Mountain Home Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1915-1946, 1918-02-16
Continued from page /

lection to limitation OF ornaments
That matter will be settled of itself, i
he thinks by the economic condi- a
tions which must follow the war. d
But the German colonies, he de- a
mands must be returned without c
debate. He will discuss with no L
one but the representatives of Russia r
what disposition shall be made of 4
the peoples and the lands of the |
Baltic provinces; with no one but c
the government of France the con +
ditions" under which French terri t
tory shall be evacuated; and only
with Austria what shall be done 8
with Poland In the determination '
of all questions affecting the Balkan .
states he defers, as | understand I
him. to Austria and Turkey; and a
with regard TO the agreements to +
be entered into concerning the non v
Turkish peoples of the present II
ottoman empire to the Turkish i
authorities themselves. /
After settlement all round, eff
fected in this fashion, by individual |
barter and concession, he would L
have no objection, If | correctly in
tarnret his statement, to a league r
of nations which would undertake a
to hold the new balance OF power l
steady against external disturbances. t
It must be evident to everyone q
who understands what this war mas /
wrought in the opinion and temper
of the world that no general peace i
M naace worth the infinite sacr1- i
fees of these years of tragical surfer
ing can possibly be arrived at IN |
any such fashion. The method the !
German chancellor proposes is the I
method of the congress OF vienna.
We cannot and will not return to !
that. What is at stake now is the
neace of the world, that we are
striving for is new international I
order based upan broad and univer- /
sal principles of right and Justice !
no mere peace of shreds and patches. |
Is it possible that Count Won
Hertling does not see that, does
not grasp it, is in fact living in
his thought in world dead and
gomez Has he utterly forgotten
the reichstag resolution OF the
10Th of July or does he deliber-
ately ignore them? They spoke
of the conditions of general
peace, not of national aggran-
dizement or of arrangements be-
tween state and state, The peace
of the world depends upon the
Just settlement Of each OF the
several problems to which ad-
verted in my recent address to
the congress.
|, of course, do not mean that the
peace of the world depends upon the
acceptance of any particular set of
suggestions as to the way in which
these problems are to be dealt with.
each and all, affect the whole world;
that unless they are dealt with in
spirit of unselfish and unbiased JUS
tice, with view to the Wishes the
natural connections, the racial aspi-
rations, the security and peace of
mind of the peoples involved no per-
manent peace will have been at
tanned
They cannot be discussed sepa-
rately or in corners. None of them
constitutes a private or separate in
terest from which the opinion OF the
world may be shut out. Whatever
affects the peace, affects mankind,
and nothink settled by military
force, if settled wrong, is settled at
ALL 1t will presently have to be
re-opened.
Is Count Won Hertling not aware
that he is speaking in the court OF
mankind that all the awakened ma
tions Of the world now sit in judg-
ment on what every public man, OF
whatever nation, may say on the is
sues of a conflict which has spread
to every region of the world? The
reichstag resolutions of July them
selves frankly accepted the decisions
of that court. There shall be no an !
nexations, no contributions, no punt
tive damages
Peoples are not to be handed
about from one sovereignty to an
other by international conference
or an understanding between rivals
and antagonists. National aspira-
tions must be respected, peoples may
now be dominated and governed only
by their own consent
Self-determination' is not a
mere phrase. 1t is an imperative
principle of action which statesmen
will henceforth ignore at their peril.
We cannot have general peace for
the asking, or by mere arrangements
of a peace conference IT cannot be