New-York tribune., 1918-10-23
The Sword Without Words

The easiest way to sma h the present
German peace offensive is to shut down
on correspondence with the German gov
ernment. Having failed to save her
"hcnor" with the sword Germany is try
ing to save it with the pen. And the pen
is also a deadly weapon.
The obvious aim of German diplomacy
is to drive wedge between the
peace intentions of the United States
and those of our European allies. The
best counter check to this strategy is to
taboo peace negotiations until Allied vic
tory is made complete by German sur
render
That surrender, to have any moral and
political value, must be unconditional
Germany set out to impose her own
terms en- her enemies. She did impose
them on Russia and Rumana. So long
as the Kaiser thought he had chance to
win in the West he was strong for more
treaties of the Brest-Litovsk and Bucha-
rest sort He should be made to swallow
The med ne which he had already mixed
for France, Great Britain, Italy and the
United States. When he had Russia and
Ruraania in his power he had no concern
for their feelings or their honor"
Senator Poindexter has just intro
duced joint resolution which cuts the
knot of the aimless discussion in which
the schemers in Berlin have involved our
government. He asks for action by Con-
gress making it unlawful for any officer
of the United States government to dis
cuss terms of peace or of an armistice
with the present German government or
any other agents purporting to repre-
sent the German peop'e until Germanvs
armed forces have surrendered His
resolution also bars Germany expressly
from any vo ce in the final peace confer
ence. If there is to be round table at
which peace terms are drawn up Ger
many is not to have a seat at it,
This is an outright. candid and ra-
tional programme The criminal who is
on trial before the world is not to serve
On his own jury. That he should expect
TO serve on it is only another manfesta-
tion of his unrepantant effrontery. Ger
many staked everything on her great
gamble in 1914. Bernhard and all the
other press agents of militarism and
pan Germanism clearly stated the alter
natives-wcrld empire or DOWNFALL The
dice rolled against the Kaiser Why
should he be allowed to welch now, on
the plea that he should pay no pen
atty which touches Germany's national
self -esteem--falsely described as her
"honor''7
Mr.. Poindexter's resolution expresses
the deep thought and nf1exb'e purpose
OF the American people. Germany has
been de picab'e enemy. Beaten. she
swhines. But why should her winnings
stay the even operation of justice?
Our government has been raising false
hopes IN the breasts of the German peo-
pie and giving the present ,vernment in
BERN an opportunity to strengthen it.
self by pretend ng that it is working eff
1ectively for peace. Prince Max, Solf
and the other actors in the comedy Of
Germany Democratized" are talking in
the air. That is partly because they
don't understand the attitude of the
United States, which has never been
clearly made known to them.
Let the German people know our pur-
poses These are Unconditional Surren-
der. no pourparlers for armistice or ne
gotated peace, no green table at Nhich
Germany VIII appear as a collaboration
and an equal, moral punishment and
reparation.
They are the American terms-also
the Allied terms.
If the German people want peace thew
can have 1T on those terms-and on no
others.