New-York tribune., 1919-04-01
America, Awake!

policy and purpose concerning war and
peace is contained in the Governors
Declaration unanimously adopted at In
dependence Hall on May II, 1918. With
out dissent signatures were attached to
the following:
ain the military triumph of the Entente
Allies and in the organization afterward
Of all the resources of civilization against
militaristic aggression lie our hopes for
the future of mankind.
"To this goal there is only one way.
1t lies through battle and bloodshed-to
victory
Wherefore, we, governors and former
governors, representing the people of
seventeen sovereign states of the Ameri-
Republic, do hereby pledge our utmost
endeavor to carry this war to a victori
Gus end, to resist all compromise and re-
pudiate all offers of peace that will leave
Germany and her allies unchastened and
unsubdued, again to menace the peaceful
development Of independent peoples and
hinder the coming Of a world ruled by
justice"
Since the armistice, especially since
the assembling of the peace conference,
this simple objective has been obscured.
policy the American delegation at Paris
has seemingly been an insuperable OBJ
stacle to it's attainment.
After infinite sacrifices military VIC
.ory was achieved It's fruits, as sue
.intly described by the governors, have
not been gathered. A course has been
pursued which Is, first, apparently di-
rected toward reestablishing an unre-
pentant Germany in her old place of
power; and, second, is inaction in the
presence Of the aggressive militarism of
Bolshevik Russia, militarism which is
the twin brother of the scotched but un-
killed militarism of the Kaiser.
A year ago Germany and Russia were
in alliance. Orders from Berlin were
obeyed in Moscow; German officers COM
manded and German supplies equipped
Russias Red armies. Now there is prac-
tically renewal Of the alliance which
prudence required to be temporarily
disavowed. In militaristic and imperial
istic Hungary Karolyi suspiciously turns
the government over to Bolshevists when
boundary settlement did not suit him.
the new government promptly aligns it.
self with militaristic Russia, and Lenine
warns his followers not to expect in
Hungary full application Of Red prin-
cipies.
Germans and Hungarians, one may
believe, are too intelligent to wish to
destroy their industries as Russia has
done, but war, like politics, makes
strange bedfellows. The Boshevist
power has international connotations as
well as domestic ones. Germany, one
may surmise, feels she can cooperate
with Russia in the international field
without becoming Bolshevist in her do
mestic affairs.
The new triple alliance is as menacing
as the old. Diplomacy of the most secret
sort is at work. A population of two
hundred and fifty millions or more is
being brought together for aggressive
purposes To repeat an inquiry made
on another occasion. what sort Of minds
have the statesmen at Paris? Miitarism,
inperialistic imperialism, is again
afrrf xIyith &c a..
no change of purpose or methods.
These conditions have been allowed to
develop when they could easily have
been barred-if peace had been speedily
made, a peace alike Of victory and of
justice. Heavy is the responsibility of
those who do not apprehend the simple
truth that the war and the peace are
one.
"In matters that do not fall within
their immediate experience and observa-
ton Americans are idcalist;c. They are
apt to imagine thing az they would
like it to be, rather than as it really is"
These words came from President Lowell
OF Harvard, before he fell victim to
the very disease he diagnosed They are
worth recalling. All assumptions that
Germany, Russia and their allies cannot
mediate a renewal Of the war are value
less in the pregcnce Of the fact that they
are 70 minded.
No peace will there be- ~ long As Gex-