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Show mSk CjOQcfwms IVqqAIis I i "iffE g1 qfesJcw RE our prayers about to be answered? BpltjlL Can it be possible that a sincere desire yjjftffll for peace has taken possession of the W&W hearts of all the peoples at war? Has I 1 EpSF President Wilson's clarion call to the fJKaB raging nations, to pause and consider ' the cost before the last bridges are burned, awakened a responsive chord? Will his inspired appeal to the better nature and sober judgment of mankind find a favorable reply re-ply before the winter's storms are settled and America strikes with all her pent-up might? The answer still lies across the waters behind be-hind the far-flung battle lines of the enemy but every day the prospects pros-pects are growing brighter for an early and earnest exchange of honest hon-est views that will pave the way for a speedy settlement of the controversy. con-troversy. How and from whom these overtures will come is still a matter for speculation. The war lords are still as thirsty for blood as ever but their power over their peoples is on the wane. The truth of the treacheries to which they have unwittingly been made a party is slowly beginning to dawn upon the befuddled minds of the unfortunate unfortu-nate masses comprising the population of the central empires, and they are sure to strike with a vengeance at those of their own blood who betrayed them into the commission of their awful crime against civilization. There is a limit to human endurance. There is a limit to which even the most servile and lowly-hearted will suffer themselves them-selves to be subjected. Rumblings of the approaching upheaval can be heard on every hand. It would seem that the hour when these poor misguided people will arise and assert their rights is about to strike. That the President's eloquent and straight-forward appeal will hasten the day of the self-emancipation of shackled Europe there can be no doubt. To argue otherwise is to hold that honest words are , " r worthless and that all Europe is a madhouse from which reason has , "V fled, never to return. We must hold to our faith in humanity. Amer- x' ica's declaration of good will and honorable resolve to all peoples can- J not fail to make a profound impression everywhere, even upon those i ff, who are now bearing arms against her. .America demands an enduring peace a peace that will disarm militarism, redress the wrongs committed, restore to the expatriated peoples their liberties and lands, remove all racial prejudices, level all commercial barriers, safeguard the highways on the seas, and secure to every man his personal and political rights in every clime and un-' un-' der every condition. To this end she proposes a federation of the great nations of the earth, such as will guarantee for all time the inviolability in-violability of this compact. It is a magnificent undertaking for mankind man-kind to contemplate. President Wilson's plain statement of the program for peace leaves nothing to be desired. It is the last word. And whether this form of peace is obtained by friendly consultations, effected in good faith and without further bloodshed, or by heaping high upon the altars of its righteous cause every sacrifice of life and treasure it has ,, to offer, this plea to the nations will inure to the everlasting glory of v, the Great Republic. |