Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1919-04-10
peace attained but for the obduracy
and the apparent craving of the
president for purely personal

peace dttdlHeu Out LOT the ODuuTdcy
and the apparent cDaving of the
president for a purely personal
achievement, if he had followed the
course which the country plainly, ir-
respective of partisan consideration,
desired.
The situation has now been clari-
fed SO simply and so convincingly
that none can fail to realize precise
ly what must be done in Paris to win
the approval of America. 1t may
be accepted beyond a doubt that the
other powers will acquiesce in the
proposition submitted by Mr.. Root.
They have become convinced that
their own safety and future welfare
hinge upon the continuance, at least
for the next few troubulous years, of
fraternal association with the only
nation now in a position to extend
requisite moral and material aid.
While, therefore, at the beginning
and so far throughout the negotia-
tions, they have insisted upon con-
ditions many of which were absurd
upon their face, and have succeeded
to a large extent in persuading the
president to acceded to their de-
mands, whether he felt they were
justified or not, they cannot fail now
to awake, with start, perhaps, to
realization of the fact that America
will enter into no engagements ex-
cept upon her own terms. They
are bound to recognize that the po-
sition solemnly assumed by Mr..
Root and Mr.. Hays is Interchangeable
and irrevocable. So far and no
farther will the dominant party go
in an effort to ameliorate conditions
in Europe without deriving any con-
ceivable benefits for America.
1t remains then for Mr.. Wilson to
decide whether he will accept this
virtual ultimatum or refuse to yield
his announced dogmatic views, or to
what extent he' may deem 1t neces-
sary to make CONCESSIONS sufficient
to overcome resistance in the SEN
ate through direct appeal to the
people. In one respect he derives
much advantage from Mr.. Roots
declaration. While that pronounce
ment makes it a practical certainty
that the amendments proposed must
be included to insure acceptance of
the plan, simultaneously it indicates
clearly that the inclusion of the
amendments proposed would win
the acQuiescence of the other branch
of the treaty-making power, for the
quite simple reason that few if any
of che republican senators would
have the hardinhood to reject pol
icy marked out by these two leaders
of the party.
The whole matter. therefore, rests
with the president. That he has be-
gun to perceive the situation in its
truelight since he made his idle and
unfulfilled threat to notify the Eu-
ropean powers that he had behind
the original covenant in America an
overwhelming majority, is quite
plain. If now he shall derive en-
lightenment from the propositions
set forth by Mr.. Root. which inciden-
tally he invited and received several
days before the declaration was pub
lished, and shall act in accordance
with the dictates of patriotic judg-
ment, he can do much to regain a
part of the confidence Of the Ameri-
can people which he must realize he
has forfeited.
Meanwhile, the country can only
await a statement of the results OF
his meditations such as must soon
be revealed in the revised document,
without disregarding for an instant
the fact that eternal vigilance con-
tinues to constitute the price of lib
erty.-Harvey's Weekly.