Omaha daily bee., 1916-01-01
l9l5--A Retrospect
Prom The OUTLOOK. nav YORK.

Never has the world been 30 united a. this year
of war, 1915.
AZ metals fuse under great heat. have the people
Of the earth fused under the heat OF Even those
portions Of the globe remote from the CONF
mon Interchange of civilized life have found themselves
welded with the rest. singhalese Canadian, Rus
sian peasant and italian nobeman, Roumanisn and
American have shared with the Englishmsn, the
Frenchman, the Bulgarian, the German, common OK
perience.
This is always what happens in the face Of great
calamity. The fire that devastates the city makes
both the millionaire the tramp refugees. and
sunes for the time being at least the barriers that
ordinarily separate them. In the face OF common
peril strangers in instant become comrades
What has happened often a village city or
oven larger community has now happened TO nearly
the whole world
The fortunate ones are not those who have escaped
this experience Rather TO be pltiedi for they
the exies. To have sat tranquil and content
moved by what has stirred the OF mankind is TO
have been visited with great misfortune. Some
who have thus sat peaceful In these days like
Peter by the brazier choosing 10 himself rather
than share with his Master tho glorious sacrificed bur
others merely victims Of circumstance, not TO be
blamed but rather TO be commserated with because
they have not shared in the common lot. Rather
TO be envied those who have been free TO enter into
this experience and None happy those
who have been doing their part the flames
Under this common experience the histories OF
many nations have flowed together to make for
has been the history Of France Germany. of Eng
land, each touching others at the edges In other
the great events OF nation might have been
unknown to the history of many another. Now, how.
the greatest the most outstanding in every
nation has been the world war.
Thus out Of division there has risen union. The
very wrath of has brought forth a world SYM
pathy while ago the American might ignore the
of France and his problems. leave out of
the Engishmans doings, forget the plans and ideas
OF the German. In this year 1915 American. unless
he illiterate stranded in remote corner,
could help wondering what the Germans planning
and thinking Of what the English doing or fall
ing to do, how the French meeting the problems
of their land and the fortunes OF peoples concerning
whom he once knew little nothing-the Belgians,
the Servans. the Poles-have become his concern to
be read about and followed from day to day as are
the fortunes OF his neighbors in the village or on
the adjoining street But than this in the year
1915 the world has come to value before It's
common possession which war has threatened-the
public law of nations. AS military episode sink
Ing OF the Dusitana negligble but an expert
of historic significance it forgotten
This crime shocked mankind into seeing first
time its dependence on law. This crime gave to
the world taste of the horrors OF anarchy Until
this year 1915 International law for the most part
the concern OF the diplomatst the interest Of the
specialist; now it has become the possession OF the
plain people.
II is not war OF course, that has really made one
FAMILY OF all the nations OF the earth They
family from the beginning. 1t is war that has
even enabled the nations to know one another, for
the railways the steamships. and the telegraph and
telephone have furnished the out
! OF which understanding grows What this year OF
war has done has been to awaken by it's cannon the
worlds dormant sense of union its desire for mutual
understanding.
And slowly out OF this OF union out of this
desire for understanding, there has grown every
civilized people sense of its obligation the rest
of mankind. We cannot speak for others as we'll as
we can for ourselves. Americans are sure, will
confess that during this year 1915 they learned
much about themselves. They have learned that
whereas they thought they bold they are really
somewhat tiid and unwilling to endure suffering and
thankful to pay high price for peace They have
learned that whereas they thought they soldier
like they were really ignorant of the science and art
OF self-defense which includes the defense OF their
national obligations. They have learned that despite
their doctrine Of hundred years that the function
OF the United States IL TO police the hemisphere and
even at times the world. they really ready to let
the police work of the world be done by other nations
They have thus learned much about their own weak
nesses but at the time they discovered that
they not Indifferent to European affairs as
they thought they that in spite of their pro-
testaton against becoming involved in entanRlinx
alliances they have been by the very nature OF things
somewhat entangled in the concerns OF Europe