Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-02-11
Wilson Warns TeutOt1S That u. S.
Will Not Turn Back in Her War;
States Conditions For Parleus
PRESIDENT WILSON'S ADDRESS

| u
Washington, Feb. 11.-President
Wilson spoke as follows:
Gentlemen of the congress-:
On the eighth of January, 1 had the
honor Of addressing you on the OBJ
jects of the war as our people con-
ceive them. The prime minister Of
Great Britain had spoken in similar
terms on the fifth of January. To
these addresses the German chancel-
lor replied on the gath and Count
Czernin for Austria on the same day.
1t Is gratifying to have our desire so
promptly realized that all exchanges
of view on this great matter should be
made in the hearing of all the world.
Count Czernin's reply which is di-
rected chiefly to my own address. on
the 9Th of January is uttered in a very
friendly tone.
He finds in my statement suffi-
GENTLY encouraging approach to the
views Of his own government to justify
him in believing that it furnishes a
basis for a more detailed discussion Of
purposes by the two governments. He
is represented to have intimated that
the views he was expressing had been
communicated to me beforehand and
that I was aware of them at the time
he was uttering them: but in this I
am sure he was misunderstood. had
received no intimation Of what he in
tended to say. There was. of course,
no reason why he should communicate
privately with me. am quite content
to be one Of his public audience.
HERTLING's REPLY
! is TOO VAGUE.
Count Won Hertlings reply is, l
must say, very vague and very con-
fusing. 1t is full OF equivocal phrases
and leads. it is not clear where. But
it is certainly in Ia very different tone
from that of Count Czernin and ap-
confirms. am sorry to say, rather
than removes, the unfortunate I'M
preston made by what We had learn
cd of the conferences at brest-
Litovsk. His discussion and ae-
ceptance of our general priE les
lead him to no practical conclus- ons.
pHe refuses to apply them to the SUBJ
the body of any final settlement. He
is jealous OF International action and
Of international counsel He accepts,
he says. the principle of public di-
! plomacy tbut he appears to insist that
be confined. at any rate in this case,
to generalities and the several par
ticular questions of territory and
sovereignty, the several questions up
on where settlement must depend the
acceptance of peace by the 2s states
now engaged in the war. must be dis
cussed. and settled, not in general
council but severally by the nations
most Immediately concerned by inter-
est or neighborhood. He agrees that
the seas should be free. but looks
askance at any limitation to that free
dom by International action in the in
i nf ha ~~I@ IL
would without reserve be glad to see
economic barriers removed between
nation and nation for that could in no
way impede the ambitions Of the mill
tary party with whom he seems con-
strained to keep on terms. Neither
does he raise objection to a limitation
Of armaments. That matter will be
nomic conditions which must follow
the war. But the German colonies,
he demands must be returned without
debate. He will discuss with no one
| but the representatives of Russia
what dispositions shall be made of the
peoples and the lands of the Baltic
provinces; with no one bu the govern
ment of France the Conditions" un-
der which French territory shall be
equated; and only with Austria what
shall be done with Poland. In the de-
termination of all questions affecting
the Balkan states he defers as ] un-
derstand him. to Austria and Turkey:
and with regard to the agreements to
be entered into concerning the non
Turkish peoples of the present Otto
man empire to the Turkish authori-
all around. effected in this fashion, by
individual barter and concession. he
would have no objection il I correctly
interpret his statement, to a league Of
nations which would undertake to
hold the new balance of power steady
against external disturbances. y.
NO GENERAL PEACE
AFTER GERMAN FASHION.
1t must be evident to everyone who
understands what this war has
wrought in the opinion and temper of
the world that no general peace no
peace worth the infinite sacrifices Of
these years of tragical suffering, can
possibly be arrived. at in any such
fashion. The method the German
chancellor proposes is the method Of
the congress- Of Vienna. We cannot
and will not return to that, What is
at stake now is the peace of the
world. What wa are striving for is
new international order based upon
broad and universal principles of
right and justice-no mere peace Of
SHIcOS dHO pdICHcS. AS pOSS1Olo
that Count Won Hertling does not see
that does not grasp it. is in fact living
in his thought in a world dead and
gone? Has he utterly forgotten the
reichstag resolution of the nineteenth
of July, or does he deliberately ignore
them? They spoke OF the conditions
Of a general peace. not Of national
aggrandizement or Of arrangements
between state and state. The peace Of
the world depends upon the just
settlement Of each of the several
problems to which adverted in my
recent address to the congress. I, Of
courses do not mean that the peace
of the world depends upon the ac-
ceptance OF any particular set of sug&
geetons as to the way in which those
problems Are to be dealt with. II
mean only that those problems each
and all AFFECT the whole world; that
unless they are dealt with In spirit
Of unselfish and unbiased justice, with
10 view to the wishes, the natural con-
nections. the racial aspirations. the
security and peace Of mind Of the
peoples involved, no permanent peace
win have been attained. They cannot