Semi-weekly herald., 1914-08-20
RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE
GREAT WAR.
Philadelphia Public Ledger.

Philadelphia Public Ledger.
Germny is not responsible; Russia
is not responsible, or Austria, or
France, or England. The pillars o.
civilization nre undermined and hu-
man aspirations bludgeoned down By
no power, but by all powers; by no
autocrats, but by all autocrats; not
because this one or that has erred
or dared or dreamed or staggered,
but because all, in mad stamped,
for armament, trade and territory.
have sowed swords and guns, nour-
ished harvest1 of dead-dcaling crops,
made ready the way.
For what reason other than war
have billions of bonds and taxes been
clamped on the backs of all Europe :?
None sought to evade war: each
sought to be prapered to triumph when
it came. At most some chansellerie
whispered for delay, postponement
they knew the clash to be inevitable
if not today, tomorrow. Avoid war!
What else have they lived for, what
else prepared for, what else have
they inculcated in the mind of youth
than the sureness of the conflict and
the great glory of offering themselves
to this Moloch in sacrifice?
No power involved can cover up
the strain. 1t is indelible, the sin Of
all Europe. 1t could have been pre-
vented by common agreement There
was no wish to prevent it. Munition
manufacturers were not alone in urg-
ing the race to destruction, physical
and financial. The leaders were for
it. 1t was policy. A boiling pot
will boil, nurtured seed will grow.
There was no escape from the avow-
ed goal. A slow drift to the inevita-
BILE, thunderbolt forged, the awful
push toward the vortex! What men
and nations want they get.
No intellect can conceive what this
world tragedy means. 1t is Colum-
bus overwhelmed at sea, a Morse
dead in his youth, a return from rea-
son to the gloom of prejudice. Men
have dreamed that education had led
humanity out of the wilderness; that
culture, invention industry had drawn
the fangs of war; that nations on
the pinnacle of achievement, which
had looked down on the rich valleys
of peace, would never plunge back
into the abyss. Humanity had been
lifted up, it seemed, above the shall
low passion of brute force; had
tasted lasting good, prosperity, the
competition of achievement and prog
ress, never to be shorn again of the
fair vision. But Europe plunges
down. The sight sickens and terri
fies.
America, in splendid isolation, re-
tains her balance. 1t is home build
ed upon rock. Our great expert
ment, founded on peace and liberty
still holds the beacon. We stand to
save the world from slipping back, ia
demonstrate to every people. with an
emphasis before unknown, the great
er value of peace, of progress, of civ
ilization. 1t is great responsible
ity. AS the anchor of civilization we
must not fall. Ours is the great ex-
pertinent in human aspiration, the
one field where it has been given a
chance. Allegiance to our fundamen-
tai principles, steadfast adherence to
the essentials, is our duty to the
world.
Perhaps it is better that the in
evitable has come so soon. The bur-
den of preparation was beginning to
stagger Europe. There may emerge
from the whirlpool new dynasties,
new methods, new purposes. This
may be the furnace necessary to
purge humanity Of its brutal perspec-
tive. The French revolution gave an
impulse to democracy which 1t has
never lost. This conflict may teach
men the folly of dying for trade or
avarice. But whatever 1t does, what
ever nation having taken up the
sword is ruined by it, the capital and
energy Of humanity, 1t is not too
much to hope, will become again
manifest sitter the cataclysm in ad-
vsncing national frontiers by the
prestige of industrial achievement,
until the place Of nation on the map
becomes absolutely subordinate to the
place Il occupies in tho upiift Of hu-
nanity.