The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-11-03

upon the respect of nationality and the right of all peoples, great and small. to pursue their economic de- velopment in full security and upon territorial and international eonven- tions guaranteeing land and sea frontiers against unwarranted ag- gression.
 4. Restitution of provinces or ter ritories previously taken from the allies by force or against the will of the inhabitants
 8. Liberation of Italians. Slavs. Rumanians and Czeeho- -Slovaks from foreign domination.
 6. Liberation of the population subjected 10 the bloody tyranny Ncf the Turks; rejection out Of Europe of the Ottoman empire as foreign to western civilization.
 2. The intentions of his majesty, the emperor of Russia, toward Po- land are clearly &ndicated in the proc lamation which fie has just addressed to his armies.
 s. The allies have never aimed at the. extermination of the German peoples or at their disappearance as political entity
 Eight Points Important
 Bear these eight points in mind We shall meet them again. Six months later. after a long debate, the French Parliament in turn deems 1t necessary odeclare it's war aims Tn two formal resolutions. These resolutions asserted the will of France. true, to her alliances. faith iul to her ideal of independence and liberty for all peoples. to pursue the war until Alsace- Lorraine are re- stored, crimes are punished. dam ages are repaired and guarantees against further aggression by Ger man militarism are secured"
 In England. in Italy, in Belgium, the parliaments in like terms con iirmed the declarations of their gov- ernments and the instinctive desires or their peoples. All the European allies are thus, after three years of war, absolutely agreed on two things. The first, that no peace Is possible until victory has been won; the see- ond, that, victory won, the allies will demand for themselves and for all nations the right of self -determfna- tion for all peoples, reparations guar antees and League of Nations. The war aims are clear. They are public. Henceforth all men know what the peace of victory will be. Those, therefore. who are not satisfied with them. can protest. But no protest Is raised except by a few socialists. who find these terms too severe.
 Have these war aims. solemnly pro claimed to the world. been modified since? Judge for yourself
 Address to Congress.
 On January 6. 1918, the President of the United States. in an address to the Congress. lays down "a pro- gramme for world peace" which has since become known as the fourteen points" Much has been said about them. often by those who neither knew when they were first formu- lated nor what they meant. It Is, therefore, relevant to give their sub stance here, presenting them In the same order as the eight points of January, 1917.
 l. Evacuation and restoration cf Belgium without any limitation of her sovereignty.
 2. Evacuation of French territory: restoration of the invaded regions; separations of the wrong done to France In 1871 in the matter of AL sa e-Lorralne.
 g. Evacuation of Russian territory and settlement leaving her entirely free to decide her own fate.
 f. Readjustment of the Italian from tier, in accordance with the principle of nationality.
 5. Opportunity of autonomous de- velopment for the peoples of Austria Hungary.
 6. Evacuation and restoration of Roumania, Serbia and Montenegro, with access to the sea for Serbia.
 2. Limitation of Ottoman SOW ereignty to regions actually Turk is; autonomy for all the other peo- ples, international guarantees for the freedom of the Dardanelles.
 S. An independent Poland with free access to the sea.
 g. The creation of League of Ma tions, giving mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike.
 10. Impartial adjustment of colo nial claims.
 H. Exchange of guarantees for the reduction of armaments.
 12. Elimination as far as possible of economic barriers; commercial equality for all nations.
 13. Freedom of the seas.
 IA. Open diplomacy; no secret in- ternational agreements of any kind.
 When, on January 8. this declara- tion, identical in meantng-especially as far as France is concerned-with the previous declarations of the al- lies, was known in Europe. it met with nothing but approval and sup port. Parliaments and press alike interpreted 1t as a further pledge of America's unity of purpose, which everyone recognized to be essential on the eve of the great battle of the spring. French men saw in 1t also the first public recognition of their right to Alsace-Lorraine, without a plebiscite. Thus the intervention of the United States, far from modify ing the war aims of the European allies, confirmed and defined them. The divergence which later on it was attempted to establish between the former and the latter vanishes in the presence of a perusal of the docu- ments. The fourteen points contain no contradiction of the previous pro- grammes of peace. On the contrary. they reiterate them. The United States did not receive a peace diff frent from that which Europe de- manded. She defined in similar terms claims that were identical. No mod ification of the course followed was caused by her declaration. The only result was greater and more com pfete unity.