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SIGNS OF DISTRESS The cooings of Hertling are followed by the woo ings of Burian There is a tone of plaintive and pained surprise about the document which the Aus troIIungarian foreign minister has sent to the and convincing as llintzes denials of his panGer ¬ man and chauvinist tendencies We did not start this war We did not force it ou Serbia any more than Germany forced it on Belgium Serbia attacked us when she refused to agree to one point in tiie righteous demands we made ou her just as Belgium attacked Germany when she refused to permit that countrys army to pass through her territory Be ¬ sides the causes of the war have nothing to do with the present conditions and peoples minds arc made up as to the former They are areBuriaus Buriaus sophistries and flatteries of President Wilson are so shallow as to be almost childish Mr Wilson is likely to be as much impressed by the compliments which the Austrian foreign minister has paid to his genius as he is by the disclaimers of any desire on the part of the Teuton powers to force their will on Kurope and ultimately the world By their acts ye shall know them and when Baron Burian says that if the Kntcntc Allies regard the socalled peace treaties with Russia and Roumania as a warning of Teuton treatment of a defeated enemy the reproach is not justified the answer is Bosh Of course they arc the most significant and practical demonstrations which can be con ¬ ceived of the aims and intentions of the enemy Not that they were needed to show that Germany was without scruple or ruth and that Austria Hungary was her ally and accomplice That had been demonstrated long before the Russian and Roumanian treaties were forced upon those coun ¬ tries and it was in consequence of President Wil ¬ sons conviction that Germany was deliberately con ¬ spiring to enchain the world and overthrow democ ¬ racy that America came into the war warEverything Everything that Germany and Austria have done since has strengthened this conviction and so what Burian calls this war of successful defense but which we call this war of unsuccessful offense for such it is now proving has got to go on until to turn Burians words against himself we have secured the enemys will to peace that is to say until he cries Enough New York Herald
