The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1918-10-01
WHAT TO DO WITH THE
VANQUISHED FOE.

A few weeks ago we heard wO-
man discussing the war. and saying
she thought that death was too good
for the kaiser and the Germans lead
ers. and she sometimes felt so much
bitterness she would say they ought
to be put to death by fire or some
slow torture, and then as she re-
flected further she would feel that
there was something wrong about
that too, and she did not know what
ought to be done with them.
This is probably a fair sample of
the way the average citizen of the
world regards the matter. 1t would
be inconsistent and little short of
hypocracy for us to take a van
,quished foe and debase ourselves by
torturing him or them. 1t would
harden our own hearts and snuff out
the high ideals and lofty sentiments
that impel us to go overseas to con-
quer the beast of Berlin.
The way victorious nation will
do with the vanquished foe can be
foreseen by the way they deal with
the prisoners of war after they lay
down their arms. During our Civil
War many Northern people were
hard to restrain because Confederate
prisoners in northern prison camps
were fed on biscuits and bacon while
Northern prisoners in Dixie were
starving in bull-pens. The South, ii
it had won,. would probably have
dictated terms as harsh as they
meeted out to the black man in the
II rryI,n on hn q
The victorious North, but for the
death Of Lincoln, would probably
have gone on with the generous pol
icy adopted with the Confederate
prisoners and in paroling Lees army,
horses and all, but the death of Lin
coin made a great change and the
South lost friend.
In the present war, the allies are
treating prisoners humanely. Ger
many does her worst to them in
every respect. That shows what she
would do If she conquered. When
the allies win, as they will, they will
have a hard problem; a world of
problems, to solve, but the least Of
them should be what to do with the
men who are responsible for the. war.
They will probably kill themselves,
and settle that, but their lesser as
sociates will still live, and here is
what ought to be done:
A vast army composed of those
who are the most responsible for
the war and for the atrocities, should
be martialed into an industrial army
to work under guard at enforced
service for the rest of their natural
lives rebuilding the countries they
have ravished. Wherever the armies
of the Central Empires have gone,
this Industrial army should be forced
to work without hope Of release or
reward. Roads and bridges should
be rebuilt, homes, cities and towns
made new, and the fine old castles
and estates of Germany and Austria
should be sacked to furnish them,
or factories operated to make what
is needed to furnish the homes. The
nurseries and gardens of the Central
Empires should be made to furnish
seeds, shrubs and trees to replant
the devastated regions, and the
homes and estates of the military
CLIQUE should be stripped of their
shrubs, bulbs and vines to start those
things of beauty in all the ruined
homes among the allies. The slave
labor Of the militarists should be
made to do, the digging and blowing
and farming in the danger zones
where shells and bombs are liable
to be exploded by the pick and the
plowshare. When they have worked
the rest of their lives to rebuild the
ruin they have wrought, they will
have paid only a jot Of the debt, but
that would be the most they could
possibly pay, and it will not have a
debasing effect upon the allies. ~
will he q practical demonstration OF
the high ideals for the support OF
which we are in. the war.
There will be a good while between
the firing OF the last shots and the
time when the last soldiers from
America can embark for home, and
during those months and years, our