Middletown transcript., 1914-08-15
WILL REAP AS THEY SOWED

WILL REAP AS THEY SOWED
EURoPE4yesterday the companion
worker of America-now is COM
mitted to- the lustful fires of brutal
Warfare and we, on this side Of the
Atlantic, are straining our ears for
ech6s of the conflict,
Meanwhile the conquered Ocean.
freed Of the ships that raced from land
to land in less than 100 hours -again
stretches as wide as when first Column
bus braved its strangeness.
The familiar miracles Of Cable and
Wireless communication have been rob
bed Of their efficacy, and for the imme-
diate present-except for our inter-
est in garbled reports from battle fields
that lie deep in the shadow of doubt
Europe, so far as America is con-
cened-has sunk beneath the surface
of the seas.
We cannotibut be saddened as Fancy
paints the dark borrow Of battlefelds
that will be piled with the bodies of
those who were the flower of Euro
pean manhood.
We cannot fail to be appalled as we
contemplate the terrible price that
women and little children-deprived by
War of their natural protectors
must pay for the impulses Of hot blood
and the unbridIed ambitions of men in
high places.
We cannot escape the reaction of
disgust that nations which so often in
the east have shown the Light to guide
the World now are turned from the
peaceful development of Industry and
Science-and, misled by Hate, are bend
ing every energy and resource to tear
down the noble work they have been
SO long in building.
These things we must feel, but let US
be thankful for the unbridged Ocean
that intervenes to keep US free of the
Hell of Despair that will be Reaped
from this brutal, senseless Sowing.
Letus be thankful, while the nations
of Europe have been Sowing the Seeds
that have brought forth this crop of
Destruction and Death we, in this
New World, have been bringing forth
crops of different nature.
While the people of Europe have
bent under the weight of unjust taxa
ton made necessary by constant pre-
paratiOn for War, the people of Amer
lea have been following ideals that
make for sustained Peace.
The wealth of Europe year afteryear
has been poured into tremendous fight
ing organizations. Each great power
has jealously watched its neighbors
and impoverished its people in the
frenzied effort to keep abreast of the
latest developments in the instruments
Of carnage.
Germany for years has impressed the
finest of her young men for military
service-has kept millions Of these
young men in idleness, playing at mi
mic warfare.
England has maintained the greatest
war feet the world has ever seen and
the other nations have followed as
closely as their ability to raise money
would permit.
Is it to be wondered that Europe now
is Reaping what she sowed- that from
game of war has sprung the terrible
reality?
In this country the wealth of the peo-
pie has gone into the land-it has gone
into factories and mills and into rail-
roads and the machinery of distribu-
ton.
We have had no ambition to main
tain the largest fighting force in the
world.
We have never desired to own more
fighting ships than other powers con-
troll.
While Europe has been organizing
armies, America has been organizing
great industries.
While Europe has been honoring men
Of War, America has been honoring
men of Business.
The very atmosphere Of Europe has
fostered the War spirit that Of Amer
laa.has, raged Peace
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