The record. [volume] (St. Maries, Idaho) 1913-1918, 1915-05-21
AMERICA, THE STAR OF HOPE

Olldnd W Oilu neIdluJ
1t is war, not righteousness.
that rules the greater part Of the
world. Ethics for the time be-
ing has become a lost art. The
rule is let him take who has the
power and save himself who can.
Belgians and Poles and Jews are
not alone among those who have
had to pay a fearful price, in the
fixing of which they had no
voice, for a horror for which they
had not the slightest desire. Ger
man and British naval policy
tramples on the rights of neutrals
and tears international law to tat
tiers. In defiance of the basic
laws of humanity and religion
torpedo shells are sent crushing
through merchant and passenger
vessels, neutral as well as bellig-
erent, sending innocent souls, UNI
warned and unprepared, to face
their Creator. Bombs fall from
the skies-German bombs on
English villages, French bombs
on German cities, Russian bombs
on COnstantinOpe-careless if
their mission be to rend limb
from limb the tender bodies of
women and children. Nations
thus far neutral tremble ON the
brink of the abyss, waiting only
to assure themselves that If they
make the plunge they may expect
to come up again with loot in
their bloody hands. In the far
East the initiative Japanese
eagerly assimilate the lesson
taught by their Christian brothers
in the West and in violation Of
solemn treaty obligations-What
are treaties any more when there
is none to respect and none TO en-
force proceed to make of
the republic of China a vassal
state that should be productive of
limitless plumber. On the altar
of the Moloch of War every day
is poured the libation of tens of
millions of dollars and thousands
of lives, every dollar representing
its drop of blood or tears, every
life its desOlated home and long
trail of anguish. Hatred anC
force and fear, the most horric
passions, are making this world
of ours a hell.
In the muck of the night Amer
lea shines as the brightest stan
of hope. 1t is not merely thai
we are at peace with the world
for other nations are also at peace
1t is not because we have nc
slightest desire for war, for Oul
neighbors' lands and goods, foI
there are other peaceful nations
OF the same disposition. II is
not that our people are better
men and women, better Christ
ians than the people of the great
Christian nations that are at war
They are not. We should never
for an instant let ourselves los,
sight of the fact that i'm France
in Germany, in the British Isle.
and elsewhere there are display
ed today, by millions upon mil
lions, the sublimest examples O.
the virtues of patriotism, of pas
sionate sincerity, of self-sacri
flee, of devotion to what they re
gard as supreme causes in which
they most earnestly believe. The.
have become involved in war no
knowing how, or how to avoid il
just as ourselves, under simila
circumstances, might do-as, Fl
other times, we have done. lie
us not be guilty of claiming fo
ourselves a superior virtue OF
superior wisdom that is not ours
But the United States is Tn
worlds star of hope because it i
the greatest and most powerful
of all the nations that are a
peace, that ardently desire to re
main at peace, that look for m
possible advantage as the out
come of war, and that pray j.
their hearts that war may ceas,
1t is a star of hope because,
composite of all nations and race
that are fighting, it is to this re
public that they all may look, a
to their kindred and patien
friends, for DISTINGUISHED counsC
and assistance when they ar
ready to accept it.
The worlds supremest TRACED
in its supreme hour of tria
would be for the United States G
hes wept from its mornings an
into the maelstrom. This is
calamity to be avoided at all cost
short Of an impossible price.
is a calamity, we may be assured