the divisions Of
power and not in terms of broad vision.
justice and mercy and peace and the
satisfaction OF those deep-seated long
'ngs of oppressed and distracted meH
and women and enslaved peoples that
seem to them the only things worth
fighting war for that engnlfs the
world.
But I, for one, am glad to attempt
the answer again and again In they
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