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SPOILS OF WAR Premature statements and pledges regarding terms of peace and Americas determination to ask for nothing after fighting a long and costly war may embarrass our government when the day comes to redraw the map of the world and settle the claims of those who have been injured and despoiled Germany set the pace from the beginning and the Entente Allies are fighting in the style pre ¬ scribed by the kaiser They may decide to finish it in German style styleIf If Germany wins a complete victory she will de ¬ mand an indemnity of at least 50000000000 from the United States and also supplies of cotton phosphates copper foodstuffs and whatever else she needs at nominal prices Such are the terms she has imposed on Russia and Roumania and America is the richest of all her victims as she views the final outcome As our casualty list grows longer and our bills mount higher our altru ¬ ism will shrink and our desire for satisfaction in kind will grow The United States lias not re ¬ frained from taking spoils of war in the past California and the southwestern states are spoils of war Porto Rico the Philippines and some small specks on the map stuck to our fingers after our little dispute with Spain SpainGermany Germany has no territory that we could use to advantage but we might buy a million tons of pot ¬ ash salts a year for half century at prices fixed by ourselves for a commodity that Germany can pro ¬ duce at 15 a ton and which has never been pro ¬ duced elsewhere for less than ten times that price Southern cotton and tobacco growers could use vast quantities of cheap potash to good advantage If this war lasts until the next presidential election and costs as much as we now anticipate the temper of the American people may be such that the slogan of the winners will be To the victors belong the spoils Germanys aims and practices in this war do not entitle her to consideration Her people stand behind the kaiser and expect to extract from us They are told that Americas entrance into the struggle is the best tiling for them that has hap ¬ pened since the first shot was fired iu Belgium because they now have a foe rich enough to pay the bills That is worth keeping in mind wjien talking about altruistic terms of peace Why not play the game to the finish according to the rules Germany laid down at the start New York Commercial
