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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 1918)
The Commoner VOL.-18, NO. 12 10 Text of President's War Aims Speech ment'a interpretation, of its own duty gard to peace: with ro. In a nalablo address marking tho oponing of tho Fourth Liberty Loan campaign at tho Metro politan opora Iiouho, Now York, September 27, tfrcsidont Wilson laid down the only terms Under which tho Unltetl States and it allies would sit at a peace tablo with tho central powers. The address in full follows: My Follow Citlzons: I am not hero to promote the loan. That will bo dono ably and enthusi astically dono by tho hundreds of thousands of loyal and tlroloss men and womon who have undertaken to present it to you and to our fol low citizens throughout tho country; and I have not tho least doubt of tholr comploto success, for I know tholr spirit and tho spirit of tho country. My confldonco is conflrmod too by tho thoughtful and experienced co-operation of tho bankors horo and ovorywhero, who aro lending tholr invaluable aid and guidance. I have come, rathor, to Book an opportunity to present, to you some thoughts which I trust will sorvo to give you, in perhaps fuller measure than beforo, a vivid soiiBo of tho great issues involved, in order that you may appreciate and accept with added enthusiasm tho gravo significance of the duty of supporting tho government by your men and your moans to tho utmost point o sacrifice and self-don I nl. No man or woman who has, really taken in what this war means can hesitate to give to the vory limit of what thoy have; and it is my mis sion horo tonight to try to make it clear once moro what tho-war really means. You will need no other stimulat'on or rbrainder of your duty. At ovory turn of tho war wo gain a fresh con sciousness of what we 'mean to accomplish by it. When our hopo and expectation aro most excited wo think moro definitely than beforo of tho Issues that hang upon it and of tho purposes which most bo realized by means of it. For it has positive and well defined purposes which we did not determine and which wo cannot alter. No statesman or assembly created thorn; no statesman or assembly can alter them. They Have arisen out of tho vory nature and circum stances of tho War. The most that statesmon 1id assomblios can do is to carry thorn out or bo false to them. Thoy wore, perhaps, not clear at the outset, but thoy aro clear now. Tho war has lasted moro than four years, and tho whole world has boon drawn into it. Tho common will of mankind has beon substituted for the particular purposes of individual states. Individual statesmen may have started the con flict, but noithor thoy nor thoir opponents can stop It as thoy please. It has bocomo a people's war, and peoples of all sorts and races, of every degree of power and variety of fortune, are in volved in its swooping processes of change and settlemont. VOICE OF WAR BECAME CLEAR Wo came into it when its character had be come fully defined and it was plain that no natlou could stand apart or bo indifferent to ita , outcoruo. Its challenge drove to tho heart of OVOrytlline WO oArnrl for mwl M-,,nA t mi . - -- - , " "Yvu alu. mo voice of the war had becoino clear and gripped our hearts. Our brothers from many lands, as well as our own murdored dead under tho sea, were calling o us, and wo responded, fiercely and of course. Tllft ftlr WHS Muni nltm.4- .... if ... J- rr ,'"" HnCl"S oportlonaV" Sly V r1 iwero: and wo havo noon i,m ,..m. ..., u ' and unchanging comprehension over since Wo accepted tho issues of the war as 'facts not a - any group of mon olthor here or elsewhere had defined them, and wo can accept niT outcome which does not squarely meet and settle them Those issues are these: x ll,m .Shall tho militnrv nmvn.. ... group of nations be suffered to determine tho fortunes of peoples over whom tliev have no right to rule except tho right of Shall strong nations bo freo to wrone weak nations and mako thorn subject to tholr purpose and interest? Shall peoples bo ruled and dominated, even in tholr own internal affairs, by arbll trarv and irrosimnsUiln r,twv . .. ., . .. " ... s :.r' -- ur uy tueir own win anu cnoico? Shall there be a common standard of right and privilogo for all peoples and na tions, or shall tho strong do as they will and tho weak suffer without redress? Shall tho assertion of right b haphazard and by casual alliance, or shall there bo a common concert to oblige tho observnuco of . of common rights? No man, no group of men, chose these to "bo tho issues of the struggle. They ARE the. issues of it, and they must be settled, by no arrange ment or compromise or adjustment of interests, but definitely and once for all and with a full and unequivocal acceptance of tho principle that tho interest of the weakest is as sacred as the interest of the strongest. Th's is what we mean when we speak of a permanent peace, if we speak sincerely, intel ligently and with a real knowledge and compre hension of the matter wo deal with. NO PEACE BY COMPROMISE We are all agreed that there can be no peace obtained by any kind of bargain or compromise with tho governments of the central empires, be . cause we have dealt with them already and have seen them deal with other governments that wero parties to this struggle, at Brest-Litovsk and Bucharest. They have convinced us that they aro w'thout honor and do not intend justice. They observe no covenants, accept no principle but force and their own interest. Wo cannot "come to terms" with them. They have made it impossiblo. The German people must by this time bo fully aware that we cannot ac cept the word of those who forced this war upon us. We do not th'nk tho same thoughts or speak the same language of agreement. It is of eaoltal importance that we should also be explicitly agreed that no peace shall be obtained by anv k?nd of compromise or abate ment of tho principles we have avowed as tho princinles for which we are fighting. There should exist no doubt about that. I am, there fore, going to take the liberty of speaking with the utmost frankness about tho practical impli cations that are involved in.it. If t be in deed and in truth the common ob ject of the governments associated against Ger man v and of the nations whom they govern, as I believe to be, to achieve by the coming settle ments a secure and lasting peace, it will be nenessarv that all who sit down at tho peace tabio snail come ready and willing to pay the pr'ce, tho onlv price, that will procure it, and reaW and willing, also, to create in soino v'rile fashion the only instrumentality by which it can bo marto certain that the' agreements of the pee will be honored and fulfilled. That price i8 impartial justice in every item of the settlement, no matter whose interest is crossed : anrt not onlv impartial justice but also the satisfaction of the several peoples whoso strumentaiitv s a Leaeue of Nations formed under covenants tbatrijriif be efficacious. With? out . audi an instrumentality, by which the peace of the wor el can be gdaranteed, peace will rest n t part imon the word of outlaws, and oly upon w ?0rd Fr 4Germay ""I nave to re PEACE MUST BE GUARANTEED bo formed now. If formed now, it wouM h morel v a new alliance confined to thA ?t associated against the common en ehiv ?"0n? likely that it could be farmed Sr tho ii ?,0t lTnJ 1S 11GCeS8ary t0 wawute? the poac ttoYght.1 GaCe Cann0t b aranteed as aVSSl wh?ft muTbeguSeus'St aRain' parties to the pelce whose Vron lGre wil1 hQ untrustworthy, and means mua?b fn aV? ?rVed nection with the VZft move that source of insecurity TfS ,2 r,e" folly to leavo the guaranty J i U 0uld be voluntary action o Pe?nmtfuJMWt seen destroy Russia and dveRTumanfa aV0 But these general terma nn T ' whole matter. Some detaTs a?e ZJlT 8e tllG them sound less like a thesta aSS d to,make practical program .These tw r like a tl particulars. mandTrsttehe;ertJfh0f greater, confidence because I can ! i authoritatively, as- representing goverT First, tho impartial justice meted nut must involve no discrimination between those to whom wo wish to bo just and tho to whom we do not wish to bo just. It nuuj w UBU iaik iixwys no lavorites and knovs no standards but tho equal rights of tho several peonies concerned; Second, no special or separate interest of any single nation or any group of nations can be made the basis of any part of tho settlement 'which is not consistent with tho common interest of all; Third, there can be no leagues or alii, ancos or special covenants and understand. ings within the general and common family of the League of Nations; Fourth, and more specifically, there can bo no special, selfish economic combinations within .the league and no employment of any form of economic boycott or exclusion except as the power of economic penalty by exclusion from the markets of the world may bo vested in the Jjeaguo of Nations it self as a means of discipline and control; Fifth, all international agreements and treaties of every kind must be made known in their entirety to tho rest of tho world. Special alliances and economic rivalries and host'lities have been the prolific source in the modern world of the plans and passions that produce war. It would be an insincere as well aSian insecure peace that did not exclude them in definite and binding terms. The confidence with which I venture to speak for our people in these matters does not spring from our traditions merely and the well known principles of international action which we have always professed and followed. In the same sentence in which I say that the United States will enter into no special arrangement for under standings with particular nations let me say also that the United States is prepared to assume its full share of responsibility for the maintenance of the common covenants and understandings upon which peace must henceforth rest. We still read Washington's immortal warning against "entangling alliances-" with full comprehension and an answering purpose. But only special and limited alliances entangle; and we recognize and accept the duty of a new day in which we are permitted to hope for a general alliance which will avoid entanglements and clear the air of the world for common understandings and tho maintenance of common rights. I have made this analysis of the international situation which the war has created, not, of course, because I doubted whether the leaders of the great nations and peoples with whom we are associated were of the same mind and enter tained a like purpose, but because the air every now and then gets darkened by mists and groundless doubtings and mischievous perver sions of counsel and it is necessary once and again to sweep all the irresponsible talk about peace intrigues and weakening morale and doubtful purpose on the part of those in au thority utterly, and if need be unceremoniously, aside and say things in the plainest words that can be found, even when it is only to say over again what has been said before quite as plainly if in less unvarnished terms. As I have said, neither J nor any other man in governmental authority created or gave form to tho issues of th's war. I have simply re sponded to them with such vision as I could command. But I have responded gladly and with a resolution that has grown warmer and more confident as the issues have grown clearer and clearer. It is now plain that they are issues which no man can pervert unless it be willfully. I am bound to fight for them, and happy to fight for thom as time and circumstances have re vealed them to me as to all the world. Our en thusiasm for them grows more and more irre t slstible as they stand out in more and more vivid and unmistakable outline. KNOW WHAP THEY FIGHT FOR And Ihe forces that fight for thom draw into closer and closer array, organize their millions into more and more unconquerable might, as they become more and more distinct to the thought and purpose of the peoples engage. It is the pecul'arity of this great war that while statesmen have seemed to cast about for defini tions of th'e,ir purpose and have sometimes seemed to shift their ground and their point of view, tho thought of the mass of men, whom , , (Continued on page 13.) t?