Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-02-12
at all 1t will presently have to be reopen

at all. It will presently have to be reopen
| ed
Is Count vun Hertling not aware
he il speaking in the court OF mankind
| that ali the awakened nations Of the world
now sit in Judgment on what every public
man, Of whatever nation, may say on the
| issues of conflict which has spread To
every region of the world2 The Reich
stag resolutions of July themselves frAnkly
accepted the decisions Of that court.
| There shall be no annexations, no con-
! tributions, no punitive damages. Peoples
are not to be handed about from one SOW
/ ereignty to another by an 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 mere
! phrase II is an imperative principle
of action, which statesmen will hence
forth ignore at their peril. We cannot
have general peace for the asking or by
the mere arrangements of n peace con-
ference. 1t cannot be pieced together out
of individual understandings between
powerful States. All the parties to this
war must join in the settlement OF every
issue anywhere involved iii it, because
what we are seeking is a peace we can
all unite To guarantee and MAINTAIN, and
every item of it must be submitted to the
common Judgment whether it be right
and fair, an act of justice, rather than
bargain between soverelgns.
DOES NOT SEEN TO ACT AS ARBiTER.
The United States has no desire To
Interfere in European affairs or To act
as arbiter in European territorial dis
putes. We would dIsdain to take ad-
vantage of any internal weakness or DIS
order Ia imppse her own will upon an
other people She is quite ready to be
shown the settlements she has suggested
are not the best or the most enduring
They are only her own provisional sketch
of principles and Of the way In which
they should be applied
But she entered this war because
she was made a partner, whether she
would or not. IN the suiferings ana
indignities inflicted by the military
masters Of Germany, against the peace
and security Of mankind; and the condi-
tions of peace will touch her as nearly as
they will touch any other nation to which
is entrusted leading part ID the NAM
tenance Of civilization. She cannot see
her wav to peace until the causes OF this
war are fPIllONtti, It's ltiltN fi 'tsAittiSif 90
nearly as may be, impossible.
This war had its roots In the dis
regard of the rights of small nations and
of nationalities which lacked the union
and the force to make good their claim to
determine their own allegiances and their
own forms Of political life. Covenants
must now be entered into which will
render such things impossible for the
future: and those covenants must be
backed by the united force OF all the
nations that love justice and are willing
to maintain it at any cost.
TAKES UP ECONOMIC QUESTIONS.
If territorial settlements and the po-
litscal relations of great populations which
have not the organized power to resist
are to be determined by the contracts OF
, the powerful government which consider
E. themselves most directly affected, as
/ Count Won Hcrtling proposes. why may
not economic questions also? II has come
, about in the altered world IN which we
! now find ourselves that Justice and the
! rights of peoples affect the whole field of
international dealing rs much rs access TO