January 25, 1918 - Reactions to Wilson's Fourteen Points

Don Martin diary entry for Friday, January 25, 1918: 
Drew $50 from the office – 1^st expense money. [equivalent to $880 today]

Breakfast at Lyon’s. Went to the office and spent couple hours. Wrote a 2 column story on the submarine situation as it really is. Got several letters from N.Y.  Met Mr. Miller of the U.P. at 6: went to dinner with him at Simpson’s and them to Wyndham Theatre to see Barrie’s “Dear Brutus”. Is a good satire. Went to Fleet Street for a half hour, then to the Savoy and wrote a letter or two. 

Warning for an air raid but none happened.

Germany’s reply to Lloyd George and President Wilson. Practically tells them both to go to the devil. Whatever else may be said, Germany plays her part. Instead of fighting like a gentlemen she fights like a thug which is the way to fight – for only thugs should fight.

Another beautiful day.

      On January 25 Don Martin wrote and mailed a dispatch about the reactions in England and in Germany to President Wilson's Fourteen Points. This was published in the New York Herald on Friday, February 8, 1918.

     

ENGLAND DUBIOUS OVER MR. WILSON’S ‘FREEDOM OF SEAS’

Some Britons Declare They Cannot Relinquish Mastery of Waters and Safeguard Trade

[Special to the Herald]

Herald Bureau, No. 130 Fleet Street, London, Jan. 25

     Wide interest was aroused throughout England by the statement of President Wilson that henceforth there must be complete freedom of seas at all times, war or no war. The English press has been somewhat hesitant in its comment on this topic, which is an important one to Great Britain.

     Speaking privately, prominent London business men with whom I have talked say that the freedom of the seas is a pleasant figure of speech, but that England never can relinquish its mastery of the seas unless it wished to sacrifice its supremacy in world trade. The consensus is that the issue brought into the situation by President Wilson—and none doubts that he meant precisely what he said—well may be left to the future. The present task, the leading men of England quite frankly say, is to defeat Germany and leave all other questions alone until that is done.

Heckle Lloyd George as Friend

     Lloyd George, Premier of England, touched on the freedom of the seas issue in a recent speech made by him at a big labor conference. He was heckled in an entirely amiable way by the influential labor men of the empire and he answered their questions without stint or hesitation. One of the delegates said:--

     “I want to ask a different question of general interest. In President Wilson’s speech there is a reference to the freedom of the seas. I want to ask if the views expressed by President Wilson are the views of our government, or if not, will the Prime Minister kindly let us know what are the views of the British government on this expression of President Wilson’s?”

     To this the Premier replied:--

     “I want to know what freedom of the seas means. Does it mean freedom from submarines, and does it mean starvation for this country? After all, we are in a very different position from America or Germany or France or any other continental country. We are an island, and we must scrutinize with the very greatest care any proposal which might impair our ability to protect our lines of communication across the seas. Freedom of the seas is a very elastic term. There is a sense in which we would rejoice to accept it, but we much guard very carefully against any attempt to interfere with the capacity to protect our shores and our shipping that has alone enabled us even to exist up to the present moment.”

All Side Issues Cast Out

     This feeling that all side issues must be submerged until the enemy has been brought first to bay and then to defeat has been gaining a strong hold on the people of Great Britain. A recent editorial in the European edition of the Herald was read with keenest interest in London. This editorial said that this is no time to go into details as to the terms of peace the Allies will insist upon, but for the Allies to pull together and defeat the Germans, after which the Allies can not only give a bill of particulars but enforce their demands.

     It may be stated on the highest authority that England is finished with its rhetorical campaign. That was made plain by the Premier when he told the labor men of England that they must cooperate heartily with the government in raising an additional army. No secret is made of the knowledge that the Huns are preparing—in fact already are beginning—the biggest single blow ever struck in any war, and Great Britain, with a continuance of the wonderful fighting done at all times by the French, is ready for it. 

     When the Germans make their first real attempt to break the allied line, as they will do in the spring, unless all the arrangements made in January go awry, they will have many surprises awaiting them. As has been stated to me by men who have studied the military situation on the Continent, the Huns can lose the war this spring on the western front, but cannot win it there.

     The snappy if not insolent replies given both informally and formally by the German war managers to the dignified statements of President Wilson and Lloyd George have roused the people of Great Britain to new stages of wrath, and wherever one goes he is met with the feeling that, having honorably place their hand on the table, the Allies should play it out if “it takes all summer,” and other summers after that. 

Germans Hear Allies Starve

     Stories have reached Germany that the Allies are suffering for food, are on the verge of industrial and economic uprisings, and that the armies are discouraged and ready to quit. This information has been widely circulated in the Central Empires to give heart to the disconsolate German soldiers and stimulate then for the task which has been placed before them.

     There is no truth whatever in the reports. Great Britain is not on the verge—nor is she even remotely in danger—of having serious labor troubles or of suffering from food. On the contrary, the spirit of the fighting men never was better, and the sullen determination of the people, even in the face of what they know will be a stern test of resources and fighting vitality, is such as to foreshadow only woe and disappointment for the ambitious Huns.

     The reply of the German Chancellor to the frank declarations of President Wilson and Premier Lloyd George was discounted here long before it was delivered. England felt confident that the Chancellor, in complete control by the war party, would flaunt Germany’s bold challenge to the Allies and denounce if not ridicule the Allies’ peace terms.