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Show NEUTRALS SHOULD WEIGH WAR 23 3S . S , ? WORLD NEEDS JUST VERDICT German Masses Pity French, but Teachings Have Convinced Them That English Are Scheming Schem-ing Brewers of Strife. ! "FACE TO FACE WITH KAISERISM" j By JAMES W. GERARD, ' ! American Ambassador at the German Imperial Court, July 23, 1913, to ' February 4, 1917. j , Author of "My Four Years in Germany." CHAPTER XXXVI. (Continuing the Reichstag Member's First Article.) SUPPOSING one neutral slate took the ma tter in hand and, after having- HMcertuintd the consent of the other neutrals, or at least a majority of thorn which it is almost sure to obtain would invite all the nations, the belligerents include--, to a. conference or a congress at a neutral place for the discussion and the arrangement of the principles and rules of the proposed pro-posed T-fjiiKue of the Nations. Would the hehicereut nations refuse to send their deb p:UeH to such a roiMVrn-.'.' f'ou Id they do it wit hoi it d'niia'inti their case be fori- the world of the neutrals and the masses of their own people? It is most improbable that I hey would do Hui h a i h im?. AnU even if they did they would not by this put the conferem to naught. It would be there and would k'v-- palpatio- Hub-stance Hub-stance to an idea which until now lived, in spite of irreat and most jn-P'-nuous work spent on it, polit , ally ordy in the sphere of lofty speculation or projects. Liberation of Nations. ! And the conference could do more. Starting from the maxim which finds such inip!''v-ui ve accent uat ton in I'rsid'-rtt Wilson's note that war in perioral must not and the present war in pa rticular '-:ini:ot be rert rdeil an the private affair of the individual sta ten that engage in it . the conference con-ference eoulrl also take Into consideration consider-ation some quest ion of consequence, connected with the pics'-nt war. It comd, e. k wiiile laying the founds t ions for the security nf countries coun-tries agarrcU wilful nMaW:. lay down opinions about the jut H -t t lenient disputed (pK-stioriH of nationality ancl tlie- 1 ibora ! ion of na ttons or parts of such from fillgiatK. in a state or empire em-pire of different or mixed nationalities. nationali-ties. It seeniH to become ;i iiei-i-H.iiy to ma he clear whether a power or coaht ion of .mi di 'an be. just i r n-d to put in- the list of Iheir war aitni the lipera t ion of rationalities witbout sul'- t ficient proof that the latter all want ' to sever their con nee t i'.ris wit h I he 1 state or empire to which they ju: 1 1 y belui.g. Judgment on War's Origin. Tb 'ze;hs Jn Austria and the Kin us il: Utjssia st ri ve for t iieir full a u -tonomy within I h'-vi1 empires, bill they .have siiown very little of a desire to iiL'orne a separate, state-. An opinion that w.ira for abstrtis- benefits never asked for can under no rirruniMaiues le reL-ardetl as liberation wars wouU wror.i; nobodv because it would apply to all, but it may contribute much to have designs iriven up which otherwise, other-wise, would us.-U-s.-ly causo blooJlied an-i proloncd enmities. The conference would ulso be Justified Justi-fied in taking nieaHures to procure an impartial exp-Tt opinion ot. the uneln and tii e b sal conduct of the war and the K'-neral principles ui :uttioii:il and international fit; lit involved. If the conftTeie e would Invite neutral neu-tral expert in interna tionfi I law of i. -ral renown to invemiaty the questions Indicated abc e and draw up reports It would not by this offend in the HtnalleM d' ire. fieainsi tiie re-rjui: re-rjui: cnent.s of Impart la lit . Hut the reports coui'l, if l-a-e, un ar-ful exam ex-am in a' ion and coa-ttdtrateiy worded, contribute very much to .-often the excited tntn-Ls in th- coin; tries en-paireil en-paireil and facilitate the preliminaries ot a. genuine pace. Time Vital Factor. There are. no doubt, all sorts of objections ob-jections that could be raised against thi.M SML'is'esUon. Hut tl:ey cn n be met ' fca tisfa- lorny if tin- ui.i t t.-r l taken up in i.i rne.st an I v. it h prn't 1 al m ind. The priti' J pa 1 d if Mult y to ori-Mome in time; no time niu.st be watel hv research In f a r - fet -'he.l Retails. Re-tails. It ik a i fin para ' I vel- jihort llft of pertinent (pie.-t lonn which would have to be answered, and the mii-tenalH mii-tenalH of ttieir examination are already al-ready at hand in the de duration a rvl f!cunietitar- publications of tho different Koveinnient them Selves, whi'-h want to lie verified by Jux ta-poHitiori ta-poHitiori with the t in res'iondini; political poli-tical ion k of the ot her jddf and to be M'-rutinlze'l upon tle-lr Intrinsic sl-li sl-li if I' a n- e. Works r.f eoriB-'le n t loua legists nud lii.stori.in irmf '-uld ere an Npet-tmeiiH ure not miIsInk. Ulit lhe- re on atonerl h- private enterprise enter-prise a ud ex (it ess opiniouR not a l-way.H l-way.H in Hie ueasmel lan'uak'e that I woubl atone fit the purpose here In j View. This purpose 1m to direct the minds of tii" Kfatest pooultile number of i eo-pb- In the affe-'ted cfMiii t r es to Hindi w ;i y of rennlinK the ipies! tons of -,r aiul to Mil- h i'o:n prehension of tho fe.-Iin at t he of I-ai m-le ua are t Mo ne.-.sary eomhtl'iis of a snne and holier a ppreela t Ion of the na ture n nr) the possibilities of a i eunjift hie reaee. The present feelltiif In thee setlon of the publm wiilcli form public opinion opin-ion In thin country mm In Knidand nnd in f-Yame Is as full of bitterness mh i-.'iii be. , cure is hadlv wantfil, hut it does not proceed an I omit t icH 1! v. Weariness of the wa r Is t here, but .It !m comileiacte.t partly hy (lie manl-f-ii I in'ddenlH of the War Itself, bv the appetitcH It l.ai au altene.i, hv tho niulunl rlintrust It has created. Free Discussion of Experts. It mlu'ht: he objected tlmt one can hardly expect a number of even neutral neu-tral expert m to come to ,i orn '-i ted ojunion on thene tolnts. Hot 11 would he fr little coimequence if (be experts. ex-perts. Instead of ni;ieenr on a common com-mon report, wool l puhlhdi m forlty iiml minority re port h. What mn t terx It th:it opInlonM of (ptnlirie( expel (m fi re at all d r;i wn up n ml publlKhed, so thiit dl.si uHwlon Is im much as pew-sdbb, pew-sdbb, free from the effeetn of the binned spec chew of In' ere sled fd.i t e--nien fiii'l 'itlu-r pollt IctuiiH nnd their p reHM V The report or i eport ii won hi I JiIko be of ijfie when mi armistice at I ' lea St 1 1 ud been n creed li pon ll I if I li con fere tic o for the conclusion of iv pea ce Im wi 1 r I iik. And even if (he work of the Invited experts should (ike more time than the conclusion of the rien ce llstdf, the reporiH mb.'ht Htlll he rif couf-ii'leratiln value. l-'or whal maltert it not only that a peine is come to, hut also that the nations should n ft t ward po? ocmm a ii t llm l t a -tf Impartial opinions on the main ipi' ;.l Ions of eon him uence connected v.-1 tii Die oili;ln ami the conduct of the war? for such opinions would j educiiU' (he polroned minds to an oh-i oh-i Jei-tive ind a i fMiiiini t ii t i e fllrteuHHlrin of the men n.s I o prevent a repel 1 1 inn I of t he prcseti I d IkmhI it, I)iscus.siiii Needed Iadly. ( 1 1 1 v- Ihmie who live in the affect. connirleN can be nwtue how real tho ' Iiee. In for piovldlm; the KcmUJll puh-lic puh-lic with unldii'ieil a iH horllatlve epo- j Mltl'UlM Of t III 'HI! iple'Cl lollS. l-'inall", th. conference could ami should nl;M. iIImcimh In n perl Incut way i the ui'"!Ioii of fllr'HMtiament. Thhl ipicMtlon la i n I oil a y reached n Mtni;e 0 M ich heyoild t hut of mere deitii n - I billiy, It In now :i oih" tlmi of com-mnii'lInK com-mnii'lInK nece;edt ; one can , 1 1 fs 1 1 - na v ! of life ami dealh of I he readieil Hlmpi ! of civilization. No plono whihcH or j thcmellcal ( yp-iMlllollf III e.:i,t, to II , Will liow Hill l ice. We lull it III! VC j u a ' 1 1 h a I pi opo,!a Iji, pi o oaa In of u shen.e to jut d I s i r ma 'tie: . t :::tn prar-tpe prar-tpe Hil l pro: n.ils of tl;-- me ins to Induce the -pfleient s t a i i to accept lite scheme and a : r v It ii it. 1 1 Ih a hii; an 1 pre t en he ; s pro-Ufa pro-Ufa trim e bete n;:.-fc-e'-1 t, t u- r, i st to ie d.-dde-l by t.ie.iks W 1th Ih- n . j rlncipif of i oi 1 1 n t r T r e m in s'atii affilrH. H it the times ni'u so ecp-lam.il ecp-lam.il t hat e ra a d I n.ir y im-as-U eS c.innot be sliuimeil. If one sees two la. Is llRht ea-h other w!tli their lists or even sticks on m.iy welt miv, "Let t lie m tirst ticht It out and then wo sjhail see t hrimcin them to reason." Horrors to Increase. I!ut if they stan. I on board n nhfp nnd, mad with r.ik'c and wit ho u In-. In-. terruption nnd unt i-uut t inul v tiu ow Incendlrtrv matter nt ch- Ii oilier, you wo dd rat h.-r stop them before the hhlp Is in tl.imes. I'nder oilier conditions condi-tions It m lit he t ne r.bt tin m: to convoke a onference to e held after the war in over. , 4 it In now, reason rea-son would demand not to aduniin the term to th.it J.inctore. This Is not the pl.i, e to 101 ludnate res po lis I b 1 1 1 -Ilex, fhiflh'c 11 to fav (bat the preterit pret-erit aspect of tile coptlb t H the Wojst Hlnce Its b(u:irinl!u; and thiea'ons a w'.n a va tlouR of ii s horroi s. (if ail t he ne 1 1 trals. none is more in edesl Imd to take the initiative In this cra-.e matier than the lnlte( States of Amerfen: liv their pleat power, bv their ., :r;tplilcal position, and. Inst hut not inisi, hy their historical his-torical traditions they before all ate called to act. Old World Poisoned. The small Kuropean nations nrp al-rendy, al-rendy, as It were, too mm h under the lire nrottnd them to be so free In their action as Ih t lie ein m-n t of the Kiaut lep't'ihc on the western hemisphere. hemi-sphere. Pa that they Wood with the greatest readiness Jo, li in ttie convocation con-vocation of a eonlerere e fur the tei -lleimnU of at hast the tirst two of the described subjects. It? sine bcond anv doubt. I The leader in the nrranpunent of I this conference N. in mv opinion, the hast obje-t ion a ble. nnd at the same tome it is the most promlMmr !u-.p that In tae present .ippaibn'y entangle. en-tangle. 1 situation A mei ica can l;, ve lhuojie. The oh! wutM Is poi-np-d. , Toe virus of t h.e must Irrational ! 1 1 a 1 1 1 ' d of Us 1 0111 pone nt M-d -ns n'idnst emdi other, lunoculaled into t hem by nil Fort s of false le.olcrs of opinion, eats deeper and deej er and t hn a t ens to nc 1 1' fv nli its roots of a w holcMiuie life. M iv the Tinted States of Amerii -i he'p a iH'-umte 1 l-hu o.o to Iind the :iv o it of t h dcadl miasmaiie (uncie Into which it has lost llscf. Helplessness of Europe. l;Y - . M K.MnKH OT THK IiKK'liSTAO. ICiirope Is in the position of n wanderer wan-derer w ho bus cone astray into n nv,uiii, In aln labors lu to regain Hi in ground. The more frantha lv he strucvTles t li o surer he Is to I ecome sulmii'i :i'il, I. Ike an infant child, be is unable to help himself. Help must come from people ouMde the swamp. We are now in the third ear of t lie blr.K'cst , the most fru mud a I and t lie moMt hopeless w ar the woi Id has e er H-cn. It is hopeless in so far as on the one side none of the two coalitions Is likely to he in a vlsihlo time po much the victor ocr t ::e otiier thftt It can dictate K its own teims, and as on tiie other side there is r.o conim"!! lis to he pkii for a so!-ii'Ie compronii?e. It I-1 not tl;e extravajranc of demands that forms , an insuperable harrier for p. 'ace. Kx-trava.uit Kx-trava.uit :er.r,s of pen e h.ive irde- d 1 een tormuhi i d '' t;r.authcr..".e.i persons per-sons or croups, but thev h.'ve no- where received tho sacet :onim: ta:-p of tho rpffonsible e-uTniHOii!-;, Tho la; tor pi . : er i at hor to s;v.r.L- cy the moderation of their demands, a; .e.i.-t so far as territory Is co'i oernril. H it it is just tin." apparent inodcrafon tl at m.iUes pi'ice sjLh an a'iri.os: :u-pLduble :u-pLduble problem. Political Donr'nance Tactbr. Kar bohir.-r tb. s :voder.i t bm in re-carii re-carii to tetiitorial don'ands io uns t.'o demise to destroy th.o op:xncrts' cVaraef of ro':t:cal pre iccr.ir.a: .: The war is. for the prose:: t at iea?: in t:.e : ". rst instance a struggle . the s::rre:rruy of Kurope- And ! jeri.aps na: o i:i a r.ec.n:e sf : an o!:erw;sp. Jircres are. course. eorv"who,e in i::ch and -u a r : e rs . bw t i n very c : r : ' w: ether ouo of the respo::s:b',e o; the .bo ;io-!er.t r.uior.s p;:rs::es ' ' h in if if or his r.ritum serioosy c o ' s . t e v. t y ax nr.i:::t bo c-:. i : ; :'.s".or- of Ki::-' e. A.', are. Vtnf.f: c,.tl iic.irM ; o iocs t-at t.::sr.-te t.::sr.-te y I've, t r's in;o the ctb.er cj : V. a:.u;vo".y t.ts-y as ;t :s to se: :i ih.-; uto or. q resf.ors of tcrr.terr ;ir'. i".:v.;.on or to work out sor.tr ; for co-irromiso in reir,: to suo.. " di';':o;bt or :il":ost i:v;;b',e u w -; bo to arb-.trato on a ly.iesr.on of . (Continued on Page Eight). : Tf WAR VERDICT ; 1 13 KEEDOF WU) . A at End of Confiict Must Bq Found Outside of J , Poisoned Europe. (Continued From Page Two.) t supremacy or to settle it by compro mise. Particularly -in the camp of the al-i al-i ''es Is the possibility that Germany ! misht emerge out of the war the :j actual arbiter of Europe conceived i; a an unbearable thought. None of "i the allied powers, neither England nor France and not even Russia, Italv 'j being in this respect quite out of jj question, has during the last decades J shown a disposition or a pretense to -j play up to such a part. ;i Germany Disturbing Element. i But Germany is suspected of nour- I lshing ideas of this kind, and utter ances of some of their prominent men, occasional sayings of the kaiser Included, tend to give substance to ; this suspicion. In vain Germans ob- ject that their country has all the i forty-four years since 1R70 kept the . peace in Europe. We have done the i same, would the others reply, and we ; 1 have not, as Germany has done, i again and again threatened war when : things did not run according' to our wishes or humors. Germany has in fact abstained from actual peace ' breaking. But she was regarded and has done not a little' to acquire the ; fame as the latent or virtual disturb- j, ing element in European politics. This view in regard to political Germany has greatly been enhanced ! through many of her actions during ; the present war. It is natural enough, 1 though not particularly edifying, that in a war each party ascribes all the ; guilt thereof to the opponents and i poses as the innocent who maliciously was surprised when not dreaming of any harm. But the cantankerous way in which almost the whole of political : and intellectual Germany has handled ( this question and has treated it as a i crime not to take in every respect the German view of the case and of all the details of warfare has strengthened strength-ened the feeling that this nation has come to regard itself as a sort of high judge of Europe. Cantankerous German View. People were reminded of that ill-considered ill-considered harangue to German soldiers sol-diers at the time of the China expedition expedi-tion when they were entreated to act toward the Chinese like the Huns under Attila. This, and the eagerness eager-ness to crush by overwhelming power pow-er every small nation that ventures to take sides with the allies, as well as the proclaiming of rights for submarines sub-marines and Zeppelins upon her own authority these and similar measures meas-ures have only been too suited to nourish the conception that Germany places herself in the role of the scourge of God. How this leeling reacts upon political po-litical thought is illustrated by a conversation con-versation a German Socialist has had in the summer of 1915 on neutral ground with a French Socialist politician poli-tician of no jingoish leanings at all on the possibilities of peace. Even if Germany declared herself ready to relinquish Be.gium and to return to France every inch of ground occupied, occu-pied, his countrymen would not accept ac-cept peace from her, - explained the Frenchman. And on the question, "Why not?" he replied passionately: "Because it would be a German peace; because it would yet leave Germany the all-powerful of Europe; because it would make us depend upon the whims and tempers of that conceited military nation." France Is Steadfast. "But are you going to bleed yourself your-self to death?" was the next question, ques-tion, and the reply, uttered in a voice where sadness mingled with determination, deter-mination, was: "Yes, rather be ruined !" This is a specimen of the feeling , created by the present war, and I am ! afraid the sentiment has not abated ', a whit yet. The Germans have done i a good deal in attempts to detach the ; French from the English. They have told them that they are only the poor, seduced fools of the base and ego- 1 tistic Britishers, that Germans did ! not bear them any malice, that they rather pitied them and would fain be ! ready to come to terms with them. ! But declarations of this sort proved i only how little the French mentality was understood this side of the Vosges. The French nation Is too j much impressed by the- memory of her great past and the part-played 1 by her in European politics to stand ' being pitied and patted like children ' of tender age. It will be respected as an equal who acts with the full knowledge of the state of things and i is too much given to political reflec- J tion to accept willingly any view of j the war that visibly is colored by the j interest of Germany in the dissension between the two great powers of western Europe. The anti-German teehng runs fUU very high in France; her leading papers excel without any exception in extremely harsh language lan-guage against everything German, and the gn-at mass of those who in former years tad propagated the idea of a Franco-German understanding understand-ing are now dead against it. Reaction to German Hate. - A similar feeling has, step by step, got hold of the British nation. From not being -very popular at its beginning begin-ning in England, the war has come to be regarded as a greater national concern than any of its predecessors. The frantic, if not hysterical, outbursts out-bursts of hatred against England in Germany when the former decided to stand by France in the war were at first not taken too seriously. But by arid by the unceasing utterances of spite have, together with the known acts of German aerial and submarine warfare, deeply reacted on the British Brit-ish mind. The feeling is now general gen-eral that England has never before had an enemy so full of hatred against her, so ardently desirous of causing her irreparable harm, as she now has in present-day Germany. Even such Socialist papers as the New iriaiesinan, which before the war had no anti-German bias at all, have arrived at the same conclusion concerning what may be called a German peace as the French Socia.'ist politician whose opinions were given above characterized it. In an article called "The case for the Allies," and especially addressed to Americans, the Kew Statesman explains in its number num-ber of December 30 that peace with an unbeaten Germany would mean "Mitiel Europa from the Baltic to the Black sea"; that nothing would prevent pre-vent its expansion through the Balkans Bal-kans to EI Arish and Bagdad; that throughout this vast area the authority, au-thority, if not the suzerainty, of Berlin Ber-lin wouid be acknowledged, and that the small European states north and northwest of Germany, without any resistance by the mere force of things would come to be subjected to the dictates of Germany. Force Would Flourish. In the words of the New Statesman, States-man, as the result of an inconclusive peace, "militarism would be more firmly established than ever by the record of its marvelous success and by the manifest need for a military ! organization proportionate to so vast j an expansion." ! Is this feeling justified? Does it appreciate facts at their exact value? There is undoubtedly an influential I section in Germany which entertains I feelings of this kind. It has its ad- herents particularly in naval circles ' and among the intellectuals of the nation, na-tion, and in a considerable degree also in the financial world. These sections sec-tions see in England partly the happy possessor of what, in their opinion, ought by right to belong to the German Ger-man race, and partly the power without with-out which . German expansion would meet with no resistance worth speaking speak-ing of by European nations. This section of anti-English on principle or by deeply rooted hatred, influential as it is, is, however, not the whole nation. It has only now the hold of her mind, because it has succeeded in instilling into her the belief that England is the secret manufacturer of the present war; that she is the selfish self-ish fermenter of hatred in Europe, the scheming brewer of strife on the continent. England has become to the average German mind a real nightmare, night-mare, a sort of Frankenstein, or any such spookish monster; and as she now, by the vicissitudes of the war, has indeed become the most dangerous danger-ous of Germany's opponents, it is not possible to educate people from the inside to a more rational view of her part in this war and in European politics altogether. The Catastrophe of Europe. There you have the greatest hindrances hin-drances to peace in Europe. I did not mention Russia. But the war between be-tween Germany, inclusive of Austria-Hungary, Austria-Hungary, and Russia is of quite a different nature. It is more of a war of the older order. It has, of course, also evoked a good deal of hatred. But on the whole it is, aa ' wars go, more of an objective nature. There are material differences on which it would not be impossible to compromise. But there is no such deeply seated Irrational opposition which now sets Germans and English and French and Germans against each other. The war between , the central powers and Russia Is, comparatively com-paratively speaking, an accident in the political history of Europe. The war between England, France and Germany is a catastrophe in European Eu-ropean civilization. As a war it is most irrational, and just because of its absurdity it is so utterly difficult to find a solution for it, and there is little hope that unless some outside force intervenes it nay end otherwise other-wise than by absolute general exhaustion. Socialists Have railed. Things would be otherwise if there were reasonable hopes of a concerted action on the part of the international union of the Socialist parties. But such hopes, if hey ever could be entertained, en-tertained, have by now become a thing of the past. In the three countries coun-tries named the majority of the leaders lead-ers of organized labor have taken sides in the war alongside their governments gov-ernments and have by this more or less given up independency and lost the confidence of tiieir former comrades com-rades in the opposite camp. Distrust, which in general has so much contributed to bring about this war, prevails also in the ranks of the Socialists in regard to the leaders of the movement on the other side of the frontier. Minorities everywhere work for a greater independency as a step to a belter International understanding. under-standing. But they have as yet nowhere no-where succeeded in winning the majority ma-jority ot the movement over to their views and policy, and even if they did all sorts of hindrances would, by the governments, lie put in the way of these Socialists to assemble internationally inter-nationally in sufficient number for work of this nature. Nations Distrustful. Xor is it to be expected that revolts re-volts of the discontented masses will be vast enough to force the governments govern-ments into pca.e negotiations against their will. The possibilities of centralized cen-tralized governments against revolutionary revolu-tionary upheavals, as long as these remain re-main locally isolated, which In the face of the enormous extent of the section of the globe directly drawn fnto tho Wii.r la most probable, tire too Krcat lo bjt tin-Mo niovtiincTil h bavo a Kioal cliance uf clianglriK the policy of l.bo nthM-H. This would only lia ppi-n wlien at l?riHt Home of tlicsc clasnca or jmitlos wlilcli t L irnM'nt support t ho war coine round in Ibclr opinion, of which very fVw jh1kh urn at present to 1)0 Hff:n. The work of Miiall nilnorltloM t: very wlu;i'M, t ho wn r ha.4 ot hold of thM inind.M r f tho millions In all coun-trlns coun-trlns ami -h fillfd rial ion m again fit nntioriM wllh KTR-h flllriiKt and pplto an In Ihf; hl.story of I'ivlllzrd mankind never before has boon wit nesHfMj. No Pence by Socialists. fow Utile we am Justified to fx-pccl. fx-pccl. peafc from tlio net Ion of theso Sochi llsls w ho stand by pov eminent 3 In the wnr Im, ho far ns my o'n country coun-try Is mtu'cnu'd, shown by fhe fact Hint thf; bb: iiKM-tlns now (find. I am willing to odtnlt It. 11 Is thf Intenthm of tho Irdihiiors to hold th'Tn In favor Of peace) led tiy the leaders of the majority of tho Social -1 Hunocra t it. party, such ns Messrs. Scbotdeuiann, avhi, Kbnrt anrl others, turn out lti practices as meetings in support of the policy of (he government In regard to the quotlon of war and peace. In order or-der lo defend their own political attitude, at-titude, tlm spetUi(,rK are compelled to shift t lie responsibility for Um war and Its colli inua.t Ion wholly on the H'nouldors of the RitvcnimcntH of t ho opposite count i-1 cs a nd t he! r supporters, support-ers, and by this they 1 nTcase In the mind of thnlr hearers llio conviction tha t not hltur short of a del'ca t, of t hose eon nl ries will brl m; Ihe war to a desirahlo end. In l'hi:;lund the majority ma-jority of the l.nhor party and a considerable con-siderable num ler of Ihe best -h nown Socialist lend. th. aint In I'Viim-n the most Influential b-adors of the Socialist Social-ist pari y support a I so I hn wa r oliey of Ibelr respectivo Kovcrnnients hi nil principal Issues. Faction Lacks Strength. The well-meant a nd praiseworthy nttempts lo convene a full International Interna-tional Sor 'hills t congress for t he purpose pur-pose of Hot! lit itf these d il'l'erenccs by finding a common linn of action nn, 1 am sorry to say, under (he clronm-wtanceM clronm-wtanceM most llliely to prove abortive. They will founder on t lie self-contradict Ion tha t t he Social 1st H of t hn entente count rleH a i"i ue (hat t heir Kovernmcnls hate the Idea of (leiiuan in Mltarirun coin I in: 11 n hen t en a nd 11 a -reduced out. of this war, which, In their opinion, was provoked by It, while Ihe leaders of the Oernuin Socialists So-cialists In pow er would rn I her see (his mini" mill I a rlsm, which they In former yenii Imve so violently attacked at-tacked and d iwinin-ed, come out victorious vic-torious than have II Interfered with by outside IliMilence, In short, dee I Ions of I hn Social 1st mo ven in 1 1 1. will assist other forces In the action for peace, but t ho movement, move-ment, as a whole Is Incapable to act in the matter as a force of compelling streiiKt h. America Must Help. Help must, In tho main, conic from out skltt. Consequently, President Wit-son Wit-son "n act Ion I11 his not o to the belligerents bel-ligerents of December 20 (lOlf.) would have been the r Ik lit t lilnu, even tf It had offender! in some way against tho rules of diplomatic procedure. Tudor so exceptional clreunistanecH us these occasioned b " tho present war, e -Iraonlinary sieps are certainly Justified Justi-fied and breaches of etlue(to of little siKulllcance. Hut the note was faultless fault-less In tliis respect, and It can moreover more-over bo sa Id 1 tint In no way did It endamver legitimate Interevts of the one or I ue ot 11 or sect ion 01 t lie nei-Ib'.eronts. nei-Ib'.eronts. it offends only in spirit a r. a i nst Ca I u's . words, "Am I my brother's eeper?" and In distinct words nc;alu;d conception that war is a private, aiiilr of states, may It ever so much lin erl'ero wl I b t be inn levin 1 and moral welfare of other nut Ions. The step has not at once Hurt-ceded, Hut It has opened the way; nay, II has forced the door open for discussion dis-cussion In n fashion that nobody will fie si rotu; enough to shut It ana In. True, the central powers have by their offer of pence nej'.ol !n I Ions fore-Hlnlled fore-Hlnlled the note by a week, Hut this offer would have come to naunht without Mr. Wilson's action, llar-h as tho reply of Hie, nlIVs I to the offer, il would mo-' I Hkelv have been pnl In much iiion,' ne-;n 1 1 111; t-M'ins h:ul not the Amevlcnn note cause,! the entente allies lo Mvnhl n blunt "No" and content themselves with rn Isltur object ions and interject in neoiij::i t Ions, 1 l(y this they have willy-nilly pro- 1 Yoked n debate, and. Instead of shutting shut-ting the door, kept It well open People may call this a small success. suc-cess. In fnct. It is a becinnim;, ami for the first, 11.1 such, sufficient. The question i now: What shall the next step be and how can the debate bo directed to positive proposals? Of course, as the articles were plven by this Socialist author for pnh;ici-Hon. pnh;ici-Hon. anyone is at liberty to reproduce t heni. In conducting the penco negotiations. negotia-tions. President Wilson will have the benefit of the services of Poamcl House, the one man who. 1 believe Is best titled to protect the Interests' of America nnd of bunmnitv at such confluence. 1, of course, saw iVlonr' J louse durln- the war in Heiiln and in America, and I consMor st " man alive is his supenor in either known of the whole s;UUt:on or in anility to cope with t ho t:a:ial diplomats of Kr.ivpe. IliiiMn nainre Is much the same, ar.d the evmle-nmnnered evmle-nmnnered Texan who I-.vs beer. successful mi American pebtu-s "'; not fail when representing us t tV.-' table of peace. (Copyripht. 191S, by Public T.e-'itrr oos lan. Ooprir.bt. Oanndi. V.S, t1)" Pubhe l.edser eompany.) ( Continued tomorrow.) |