Life — October 31, 1918 — page 16: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

OCTOBER 31, 1918 "While there is Lire there's Hope"? Published by LIFE PUBLISHING COMPANY A. Mitirr, Sec’y and Treas. 17 West Thirty-first Street, New York English Offices, NEW note from Germany is no longer a matter for ex- citement. On the con- trary, one reads the headline and then looks at the map on the next page to sce how much of Belgium has been re-Belgianized: since yesterday. A new note came on October 21st. It was very peace-seeking, but a little tiresome. It is evident that it would save the German speakers much em- barrassment to lave the Ally forces slam right through and gobble up Berlin. Then there would not have to be more notes, contrived with such severe pains, and communicated with so much trouble and expense by wire- less or cable. This new note “hopes the United States will approve of no demand which would be irreconcilable with the honor of the German people.” It is a safe bet that it won't. Anybody that could think of something that would be irreconcilable with the honor of the German people as the war has disclosed and illustrated it, is an ingenious char- acter, and cam get a job to invent ex- amination papers. The note further says that the sugges- tion to let the military men arrange the details of evacuation and an armis- tice is a good idea. Also that Germany is arranging, as fast as possible, for a new constitutional government, re- sponsible to the voters. The German supposition seems to be that Foch and Ludendorff shall dicker, but that, of course, is not the notion of the Allies, who prefer, and expect, to see Foch demand and Ludendorff comply, And as for democratic government in’ Ger- > Rolls House, Breams Bldgs., London, E. C. many, if progress towards it is so satis- factory under Allied military pressure, why check it by peace proceedings? The note also said that the Germans had not destroyed more than was nec- essary in retreat, and hadn't looted, nor shelled surviving boats and swimmers from vessels sunk by U-boats, Leave such stories to neutral courts, it said; which may be done perhaps when the accused are under arrest, and can be hanged if convicted. And the note said orders had been sent to the U-boats not to sink any more pussenger ships. Altogether, it was a sad little note, and it must have pained Mr. Wilson to read it, but, as he so well knows, the way of the transgressor gets mighty rocky towards the end. ries & O*% October 19th, Mr. Wilson found himself obliged to send word to Austria that he could not negotiate now with her on the basis of his January 8th speech, because proceedings had advanced so much since the first of the year that some suggestions in that ad- dress were out of date, so far as they affected Austria. Autonomous develop- ment, for example, wouldn't satisfy the Jugo-Slavs and Czecho-Slovacs, who proposed to fetch loose from Austria- Hungary altogether, and set up hyphen- ated governments of their own, No doubt there would be notes from Turkey too, but happily, or unhappily, we are not at war with Turkey, We forget why not, but Mr. Wilson or Mr. Lansing knows. Perhaps we abstained as a precaution against having Con- stantinople wished on us, when the pie is cut. But let us be thankful there are no notes from Turkey. Notes are dull and mostly futile. It is manners to answer them, but they are tricks of diplomacy, and God grant that in the settlement of this big war, no old-fash- ioned diplomats will be allowed to cut in. In time past they have managed to blight all the best results of all the wars, British statesmen, no less than others. Men die by hundreds of thou- sands for liberty and loot and peace, and as a rule the diplomats have been able to fix up the finish so that the survivors got none of them. The first principle of old-fashioned statesman- ship was to sew up a sponge in the wound, so as to make sure of another operation presently. We don’t want any of that this time. HE Fourth Liberty Loan is out of the way, to the immense relief of all communities, and Mr. McAdoo has got his money and something over, and we are now invited to subscribe to the alleviation of the activities which the big loans finance. Step forward now, gentlemen and ladies, and replenish the treasuries of the Red Cross, the Y. M. C. A. and Young Woman's ditto, the Knights of Columbus, a Hebrew war relief so- ciety, the Salvation army and some others, all endorsed by the government as worthy and indispensable, They ask for a hundred and seventy millions, and are said to need cighty millions more than that. Here’s hoping that they will get it, and, no doubt, they will. The sums mentioned were considered for- midable no longer than two years ago, but the processes of extracting money from people have been developed to such miraculous perfection, that rows of figures no longer dismay. They are dealt with mathematically, assigned, distributed and vanquished. Whether money can still be derived from people after they have ceased to have funds or credit, we do not know, comicbooks.com