Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 January 1917 — BELLIGERENTS FROWN ON WILSON METHODS [ARTICLE]

BELLIGERENTS FROWN ON WILSON METHODS

Proposals Made By Chief Executive Not Looked Upon FavorabU By European Belligerents.. The plan of President Wilson to insure everlasting peace throughout the World no doubt meets with the approval of everyone. The attempt taken by 'Mr. Wilson in interesting the European billigerents in peace negotiations seems to be a flat failure if one would judge from the comments from foreign newspapers affected directly by the war. President Wilson seems to have made another great blunder and. put . this country in a delicate position in regards to her relations with the warring nations if an excerpt from an editorial of the tfew Yolk World' is any criterion. The Tribune says: "In our opinion this mixing long in advance into the details of the coming peace compact in Europe is highly imprudent. It puts the United States in a false position and cannot but excite the of the European belligerents, from whose quarrel President Wilson, so long as it suited him to do so, insisted vehemently that we must stand rigidly aloof. The following comments were made by London papers following the action of Mr. Wilson in proposing peace. The Manchester Guardian (Eng.): “The speech in form was addressed to the senate, but it equally concerns ourselves and our adversaries in the war. The president has no intention of taking any part in the actual negotiations of terms of peace. That he leaves whply to the belligerents. He simply comes forward now to state in unmistakeable terms, both for his. own people and for the other people of the world, every one of whom is directly connected, what kind of peace it is which he will consent to call upon his countrymen to approve and sustain*” The London Standard: “Mediation is premature, and if persisted in could be interpreted onl£ as a desire to help the party which already claims to have won. Moreover, it is not clear by what title, legal "or moral. President Wilson assumes that he has some right to shape the destinies of the European continent. He did not protest against the infringement of the Hague conventions. He has never expressed the smallest sympathy with the suffernigs of France, Belgium, Serbia or Poland. We have heard this voice raised on behalf of suffering humanity only since Germany seemed visibly on the decline. It is really very hard to see What locus standi the United States can claim in this matter.” The London Morning Post: Upon first impression the presidents scheme does not fill us with any very sanguine hope. We remain still of the’<opinion that a permanent peace can only be obtained by the defeat of Germany, We would even say to President Wilson what Lincolq. said to Europe at the end of 1861: I am quite sure that a sound argument coudl be made to show them that they can reach their aim more readily and easily by aiding to crush this rebellion than by giving encouargement to it.’ In other words, if President Wilson desires to end the war, let him come in and help us end it. He will then have the opportunity of fighting for liberty and all those other great principles which, as we have always been taught to believe Americana hold dearer \than life itself. But if his enthusiasm for these principles will not carry him so far, his next best course is to leave if to the allies to secure for them for the world by the only way in which they can be secured, that is to say, by vitory.”