Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1919-06-05
a COMPLICATED SITUATION

ACOMPuCA7ED SITUATION
The relations between the United states ana ID
associates in the var. ON the one hand, and the defs.t.<
central powers on the other are full OF perplexitiss ant
complications. The United States. Of course, has MOI
technically been At war with Bulgaria or Turkey, bu
instead Of simplifying matters that fact appears still
further to complicate, them. While We have not beer
at war with these millions We have been very much a
war with their more powerful allies and Bulgarian and
Tur1ush forces have been used impartially in further
ance Of the military plans Of Germany and Austria; whict
plans wore directed equally against the United state,
and entente bowers Of Europe. We have not been a
war with these two powers, but We arc participating ii
the work Of making peace with them. When peac,
= formally concluded between Bulgaria and the power.
With witch she was at war the treaty will define thu
boundaries Of the country and the general condition,
under which it shall continue to exist. The Unite<
States win be a party to the making Of all these ar.
rangements, Turkey Is to be carved up, and the Turk
ish government Of the future will control but a Fraction
OF the territory which was formerly under Turkish sway
Millions Of people who were formerly subjects of tn.
Turkish government will either be citizens Of new indie.
pendent states Of their own or will live temporarily unde,
some form Of more or less autonomous government un.
der the guardianship Of one of the other powers. Fo,
them Turkish rufe is ended. And the United States, Of
dcially at peace with Turkey, is helping to shape mat.
.S1S - <Ineoe cuOSs
Then there is the case Of Austria. There the Unit.
cd States and the European Allies are all in the SANE
boat. We went to. war with the empire of Austria Hun.
ton has separated itself from Austria, and not a frag.
ment Of the former government Of that country remains
How democratic, how truly representative of the people
the new government may be may be a debateable, ques.
ton. But the Austrian government Of today is mos,
emphatically not the government with which we went to
war. @
The peculiar territorial features which create such
conol'cs :idns in the case of Austria are less pronounced
in the case Of Germany, but in a minor way they exist
and the political features. so far as they relate to the
main government. are similar. We went to war with
a German monarchy at the head of which was the
Hohenz. llern family. That government has been wiped
out Whether the spirit of democracy really controls
the new government or whether it is the old militarism
in disguise, it is different in FORM and in personnel, from
the Hohcnzollern government. Yet we are making peace
with the new governments Of Germany and Austria, with
which governments we never went to war.
Have we been at war with Hungary, and with b.
hemia? They we're parts of the old empire. Their SOL
d'ers fought IN the o-Hungarian armies against
our own. If We conclude a treaty of peace with Austria.
a mere fragment Of the former empire, why not wir,
Hungary, Bohemia, and each other part which has bee,
separated from the whole? If the secession Of one SET
sN" o!SA AAotAe 31Om n main body relieves each
seeding section from the burdens and responsibilities
OF the war, why. may not the process Of elimination and
be continued until the vanishing point is
reatnd? gMF&- Y
Spokesman of the present German and Austrian gov
ern1nents2 haxe assured us that the war was not,waxec by
the existing governments. and that II the people had
oeen consulted there would have been no War. Very
true. President Wilson has said that we have had no
quarrel with the German people. and the Austrian people
may be included. But the hard fact is that, with or
quarrel, We have been fighting the peopl. ot
Germany ard they. have been fighting rs. 1t was ,y
means Of the man power Of those nations that their
Military activities were carried on, and it was the men
Of those nations who manned their guns, who defended
their trenches, who stormed our lines, and whom we at
tackled with shell. bullets and bayonets.
While. in considering the moral and PHILOSOPHICAL
aspects of the case, we may dinerentiate between gov
and the governed. in the practical work of
waging war and concluding peace there is no such thing
as an exact dividing line, and peoples must pav the pen
atty for permitting themselves to be. badiy> eoverned.