The Washington herald., 1915-12-06
No Need for AIaru,.

himself set sail without dehnite plan OF procedure
though he talked far more nationally than the
gushing Bryan about the voyage. If the rest oi
the world regards the Oscar II as a craft adrift
on an unknown sea without rudder or compass,
it necessarily follows that the rest of the world is
at odds only with Mr.. Bryan. and. equally as a
matter of course, is wrong, in Mr.. Bryans view.
In fact Mr.. Bryan pronounced everybody wrong
in formal statement, issued just before the Ford
ship failed, in which he said:
| Of course, those who want the war to continue
rdicule the effort, especially those who speak tor
the big munition factories which are exporting war
material at large profit. This was to be ex-
pected
Ridicue is the favorite weapon of those who
desire to oppose any movement when they hnd
argument. If any of the people on the Ark had
| been making money out of the flood they would
probably have rdiculed Noah for sending out the
| dove. Success to Mr.. Ford and companions! May
| they return with an olive leaf.
1t is cause for thankfulness that there are few
Americans with minds so sordid as to permit them
to level against their fellow-countrymen the mon
strous accusation that they anxious for the
frghtful carnage in Europe to continue, that they
may line their purses. That is the charge which
Mr.. Bryan brings against some of those who do
not deceive themselves or attempt to deceive
Others but honestly confess that they can discover
no reason to hope that Mr.. Ford's mission will
meet with the smallest measure of success. These
persons have equal right to question the motive
of Mr.. Bryan's loud professions of confidence in
the Ford mission. They have right to ask
whether there is inspiration in Mr.. Fords mil
lions, or whether the expedition has German sup
port, of which Mr.. Bryan is eognizant and Mr.
Ford is not If Mr.. Bryan is moved by either of
these reasons he is still less guilty than he has
pronounced those who without faith in the
expedition.
There is nothing that the obscure and unequip-
ped members of the Ford party possibly &C
complish 1t is true that there has been recently
la great volume of peace talk emanating from Ger
many and peace may be greatly desired there, but
the allies have only just begun to fight and in
England and France peace has not been given
moments consideration by governments or people.
What possible influence the sailing Of hand
full of enthusiastcs and professional tourists from
the United States for some more or less definite
neutral destination have upon these countries
which are fighting not only for their own exist
ence but for civilization the world over?
Is there a sane being who imagines that ma
tions whose women and babies have been butch
cred on sea and in their beds in dead OF night,
whose men have faced the hellish inventions of
science for torture and death, and cheerfuly suf-
fered a thousand agonies on as many battehelds.
poverty and sacrifice in the cause OF liberty, will
Law down their arms before the victory is won.
merely because hundred or more impressionable
or mildly adventurous individuals of another hem
isphere who don't like the sound Of war have en-
barked on free cruise? No wonder the expedi-
ton is ridicued by everybody except MIR. Bryan!
There is other way for intelligence to treat IT.
It is possible of course that the expedition has
been encouraged by German sympathizers and that
if has been timed with the peace talk now heard
in Berlin with the befudded expectation that If the
allies ignore both the Berlin ovcrturcs and tho
sailing of the Oscar III they will bring down upon
themselves the censure OF the people of the United
States and other neutral countries for prolonging
the war 1t is scarcely to be believed, however.
that Mr.. Bryan cherishes so absurd and contempt
iblc notion. Mr.. Bryan may not know it, but most
of the American people realize that it is their own
battle the battle of civilization against tyranny
and savagery, that the allies arc fighting. They |
are not bidding the Englishmen and the French |
men stop their struggle, with the Prussian mon |
ster only wounded and thirsting for more innocent
blood They are bidding them fight on until the |
menace is crushed and humanity is safe again. |
Obviously, from Mr.. Bryan's peace prattle, he
wants peace that means victory for Germany;
but even he can scarcely place so low an estimate
upon the people of England and France as to
imagine that there can be German victory while
those peoples have fighting man or dollar left. |
And at the first sign that a complete German tri-
umph was to be the eventual and inevitable out
come problem would be presented to the United
States demanding the profound deliberation OF its
wisest and greatest men. They would have to
decide whether we should permit Germany to an
nhilate her present enemies and then fight her
single handed for our own right to free existence
upon our own soil, whether we should join
hands with the allies as more foresighted meas
ure of self-protection. Probably not even Mr..
BRYAN has any doubts about the direction the
Kaiser's ambition would take, once Europe was
his Americans would be compelled to fight, or
they would have to surrender the price of peace
Mr. Bryan says he wants to see peace restored in
Europe; he wants terms advantageous to Ger
MANY arranged now; he does not want to see the l
Prussian military machine broken; he would have
it ready to be hurled at another opportune time
INTO the work of world conquest that cannot be 4
completed now. And while Mr.. Ford is adrift L
Mr. Bryan will remain here to try and prevent
his country from arming itself against the enemy
% which he is giving encouragement Perhaps l
n