Salt Lake Tribune | 1918-01-06 | Page 4 | Washington in Agreement with Premier's Views

WASHINGTON IN AGREEMENT WITH PREMIER'S VIEWS WASHINGTON, Jan. 5. Premier Llovd George's address to jlUq British trade unions today on England's war aims created cre-ated a profound impression in official circles in Washington. Comment on it, however, was withheld until officials could give it thorough study. That the address was not unexpected was plain. The growing anxiety exhibited exhibit-ed by the entente chancellories since the beginning' of the Brest-Litovsk peace conferences, and the openly expressed belief be-lief that some steps must be taken to counteract the insidious attempts of the German delegates to misrepresent the alms of their enemies, had convinced Washington officials that there soon must come from some authoritative source a clour, outspoken declaration of the real position of the powers fighting Germany. Although it has all the force of an of-ciai of-ciai declaration, it was pointed out here that Mr. Lloyd George's speech, after all, could not be seized upon by the central cen-tral powers as definitely binding the entente en-tente allies, or even Great Britain, to a literal acceptance of his war aims as the basis of peaie. They might, however, be properly regarded as a tentative outline out-line of British and probably entente allied aims which would be broached at any peace conference at which these powers may take part as the groundwork upon which peace negotiations might be founded. Inference Drawn. One Inference drawn from the premier's address was tiiat he still hopes that the German negotiators nt Brest -LJtovsk can bo balked in their efforts to force a humiliating hu-miliating peace upon Russia, and In thit connection it was recnlled that hints had been sriven in semi-official orcans of a willingness of the entente powers to recognize the Bolsheviki government if it acted fairly toward the nations fightinc Germany. It also was recardod as possible possi-ble tint the address might suffice to meet the demand of Leon Trotzky for a statement of the entente war aims within a ten-day period Just about to elapse, without act ually commit ling the powers too definitely. Some exchanges that have taken place between the I'nited States and her co-b.-iligerents recently had pointed to a desire de-sire on tlie part of some of the governments govern-ments tiiat President Wilson acain should sneak in defense of the position he had m 1? ea-1 v taken in regard to war aims. The st:ite department felt, however, that as the president twice had outlined in the most formal and public manner his beliefs, be-liefs, America's position had been sufficiently suffi-ciently disclosed for the present at least. Allies in Harmony. While it was intimated that the Washington Wash-ington government had noL been advised in advance of what the British premier was to say. that the aims lie outlined would not lead to any differences between the powers seems assured, not only by the preceding exchanges between the entente en-tente powers and Washington, but also the harmonious proceedings of the interallied inter-allied war council in Paris, at which all the subjects treated by Premier Lloyd George today were considered. Some officials pointed out that the British premiet had taken the repeated declarations of the Italian, French and British premiers, and not only had clarified clari-fied them, but had stated them more frankly and directly than they had been presented before. It was noted that even President Wilson's Ideas were developed more sharply than he himself had expressed ex-pressed them. It Is . believed here that Mr. Lloyd George had a double purpose in mind in making his address. Only last week tlie British trades unions registered their strong insistence upon a declaration of entente aims and tha premier's address today was taken as an answer to that demand. K second object whicn the premier pre-mier is believed to have in mind was to impress upon the Russian peace delegates the fact that the war aims of rhe entente allies are more nearly in consonance with their own altruistic aspirations than anything any-thing which the central powers can offer them. Feature of Address. A feature of the address which particularly particu-larly interested officials here was the reference ref-erence to constitutional government in Germany. While this was regarded as nearly in." line with similar sentiments expressed by President Wilson, it was suggested that an underlying purpose vas to direct attention to the hollowness and insincerity of the efforts being made by Chancellor von Heriling - to convey the impression that Germany already had ' been "democratized."' as shown by his invitation in-vitation to tlie reichstag committee to submit "suggestions" as to the peace negotiations ne-gotiations at Brest-Litovsk. However, it has been noted that at no time did he admit the right of that body to approve or disapprove or in any way to have any responsibility for the conclusion conclu-sion of a peace treaty with Russia.