THE COMING PEACE

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 79, 30 September 1918, Page 7

THE COMING PEACE

LEAGUE OF NATIONS INDISPENSABLE

STRIKING SPEECH BY PRESIDENT WILSON

THE SACRED INTERESTS OF THE WEAKEST

{ATOTBALIAN-NEW ZEALAND CABLE ASSOCIATION AND BEUTER. ) ' ' (Beceived September 30, 9 ,a.m.)

•".■•:■;, ','.', •'. ■' ■ . V . '-. ; . •■' NEW YORK, 28th September. '' President Wilson, in' his. Liberty Loan speech, said • -''Individual. statesmen may have started the war,' but neither they nor their opponents can stop it as they please. It has become a people's war; peoples of all sorts and races, of every degree, are. involved. The issues have/become such that they must be settled by no arrangement or compromise or adjustment of interests; but definitely, once and for all, and with full and unequivocal acceptance of the .principle that the interest of the weakest is as sacred as the interest of the strongest. The Brest Litovsk and Bucharest. peaceagreements have convinced us that the Governments of the Central Empires are without honour. ; They do not intend justice, they observe no covenants, accept no principle but force arid their own interest. They have made it impossible for us to come to terms with them.. '. '..;'•. ■' '• .'• . „.•■' . . THE PRICE THAT MUST BE PAID-IMPARTIAL JUSTICE "H it be, in deed and trust, the common objects of the Governments associated against Germany, and of the nations they govern, to achieve by the coming settlements a secure and lasting peace, 'then it will be necessary that , all who sit,at the peace table 6hall come ready and willing to. pay the price that will secure it; also, to'create in some virile fashion the only instrumentality by which it can be made-certain that the agreements securing the world's peace Shall be honoured and fulfilled. That price is. impartial 1 justice in every item'of the settlement, no mater whose! inerests are crossed. That indisp€ns- ' able instrumentality/is a" League of Nations, formed under -covenants that will be efficacious/ Without suoh instrumentality the peace, of the world will rest in part upon a world of outlaws, and only upon that world, for Germany will have to redeem,her character,- not by what happens at the peace table, bilt by what follows. Such a league cannot be formed now. If it is so formed, it will be merely anew alliance confined to the nations - associated against a common enemy. s It, is not likely it could be 'formed after that settlement. Peace cannoj. be guaranteed as an afterthought.".' „-..: ■ : /; NO STANDARD BUT EQUAL RIGHTS Dealing with some of the particulars, President Wilson declared he spoke •with the.greatest confidence., because he could state them authoritatively as the Government's 'interpretation of its own duty with regard.to peace. These particulars were that, impartial justice must be meted out, and must involve no discrimination between those to whom we wish to.be just and those to whom we do not wish to be just. We must know ho standard ibut the equal rights of the several.peonies involved. No sipecial or separate "interest of any single nation or group of nations can be made the basis ol any part of the settlement which is not consistent with the common interest of all. There can be no leagues or alliances or special covenants and understandings within the general and common family of the League of Nations'; no special selfish economic combinations within the league; and no employment of any form of "eco- , npmio boycott or' exclusion except -as the power of economic penalty, by exclusion. fr6m the markets of the. world, may be vested in the League of Nations, itself as a means of discipline and control. , ■■■•..-.■' NO SECRET INTERNATIONAL TREATIES ' All■ international treaties of every kind must be made known entirely to. the rest of the world. Special alliances and economic rivalries and hostilities have been a prolific source of passions, producing war, and it would bp_ an. insincere and insecure peace which did not exclude them in definite and binding terms.. Tho .United, States wan prepared to assume its full share of responsibility ' for the maintenance of the common covenants and understandings whereon the peace of the world must henceforth rest. ■ . / ,_ . • . ':.He••■still read .Washington's warning against entangling, alliances • with full' comprehension, but only special and limited alliances will entangle, and, he said, we, recognise, and accept the duty of tTie new day wherein we are permitted, to hope for agerieral alliance, which will avoid entanglements and clear the air/of the world for common understandings and the maintenance of common rights.'■' He made this analysis, he saitl, of the international situation which the war had created not because he was doubtful whether the leaders of great nations and peoples with whom we are associated were of the -same mind, and entertained a like purpose, but to clear the air of the .mist of groundless doubtings, mischievous. perversions of counsel, and irresponsible' talk about peace intrigues. . ■ .. CLEAR AND OPEN ISSUES MUST BE PLACED BEFORE THE PEOPLE ■ \ s The President then strongly urged the necessity of placing the whole, issues clearly and openly before the peoples of the world in language they can translate, and from which they can gather replies to questions they are, asking.' .; The President added": '.'.My ono thought is to satisfy those who struggle ■in the ranks, and are, perhaps above all others, entitled to a reply whose meaning none.can have excuse for misunderstanding." Hebeh'eved the leaders of the Governments with which the United States ...was associated will.speak as they-had occasion, plainly, as he tried to speak;. The only real peace would bo an assurance which will make a recurrence.of auch a «truggle % of pitiless force and bloodshed forever impossible.

PEACE CANNOT BE OBTAINED BY BARGAIN OR COMPROMISE ■ it*T7STBAKTAN-NEW ZEALAND CABLE ASSOCIATION.) ' * ..'■■■.:.. . NEW YORK, 27th September. President Wilson, in his speech on the Fourth.Liberty Loan, said : "We are all agree,d that peace cannot be obtained by any kind of bargain or compromise with' the Central Empires. The organisation of a League of Nations. in a sense is the most essential part of the peace settlement. We must be.prepared to dispense impartial justice: There, cannot be an individual boycott within the league., The power to exclude from the world markets must be vested in the league. Germany is constantly intimating the: terms she will accept, but finds,the'world does not want peace,:but justice and fair dealing. -- ( > A WONDERFUL OVATION Huge eager crowds gave, President Wilson the greatest ovation'when, the President's train arrived at the station at' New Yorft. The crowds broke through the police and military secret service force guarding the President. Men shook his hand and women showered flowers on him and kissed his hands. President Wilson's reception and meeting were extraordinary.' He-spoke' simply'l and unaffectedly; and his speech rang in the people's ears like a prophet's words. : The audience was greatly ,stirred.V : . ■ A vivid feature of the'meeting was President WilsonVutter democratic, spirit, which seems to make him one of the natural leaders of the world's enlightened people. 'The. President appeared to be. one of the most interested spectators of the great gathering, and one of the most interested listeners to the '.'Other'speakers.'.:.//. ■":■•.•■ ■•■ ; ' , /.•• \' •■ . ..'.,-. .'.;.••■■ PRESS APPROVAL THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY President Wilson's speech,is approved by the>press throughout the counThe New York Sun says : "The fact that President Wilsoncame before the people with a; programme for the peace of the future is a sign that, he is con-, 'fident that Victory is.not far distant." v. : ; . . ■■-■ ' . The' New York World says : ■ "President Wilson believes that the League of Nations can• no longer be regarded but as one of the'essentials of peace." » r The New lyprk Times: says :. "In the President's view, a League of Nations must be a part of the peace settlement itself," , ■.-■■'.■"'•■ . " "