Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 172, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 July 1918 — WHAT IF IT WERE TRUE? [ARTICLE]

WHAT IF IT WERE TRUE?

Before we get excited about the rumored rupture of relations between Turkey and Germany, let us ask ourselves what we could do if the rumor proved correct, and Turkey came to the allied camp, asking for'terms. I. Could, we promise to leave the wretched remnant of the Armenian nation slaves in Turkish harems and road gangs? Could we agree that the Moslem scimetar should still hang over, the heads of our Greek allies in Asia Minor? Could we ask Britain to give Jerusalem and Bagdad back to Barbarism, or ourselves accept the Brest Litovsk treaty that turned the Caucasus over to the butchers of Enver Bey? And if Bulgaria, as the rumor runs, followed Turkey in suing for peace, could we leave her to gnaw the bones of murdered Serbia? The questions answer themselves. We can do none of these things. Honor and" interest alike forbid. But, that being true, why should Turkey and Bulgaria, however, war weary, and angry at Germany, turn to us for relief? . There is a chance, of course, that the story js true. There is at least as good a chance that it is a deliberate fake, sent out at the direct order of Berlin, in the hope of starting “peace conservations.” In either case, we need repeat the American, formula of “Unconditional Surrender,” and go on with the fight. And the sooner we number Turkey and especially Bulgaria among our legal foes, as they already are our foes in fact, the better. —Chicago Daily Journal.