Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 February 1918 — VICTORY BEFORE PEACE-TAFT [ARTICLE]

VICTORY BEFORE PEACE-TAFT

AMERICA’S PART IN WAR EXPLAINED IN ADDRESS BEFORE SOLDIERS. The part which Americans must play in the war was discussed by former President Taft in the first of a series of addresses which he is to make at training centers in the central department of the army Y. M. C. A. auspices. He said, in part: “The war has not been won. Germany is in possession of Begium and part of northern France. She holds Servia and Roumania, Poland and the Baltic Provinces of Russia. Peace now, even though it be made on the basis of the restoration of the status quo ’without indemnities and without annexations’, would be failure to achieve the great purpose for which the allies have made heartrending sacrifices. Armaments would continue for the next year, and this war would have been fought jn vain. “He who proposes peace t now, therefore, either does not seb the stakes for which the allies are fighting, or wishes the German military autocracy still to control the destinies of all of us as to peace or war. Those who favor permanent world peace must oppose with might and main the proposals for peace at this juncture in the war, whether made in socialistic councils, in pro-German conferences, or by Pope Benedict. “The allies are fighting for a principle, maintenance of which affects the future of civilization. If they do not achieve it, they have sacrificed the flower of their youth and mortgaged their future for a century. The allies can not concede peace until they conquer, it. When they do so, it will be permanent. Otherwise they fail. “Germany alone is responsible for the incalculable destruction of this war. She led in the armanment of the world that she might rule it. She promoted, therefore, the armament of other nations. Her system was followed, though not as effectively, by other countries in pure defense of their peace and safety. “Intrigue, dishonor, cruelty, have characterized the entire military policy of Germany. , The rules of international law have been cast to the winds. The murderous submarine has sunk without warning the noncombatant comihercial vessels of the enemy and drowned their officers, their and’their passengers, men, women and children. Not only has this policy been pursued against enemy commercial vessels, but, also against neutral commercial vessels. We find a German diplomat telegraphing from a neutral port to the German headquarters, advising that if the submarine be used against the vessels of that neutral power it leave no trace of the attack. In other words, the murder of the crew must be complete—‘dead men tell no tales.* “Having violated the neutrality of Belbium, having broken its sacred obligations to that country and her people, it is now enslaving them by taking them from Belgium and enforcing their labor in Germany. This is contrary to every rule of international law and is in defiance of the plainest principles of justice and honor. All these things are done for the state. The ruling caste in Germany, in its desperate desire to win, has allowed no consideration of humanity or decency or honor -to prevent its use of any means which in any way could by hook or crook accomplish a military purpose.

“Meantime let us hope and pray that all the allies will reject proposals for settlement and compromise of every nature; that they will adhere rigidly and religiously to the principles that until a victorious result gives security that the world shall not again be"drenched in blood through the insanely selfish policy of a military caste ruling a deluded people intoxicated with material success and power, there will be no peace.”