Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-10-12
HOW AND WHEN We CAN DEAL WITH
GERMANY

Germany - yet has made no proposal for peace
which might not come from q conqusror. satisfied If not
tired In conquest, to the peoples who had been overcome
There is a recognition in the MAMMALIAN proposal 81 the
fact that the enemies Of Germany are pot PROSTATE. There
is a recognition Of the fact that they still have = kick in
them. But the German proposals. even in this latest in
stance. are those OF a nation conquering and occupying
enemy territory. ~ -
The German mood eliminates the immediate presen,
and ignores the prospect, and that is the very thing which
the Allies do not intend to do. To treat with Germany IN
negotiations now is to throw the question back, In reality
into the disadvantaseous years of 1916 and 1917.
Germany offers to do now what she might have Of
fered, out Of consideration for world values, in the yearl
of her flush. She offers to discuss terms upon which the
world can live in peace and safety.
If that offer had come when the fate Oh verdun was
in doubt and when the fate of France was in jeopardy II
might have had a sincerity which is totally lacking in the
present proposal. Germany retreating talks as If it were
Germany advancing.
So long as the German mind operates in this fash.on
the Allies have everything to lose by entering negotia-
lions. There may be enough finessc in German d,ple.
macy, which generally lacks all finesse, to make it appea,
that belltgerents having a war which can come to no jus.
tifiable conclusion at arms, would be humane and wise II
they came TO a conclusion by negotiation.
To reject an approach to such negotiation brusously
might put at a moral disadvantage the nations which
brusquely rejected it. President Wilson'S answer of in.
terroeatory took from the Germans any advantage which
their tactics might have gained them.
Even as the military advantages remain with the AT
lies. the moral advantage remains with them. We will
deal with Germany as>vith a nation accepting principles
and agreeing to terms needed by humanity, and not with
a nation Offering, for the sake of a truce, to discuss them
What is wanted from Germany, and what will be
forced from her, is acceptance of principles, not discus.
sion Of them: agreement, not argument. s.
The geography of war may show the Germans still
master Of enemy. territory. The facts Of war show then
beaten. The prospects Of war show them ruined.
When they accept these facts and prospects as the
true facts and PROSPECTS, and when they are ready to dea,
upon the basis of what certainly will happen to them
rather than upon the basis of what has happened, it will
be possible to sit down with German peace commissioner.
and formulate a peace agreement.
Until Germany ceases to offer herself as the victor
and accepts her place as the vanquished. there can be nc
peace obtained which would be worth the effort to gain
it. N
The entire German attitude is charged with this sig
nificance of conquest successfully undertaken, of yictorie,
element with which the Allies can deal in safety for them.
selves.
When the note appears in German communications
we imagine. there will be a different response from the
Allies against the Central Powers.
Until it does appear, the war goes on. If German
perception cannot see the end, and try to avoid its worst
consequences, the worst consequences will be had. Blu,
no consequences Of a war of desperation could be SO bad
as the consequences Of a peace or German duplicity and
Allied weakness-Chicago Tribune.