Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1919-03-13
FOOD FOR HUNS
BELIEVED NEED
TOSTOP TERROR
Secretary of State Lansing
EmphatiCally Calls Upon
Allies Not to Ignore
Plea of Germans.

Paris. March II. - 1--WE have
reached crisis in the affairs of the
world" said Secretary Of State Rob-
ert Lansing at a banquet given last
night by the Inter-Allied Press
club in honor of the American peace
commissioners. Mr.. Lansing was
emphatic in his statement that the
allies must feed Germany and give
the Germans opportunity to sell
their products in the foreign mar
kets il the danger of bolshevism
was to be avoided. Mr.. Lansing
said:
an the infancy Of our republic
across the seas the sympathy and
aid OF France gave the support
which was needed TO make individual
liberty the supreme ruler of the des-
TIMES OF the newborn nation. From
that time forward liberty has been,
and still is, the most sacred and
most compelling impulse in political
life in America.
End Autoeraey.
1T was when the people of the
United States came to a full realiza-
ton that the liberty for which they
had fought was in danger that the
nation with unsurpassed unanimity
took up the sword with a firm de-
termination to do its part in freeing
liberty and the world from au-
toeracy.
"A mighty victory has been won.
The imperial armies of the central
powers have ceased to threaten.
They no longer exist. Scattered
and broken, they have returned to
their homes, where hunger and
privation await them--hunger and
privation which are the conse-
quences of their own blind faith in
evil men who led them into this un-
righteous war.
Germany Suffers.
Germany has suffered bitterly,
is suffering bitterly, and Germany is
entitled to suffer for what she has
done. Today starvation and want are
the portions Of the German people.
Violence and murder stalk through
the streets Of their great cities. Po-
litical institutions, industrial enter
prise and the very structure of So
ciety are tottering. II is the just
retribution of their crimes.
I'VE may be disposed to pity those
innocent among the Germans, but
our pity is almost dried up when we
consider what France and other ma
tions had to suffer from the invad-
ing armies of the Teutons.
France has endured unspeakable
woes with a fortitude and determine
tion which excite the admiration and
wonder of the world. | cannot pick
words to express the praise l would
, give to the French armies and their
great generals, to the French people
and their great leaders who lived
through those black days Of horror.
when stoutest hearts might wei!
have despaired.
New Problems.
"And, now that the great conflict
is ended and the mighty war en-
CINE of Prussia is crushed, we have
new problems to solve, new dan
gers to overcome. East of the Rhine
there are famine and idleness, want
and misery. Political chaos and
outlawry have supplanted the high
" organized government of imperial
Germany Social order is breaking
down under the difficulties of defeat
and the hopelessness of the future.
Like the anarchy which made an in
ferno of Russia, the fires of terror
ism are ablaze in the state of Ger
many.
"Over the ruins of this once great
empire the flames are sweeping
westward. 1t is no time to allow
sentiments of vengeance and hatred
to stand in the way of checking
this conAagration, which will soon
be at the German borders and
threatening other lands. We must
change the conditions on which So
cial unrest feeds, and strive to re-
store Germany to normal, though
it be a weakened social order.
Food and Peace.
1.-TWO words tell the story-food
and peace. To make Germany cap
able of resisting anarchy and the
hieoLs despotism of the red terror,
Germany must be allowed to pur-
chase food and to earn that food,
industrial conditions must be re-
stored by a treaty of peace. 1t is
not out of pity for the German
people that this must be done and
done without delay, but because we,
the victors in this war, will be the
chief sufferers if it not done.
"You may demand reparation as
much as you please, but unless the
German people are furnished ma
terials for their industries and COM
mercial opportunities to sell the
products Of labor in the foreign
markets, and unless the laborers
have food Germany can never pay,
even in part, for the evil it has
done. Furthermore, if the present
state of chaos continues and the po-
liticai power continues to grow
weaker there will be no responsible
German government with which to
make peace; there will be no gov
eminent strong enough to carry
out the conditions of the treaty of
peace.
Must Hurry Peace.
81 say to you men of France, and
men of America, and to you men
Of the allied powers, that there is
no time to be lost if we are to save
the world from the despotism of
anarchy. We must make peace
without delay, and ships laden with
food must enter the harbors of
Germany. We have reached a crisis
in the affairs of the world. We
must meet it without passion and
without permitting our judgment to
be warped by a natural and una
. voidable desire for vengeance"