Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-11-03
MUST FREE 90 MILLIONS
TO PREVENT NEW WAR
u. S. and Allies. Should Liberate Enslaved
Peoples of Europe as Safeguard Against Pos
sible Future Aspirations of Germany.

permanent peace. and the greatest
of such evils is the survival of inter
national injustice expressed in the
denial of liberty to any race or ma
ton. The refusal of Europe, divided
by its own selfish ambitions. TO do
justice to the small Balkan states
| led the Balkan states to act for them
'selves-led inescapably through Sera-
jevo to !Armageddon-
Way to Head OF New War.
The question of Poland. of Ru-
mania. of the Austrian Slavs. is not.
then. u remote and relatively unim-
portant question for Americans. on
the contrary, it is the most vital OF
all questions. once Germany has oeeii
beaten and forced to surrender. Our
mission. if we are to have MISSION
in the making of peace, must lie II,
resolute championship of the rights
of all the peoples whose condition IN
The past has been such as to make
a world confia grafton possible, iheFi-
table. Ii we do not desire again 10
send our boys to Lorraine ana TO
Champagne a generation hence, We
must see to it that the protection
against a new German assault upon
our common civilization is made I'M
possible. And We must do this. not
DN making sTeFfnallN NtStk-d lHihS
which cannot he done permanently IN
any case or wisely in amy degree
but by making strong those peoples
who collectively supply the one sure
barrier to a recurrence of the Ger
man attack.
1t is with this situation in view
that we must consider the problems
supplied by Poland. by Rumania. by
the CZecho-SlovakS and Jugo-Slavs.
1t is with this consideration IN nina
I,n n
Europe. studying in the boundaries
not merely the political boundaries
between existing states. but the eth
nographic map on which are written
the boundaries between races. to hnd
the solution If Germany is not to
fight the world again, >larnessing to
her war chariot the Poles, the Slavs.
the Rumanians. it must be because
we have SO written our European set
Element that she can no longer con-
troll these races and that these races.
Joined voluntarily and logically with
us, Will make force too great Tor
the German to challenge.
Fourteen" Principles Praised.
So much for the material considera-
lions. We in America are SO remote
from the battlefield and from the ques-
lions which through the centuries
have plagued European statesmen
the military nor on the political side
is there any general grasp of affairs.
And yet it is essential that there
should be some grasp, now that new
phase is to open. To the information
of his fellow countrymen the Presi-
dent had contributed much by his ref
erences to various problems in his
celebrated Fourteen points which.
SO far as they concern the Fighting of
wrongs and the bestowal of liberty.
h. 1,a ,sx,rfs Of
mankind.
But we in America must not think
That the settlement of the Polish ques-
ton, for example. or the liberation OF
the Austrian Slavs, is remote and in
tricate European affair. There are no
longer any exclusively European az
fairs. as our course in this war has
proved lie is no longer possible for
Europe to fight general war with
out involving the. United States, and
henceforth our frontiers of interest, il
not of geography. are European as
well as Asiatic- If the present settle
inent does not abolish the German
peril. we shall have TO join in the next
battle to resist it, and therefore il is
for us to contribute what we can to
the erection of barriers against such
q new German eruption.
A new Poland, 4 unified Rumania.
two new S!aT states, one on the Adri-
attic and one along the old frontiers
between husSla germany ana AUS
tria-four states whose mbined
population will exceed 55.008.O0G, a
population far greater than that of
France, of Great Britain or of Italy
these will be barriers to any new
German dream of expansion through
the Balkans to Asia. while in Asiatic
Turkey other states, Armenian, Syr-
ian and Arabian. guaranteed and
protected by France and Britain will
present no opportunity for German
exploitation.
Why Liberation Is Urgent.
And without these things. without
these liberated races, our victory.
however complete on the battlefield,
will have no permanent value. Ger
many, foiled, will return. no matter
what burden be placed upon her and
no matter what form of league of ma
tions be framed. Certainly Germany
must indemnify France as well as
Belgium for her wanton devastations,
just as she must restore Alsace-Lor-
raine and liberate her Poles and the
zoo. 900 Danes of northern Schleswig:
certainly she must pay the bill for
illegal submarine depreciation. wheth-
er tongue for tongue or by money
payment. Enthusiastically the demand
for an unconditional surrender of her
military and naval establishment must
4
the surrender is refused now. But
not all of these things will perma-
nently shackle a nation of $4,000, 00o.
As to partitioning these 75.000.000
Germans, Stacking them by eco
nomic or political chains imposed by
the victorS, this is a combination or
madness and nonsense. The thing Is
impossible, it is also immoral But in
a free Europe the 100000 Germans
will, not be a menace. They will be a
minority far too feeble to yield to the
temptations of the past To make the
world safe for democracy we have
first to make it free. Having made il
free. there is no race among all the
races which can hope to dominate the
rest of mankind.
1t is not the territorial aspect. how
ever, which l wish to emphasize in
ready discussed frequently in these
articles. To me this war is before all
else a war of liberation. The fact that
a just and honorable settlement will
set free some sixty millions Of hui
man beings from a slavery, which. for
their respective races, has endured
over centuries. that il will bestow
unity upon other races, that il will
draw a map based not upon the am
billions of kings nor the appetites of
supreme fact. which goes far to jus
tify all the great suffering of the las
four years.
Federation of the World"
Ii we are to have a federation or
the world" we can only have it when
all the world is free. If we are to
have an end Of the practical menace
of the superior race" the dream oil
world power" We can only have IL
when in place of half a score of help
81 h.