The New York Times/1918/11/11/Taft Says Americans May Police Germany
TAFT SAYS AMERICANS MAY POLICE GERMANY
Thinks Our Troops Will Be Detained Abroad After the War for Garrison Duty.
Special to The New York Times.
MADISON, Wis., Nov. 10.—William H. Taft, who delivered his final address today in the "Win the War" convention at the University of Wisconsin, said that America might have to garrison Germany. The Bolshevki, he declares, were the enemies of mankind, seeking the destruction of the educated, the thrifty, the well-to-do, and the respectable.
"Their failure to believe in liberty regulared by law is just as much the work of the Hohenzollerns, the Hapsburgs and the Romanoffs as their own present predicament," said the speaker. "They are responsible and punishable for both kinds of disturbance.
"And on this account I do not think the boys will be coming home. They will stay there to steady the results of the war. Not a man among them is a Bolshevik. Theirs is the responsibility visited upon those who enjoy the boon of popular government. Our boys may have to garrison Germany. The French have an immense need for man power. American soldiers may properly undertake this burden of police and guard duty. And they will improve the environment in which they are put.
"Threatened with the despotism of the mob, democracy regards it only as the natural swing of the pendulum to the opposite extreme. Also, democracy, as I see it, cannot allow us to escape responsibility for what goes on in the world when we have such power to control what goes on."
Mr. Taft outlines the way in which the aims of the League to Enforce Peace had become a matter of political importance, instead of a remote academic question.
"It is our business to see that this change has come into the minds of our legislative representatives," said he. "Then you will find you can't see them for the dust they make in getting over to our side. We must demand and urge this be taken up as the acute pending question in setting those peace terms."
Mr. taft reviewed the University S.A.T.C. at Vilas Park, and addressed its members immediately afterward from the steps of the State Historical Library. He left for a meeting tonight in the interests of the United War Work campaign in Milwaukee.