The President here touches one of the most important problems of the coming peace.  This has often been called a war against war; it has been said that it will be the last war.  The sentiment which leads to such statements has its origin in a hatred of militarism.  Great armaments were created because of the danger from Prussian militarism; and great armaments will still be necessary unless “this intolerable thing” is crushed or “shut out from the friendly intercourse of the nations.”  When it is crushed, some adequate steps must be taken by each state to reduce its armaments, on condition that all other states do the same.  But many problems will face the world’s statesmen in preparing a plan for guaranteed disarmament.  How large a force will each nation need to maintain its “domestic safety”?  How shall we be sure that Germany will not break her promise, as she has so often done in this war?  How shall we be sure that Germany, or perhaps some other state, will not again secretly prepare for a war while others remain unprepared?

5. A free, open-minded, and absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims, based upon a strict observance of the principle that in determining all such questions of sovereignty the interests of the populations concerned must have equal weight with the equitable claims of the government whose title is to be determined.

In the opening chapters of this book we have seen how colonial rivalry was one of the causes of the World War.  The President urges that the settlement after the war shall be “free, open-minded, and absolutely impartial.”  He introduces here the democratic principle that the interests of the populations in the colonies shall have equal weight with the just claims of the European states.  Such a principle probably will mean that few if any of Germany’s colonies can be returned to her, because her colonial management has been neglectful of the interests of the subject peoples.

6. The evacuation of all Russian territory and such a settlement of all questions affecting Russia as will secure the best and freest cooeperation of the other nations of the world in obtaining for her an unhampered and unembarrassed opportunity for the independent determination of her own political development and national policy and assure her of a sincere welcome into the society of free nations under institutions of her own choosing, and, more than a welcome, assistance also of every kind that she may need and may herself desire.  The treatment accorded Russia by her sister nations in the months to come will be the acid test of their good will, of their comprehension of her needs as distinguished from their own interests, and of their intelligent and unselfish sympathy.

No restatement of the President’s words on this subject is necessary.  The Russian revolution is one of the most important results of the Great War.  How can the future welfare of Russia be best secured?