Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-05-09

THE treaty which Germany now is hidden
to sign as the price of peace holds the
death warrant of Prussian militarism.
The terms are more than rigorous and sweep
ing They are verify annihilative of those
schemes by which the kultursts of Potsdam
sought to fetter mankind They are punitive
in that they exact stern payment, as far as
payment is possible, for measureless wrongs.
But their basic purpose is curative, preventive
and constructive. Not to crush the German
people, but to grind to powder the German
fetish of world domination; not to prosecute
a fallen foe or rob him of single right, but
to safeguard civilization against such another
onslaught as that of 1914;-this is the aim
of the momentous document issued yesterday
at Versailles.
How complete is to~be the uprooting of that
militarism which Prussia planted and so Law
ishly nourished, glance at the terms will dis
close. The German army is to be reduced to
one hundred thousand men, officers included
"a force hardly more than sufficient in the
countrys troublous state, to maintain inter-
nal order. The importation and production OF
war materials is virtually to be stopped. For
fifty kilometers east of the Rhine all German
forts are to be RACED. The Notifications of
HelgoIand, that mighty fastness OF the Hohen-
zollerns sea power, are to be demolished,
the Kiel canal opened to all nations, and the
German navy cut down to six battleships, as
many light cruisers, dozen torpedo boats, no
submarines, and to a personnel OF not more
than fifteen thousand. Such shreds or sl1vers
of the war dragons carcass as may remain
when this vast carving is done will scarcely
be worth worrying over.
But the treaty does not pause at this safe
guarding stroke. 1t proceeds to press keenly
. home to the German mind how sheer and cost
ly failure Prussianism has proved; and in
the process of SO doing it rectifies many an old
wrong. The cession Of Alsace-Lorraine to
France and of a large area in the east to
Poland-to mention two instances among
many-should convince the hardest head and
the stiffest neck in all Junkerdom that the
German raid of 1914, in spite of it's huge
preparations and lattering hopes, was after
all too disastrously foolish thing ever again
to be adventured The wild dreamers, one
and all, who counted upon conquering Europe
as prelude to conquering the earth can but
realize, as they read the terms of justice now
meted out to them, that cOvetOusness does not
pay, that robbery is not profitable, that de-
fance Of the worlds moral law and Of the
conscience of mankind is anything but glo-
rious and enriching.
Not only are France and Poland requited
for old grievances, not only is Belgium given
vantage ground needful to her security, not
only is Schleswig to be restored to Denmark
if plebiscite in the province determines;
besides these and other important cessions,
the treaty of Brest-Litovsk and of Bucharest
by which Germany had sealed her conquests
in the east must be abrogated. To these ter
ritorial requirements add the indemnities she
must pay, the ocean tonnage she must de-
liver to make good the piratical havoc of her
U-boats, the announcement Of her colonial
empire and the surrender of those leaders
charged with personal responsibility for the
war; What bill for the past! What warn
ing for the future!
Such the curative and preventive ele-
ments of the treaty. It's constructive charac-
ter lies largely in the covenant Of the League
of Nations which significantly and properly
enough constitutes the first section following
the preamble. Through the provisions of that
great covenant the world is safeguarded, as
far as lies within the power of human earnest
ness and foresight, not only against Prussian
mi1itarism, but also against intrigue and
aggression from whatsoever quarter they may
come. More than that, the world is given
opportunities and facilities such as it never
had in all the ages past for the friendly and
creative co-working Of nations in the common
interests and common hopes of man. 1t is
hardly probable that Germany, whatever her
first protests may be, can do otherwise in the
end than accept the treaty; and 1t IS hardly
imaginable that any of the other nations con-
cerned least of all the United States, will re-
ject it.