The Sunday telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1914-1927, 1915-11-21


sia and japan Rtissia and Turkey Germany and
France, Germany and Denmark, Germany and Aus.
trih Austria and Italy, the 0riean War tie Napo-
ieonc wars, the Seven Years' War the Thirty Years
War-back Of them MI lay this cbsession THAT the
growth and prosperity OF one nation means the weak
ness ana nov tty ii some otfer.
Sattondi has played tie same part IN
ticnai wars honor played IN
Individual feuds and could 5niy be found
in blood " hen Washington warned tho Young re-
public against Cling alliances Ii was not be-
cause he feared fight loved money or was selfish
but because he knew that country had Seen a
better ideal and he did not wish the destiny Of tie
young republic or the prosperity Of the nation
or the lives of tie youths TO be at the mercy 81 nations
otsessed by the pkahtom of the "balance Of power.
When President Wilson said (in words much mis-
understo0dj tint nation might be ..too proud To-
fight" suppose he meant that this nation would be
ashamed take putt Id ii, ignoble wara de-.
eide where the bAlahce Of power should ls today
and tlen atiother war because tiat balance had
shifted. II
When call this Id obls war ,dt not mean to
deny that there was the possibility in Europe Of
one ruthless nation striking at the peace dspros-
perity Of Others, but do not believe. government
would have been able to receive the enthusiastic
support Of whole nation were It not that that
It on every side. I do not question the motives
nor the spirit Of the individuals in every nation en-
gagged in the war. know, all know, men in Eng
land who have more love Of war than we have
who have left lands and houses, wife and children,
and offered themselves sacrifice for the honor of
Englands pledge to Belgium. know, we MI know,
Frenchmen whose chief interest is In literature or
art-yes and in reiigion-who feel that France for
forty years has endured all that she can and are
know, Germans, gentle, peaceful kindly men, who
are filled with the same rage our fathers felt when
Englands allies, the Indian tribes, harried our I'M
protected frontier farms, they see negroes and
Orientals summoned from the ends of earth TO
crush, as they believe the Fatherland which. Is
dearer to them than life itself sowhile indy
are filled with sublime passion and are Offering
their lives for IN ideal the sinister cause he ware
has been kept ID the background ana because that
cause was ignoble the war is ignob1e. By news
papers and novels and by the drama the suspicion
OF the people in every nation In Europe has been
aroused against every other nation and because of
that suspicion the conditions were the
men who delight III war to work their SsiiE the
people, Therefore we find the world IN "a
desolating war in which the noblest spirit is mani
tested because Of the peoples belief that the war
noble, and at the same time the real cause of thcs
war, which has been fostering Ions is
derstood only by the inner circle every nation
This is what we mean by an ignoble war.
AS read the letters that come to us from. all
parts of the earth sympathies are so moved that
It Is difficult for Judgment to be clear Can &c
BID that such men are wrong? Where does the right
lie Ii this awful war? we Amerieans feieSe that
good and true men in every one OF the nations at
war dre In fighting for their own country, subcon
sciously fighting for government Of the people, by
the people. and for the people," and that had the
nations followed that ideal like tie pillar Of fire by
night and the pillar OF cloud by dry they would itng
ago have reached the Promised Land OF Peace
The government In none Of those nations has been.
OF the people, not even in England and France, the
two nations in Europe to which we are most indebted
IN England it has been governed by caste need
not praise It has Had the virtues Of mobility self
control dignity; absolute honesty Justice ana mercy
The proof Of Englands splendid rule is seen in the
gathering Of the sons Of the empire in her hour OF
need. But that caste has Inherited together with the
sense Of oolesse o1g the foreign policy of the bal
ance Of power Of which the people know nothing ana
fot which few Of them would die. France has gone
to the other extreme and Her government for decades