Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1916-06-16
MORE WE UNDERSTAND PAST
RErrER WE JUDGE PRESENT.

In this as in all the other big ques-
lions of life the more we understand the
past. the better we shall judge the pres
emit Where it took ten years to secure
Inadequate compensation for the Ala
bama claim, the present administration
has already secured in the case of a
single claimant, reparation greater than
all the Alabama claims combined.
Where, in other administrations during
great foreign wars, the American flag
was merely an invitation to plumber, to-
day that flag is the best protection of all
who desire to be safe upon the seas.
Where Washington vainly pleaded for
recognition of our neutral rights, where
Jefferson sought in vain to protect our
shipping, where Lincoln failed to gain
US the freedom of the seas, the man who
now sits in the presidential chair has Sc
cured from every warning power, from
every empire under the sun, the formal
and definite assurance that the neutral
rights of America shall be respected and
observed.
We challenge our critics to deny sim
gle point at which the helmsman who
has safely piloted US through Europe S
storm has departed from the course laid
down by those who established Ameri-
cas- foreign policy.
ITO maintain our national honor by
peace if we can, by war if We must" is
the motto of the president or the United
States.
But before submitting to the chance
and misery of war, true statesman that
he is, he proposes to put the reason and
justice of negotiation to the test If
they are as patriotic as they pretend
those who censure this policy of neg'o-
tiation may blush from shame to learn
fIa Narrr hNr
the signers of the Declaration of Inde-
pendence.
In the document which made US free
John Hancock and Benjamin Franklin
and Charles Carroll and all the other
signers declare q quote their exact
words), they declare they appealed
they declare they ''conjured.' they declare
they warned" they declare they re
minded" England of our wrongs before
we went to war.
Any one can disparage diplomatic pro-
cedure, but only men of patience and
principle can successfully conduct il.
Just as Rufus King criticised Wash
ington's negotiations with France in the
Genet affair, just as the members of
John Adams own cabinet criticised his
negotiations which averted war with
France, just as Horace Greeley criti-
cised Lincoln; so for personal and po-
liticaI purposes men whose ambitions
outrun their sense of justice criticise
who would map out a new and untried
course for this nation to pursue, but
they forget it does satisfy those who
believe the United States should live up
to the principles it has professed for
century and more.
Chief Justice White of the United
States supreme court says this policy
has given America the greatest diplo
matte victory of the past generation.
Macmillan Harden, Germanys noted
editor. says that never once has this
republic violated it's neutrality" and
Gilbert X. Chesterton, the famous Eng
l:sh journalist, says, sit is the duty of
the president of the United States to
protect the interests of the people of the
United States. that che can't dip his
into hell just to show the world
he has keen sense of being an i'm
dividual saviour"
This policy may not satisfy those who
revel in destruction and ind pleasure
in despair. 1t may not satisfy the fire.
ca ter or the swashbuckler. But it does
satisfy those who worship at the altar
of the God of Peace. 1t does satisfy
the mothers of the land at whose hearth
and ireside no jingoistic war has plac-
ed an empty chair. 1t does satisfy the