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SAINT LOUIS GLOBE-DEMOCRAT - 6 - 11- 17

MR WILSON'S RUSSIAN NOTE.

President Wilson's note to the new Russian Government
is different in tone, in phraseology and in substantial
contents from the peace note he sent many months
ago to each of the belligerents and also from his early
discussion of various aspects of the war. But our participation
in the war has actually changed some conditions
and brought a different understanding of others.
A series of specific violations of our rights drove us into
the war, but now that we are in it and are co-operating
with the entente allies, we cannot withdraw until the
sinister aims of the Imperial German Government are
thwarted and some effectual plan for preventing their
recrudescence is provided. We could not, for example, get
out of the war should Germany abandon submarine warfare
any more than the colonists could have laid down
arms after Bunker Hill merely because Parliament had
repealed the tax on tea. Once in the war we are in for
all its worthy purposes. We have disavowed conquest,
indemnity or any material profit or aggrandizement for
ourselves. But we are not bound to resist demands of
the allies for reparation for actual damages caused by
German invasion. Mr. Wilson opposes punitive indemnities
and protests against territory changing hands "except
for the purpose of securing those who inhabit it a
fair chance of life and liberty."

There can be no literal restoration of the status quo
ante. Too many people and too many things have been
irreparably wiped out. The German influence could not
be taken out of Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey.
If there were a theoretical restoration of 1914 conditions,
Pan-Germanism would have accomplished many
of its aims, although at an immense cost. After a period
of recuperation the junker spirit of domination might
strike again. This spirit must be crushed, either by the
German people or by the enemies of Germany. Mr. Wilson
exposes the hypocrisy of the Imperial Government
of Germany in using as catspaws representatives of the
liberal elements to whom it has never been "just or fair
or even tolerant." It is striving to retain its own domestic
power. The future peace of the world demands that
this ruling class and its purposes be evertlastingly defeated

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