Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1918-11-20

peaI-Nonpartisan League and La.
Dor Make Big Gains.
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER
Washington. D. C.-The great event
OF the previous week and the greatest
| event perhaps of the modern world
was the signing of the armistice.
On November II the great war came
to an end. simultaneously came the
news that the common people were
| taking control in Germany and that
royalty of all kinds and degrees had
abdicated. Many of the ruling class,
including the kaiser, had taken the
precaution to fee to neutral territory.
The common people everywhere
gave themselves up to celebrating the
great event which should mean the end
OF militarism, the end of wars, the
swift sweep of democracy over the
world, the speedy return Of the boys
at the front unless those who now con-
troll affairs In allied nations are false
to their duty and trust.
Efforts to Save Autoerats.
There is widespread evidence, how.
ever, that plutocrats everywhere feel
that they have made a vital blunder
in allowing the war to go on until the
kaiser's throne was no longer tenable.
| With the fall Of the kaiser all that de.
pended on him and was built around
him-the big business OF Germany,
the junker class, the large banking
power-fell also. In fact the kaiser
was largely a f1gurehead registering
the collective will Of these interests.
Germany thus takes a big step to-
ward industrial and political democ.
racy at the same time. This is what
the plutocrats everywhere fear and
what the big press refers to by vari.
Gus bad names such as bolshevism, red
socialism and anarchy.
In the second year of the war in
ternational bankers met secretly in
Switzerland to see whether they could
not find a basis for peace that would
save plutocracy. For over year a
powerful group Of the nobility and
special interests, speaking through
Lord LansdOwne, have been working
for the same thing. A group of New
York bankers recently listened to
another banker without protest when
he argued that it was a good thing
for Germany to seize the Russian
banks where it could and protect them
from destruction. They have failed to
save the German plutocrats, but they
have one card left which they will use
unless the people of the allied nations
are thoroughly awake. They will try
to force the governments to use allied
troops to return the German pluto
Gratis and nobility to power under the
pretense of restoring order. There
are many ways by which this can be
put over If the allied governments are
willing to be used. This big struggle
Is now on in desperate earnestness in
every national capital.
What Germany Agreed To.
The terms of the armistice, as given
out to the public, include the follow
ing:
Cessation of hostilities.
Evacuation of invaded territories,
including Alsace-Lorraine and Luxem-
burg.
| Surrender of vast amounts of guns
and other equipment.
| Evacuation of the left bank of the
Rhine.
| Abandonment of the German trea-
ties with Rumania and Russia.
| Reparat1On Of the damages done.
| Surrender of scores of submarines
and larger warcraft.
Concentration of aircraft at stipu-
lated points.
Restoration Of all allied merchant
vessels.
Duration of the armistice to be 80
days.
These drastic terms undoubtedly
mean that the war is over, but the
armistice will undoubtedly have to be
extended because the peace conference
can not be brought together within
the time limit set.
Why Democrats Lost.
From the time when the results of
the election became known, the coun-
try has been trying to interpret the
swing against the party OF the presi-
dent. Several facts stand out in the
explanations. The president made
partisan appeal Immediately preced-
ing the election and refused to take
the voters into his confidence as to the
issues involved. Instead Of making a
call for help against our imperialist
and plunderbund elements, which have
more than a small voice in the Demo-
cratic dS we'll dS Lue nepuDllCdu party
T councils, he asked for the election of
? Democrats regardless of their posi-
ton.
r His call should have been more
along the line of the speech Of Sere'
/ tary Daniels at Providence, where
l. Daniels said:
"These men Of the plunderbund are
q not thinking about patriotism, but
8 pay-triotism They are not thinking
about securing permanent peace OF
t even about the war. They are think
ing about after the war, and they arr
It straining every nerve to secure con