The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1916-12-23
RIGHT MUST TRIUMPH.


pher Kant, human life will have no worth. Tins
statement bears intrinsic evidence Of truth ana
the mind accepts it as such A state OF society
in which injustice permanently prevails Would
be intolerable It would be no privilege TO I'VE
therein and life would have no value.
Surveying the past with such knowledge or
it as we have. we find no epoch In which IN
Justice did not exist We find no time when
the selfshness Of power and the passions OF ana
malevolence of man did not make many lives as
miserable as heartless humanity could make
them. Nor is there an era known to history
when subjugated peoples somewhere IN the
world were not oppressed. We can never De
sure however much the discipline OF serV1tude
profited particular people. The lsraelltes,
to take the most familiar instance, learned all
that Egyptian civilization had to teach IN mucn
less time than their oppressors learned 1t. Ana
is it not apparent that our negroes have been
civilized much more quickly than if slavery had
not brought them here7 AS for individual
suffering there is never in any age lack or
that and there are as many cases today as ever
of what seems upon the surfacesof it to be IN
justice. Neither innocence Of evii-doing nor eS-
cellence Of intentions can guarantee anybody
happiness or freedom from disease or length OF
days. Yet we know so little about the evolu
tionary process and see only so small a segment
of life that we are not warranted IN condemnlng
the creative plan We must assume, although
we do not understand it fully, that it is just to
the last degree.
Surveying the world and contrasting our own
times with former times is it not manifest that
injustice and cruelty on a. great scale, to sub
iect peoples, races, states, is steadily lessenngs
Is it not now the exception to the rule that
weaker people are exploited and oppressed
Turkey, is barbarous; and the world is as
founded at Germany's treatment of the Bel
gians. But generally speaking civilized ma
tons treat their dependencies kindly, justly, as
we have treated our Filipinos, improve their
condition and win their loyalty.
Is Justice is not coming to wreck upon our
planet Human history shows great and
steady gain, an upward trend that has per-
sisted through the ages. There has been, 1T is
true, recrudescence Of savagery during this
war There have been crimes that have
shocked the world. But can anybody believe
that the outcome Of this strife will be such
that the killing Of non-combatants or the en-
savement Of populations will become legltl-
mate and accepted methods Of warfare in the
future7 Does any intelligent American be-
lieve that mankind is to take that backward
step into> barbarism' The immediate outlook
NAV seem dark The event may, despite the
present peace talk, hang in the balance for an
other year or more. This is the most desper-
ate fight, with a continent for battle-ground,
in the annals of man. But we believe that the
forces which make for progress and righteous
ness must triumph and that in the future there
will be no possibility Of such retrogression to-
ward savagery as we have seen in this war.