The review. [volume] (High Point, N.C.) 1908-19??, 1916-06-01

spokesman of our government, shoulo
attempt to give expression to what l
believe to be the thought and pur-
pose of the people of the United
States in this vital matter.
Has Affected U. S. Very Profoundly.
"This great war that broke so sud-
denly upon the world two years ago,
and which has swept within its flame
so great a part of the civilized world,
has affected us very profoundly, and
we are not only at liberty, 1t is per-
haps our duty, to speak very frankly
of it and of the great interests of civil
ization which it affects.
With Its Object We Are Not Con-
cerned.
With it's causes and it's objects we
are not concerned. The obscure foun-
tains from which it's stupendous food
has burst forth we are not interested
to search for or explore. But so great
a food, spread far and wide to every
quarter OF the globe, has of necessity
engulfed many fair province of right
that lies very near to us. Our own
rights as a nation, the liberties, the
privileges, and the property of our
people have been profoundly affected
We are not mere disconnected look
ers-on.
The Longer II Lasts The More We Are
Concerned.
1.-THE longer the war lasts, the more
deeply do we become concerned and
it should be brought to an end and
1oa ha IN
normal life and course again. And
when it does come to an end we shall
be as much concerned as the nations
at war to see peace assume an aspect
of permanence, give promise Of days
from which the anxiety Of uncertainty
shall be lifted, bring some assurance
that peace and war shall always here
after be reckoned part of the common
interest of mankind.
What Affects Mankind Is Inevitably
Our Affair.
1--WE are participants, whether we
would or not, in the life of the world,
The interests of all nations are our
own also. We are partners with the
rest What affects mankind is inevi-
ably our affair as we'll as the affair
Of the nations of Europe and of Asia.
An Observation on Causes of the War.
Zone observation on the causes of
the present war we are at liberty to
make and to make it may throw some
light forward upon the future, as we'll
as backward upon the past It is
plain that this war could have come
only as it did, suddenly and out of
secret counsels, without warning to
the world without discussion, without
any of the deliberate movements of
counsel with which 1t would seem
natural to approach so stupendous
contest.
Would Have Substituted Conference
For Force.
cit is probable that if it had been
foreseen just what would happen, just
what alliances would be formed, just
what forces arrayed against one an
other, those who brought the great
contest on would have been glad to
substitute conference for force.
Counsel Might Have Averted Struggle.
eff we ourselves had been afforded
some opportunity to apprise the bellig-
erents of the attitude which it would
be our duty to take, of the policies and
practices against which we would
feel bound to use all our moral and
economic strength, and in certain cir
cumstances even our physical strength
also, our own contribution to the coun-
sci which might have averted the
struggle would have been considered
worth Weighing and regarding.
"And the lesson which the shock
of being taken by surprise in a mat
ter so deeply vital to all the nations
OF the world has made poignantly clear
is that the peace OF the world must
henceforth depend upon a new and
more wholesome diplomacy. Only when
the great nations of the world have
reached some sort of agreement as to
what they hold to be fundamental to
their common interest, and as to some
feasible method of acting in concert
when any nation or group of nations
seeks to disturb those fundamental
things, can we feel that civilization is
at last in way of justifying it's ex-
istence and claiming to be finally es-
LaD4lSned. IL IS clear that nations
must in the future be governed by
the same high code Of honor that we
demand Of individuals.
eve must, indeed, in the very
same breath with (which we avow
this conviction admit that we have
ourselves upon occasion in the past
been offenders against the law of di-
plomacy which we thus forecast, but
our conviction is not less clear, but
rather the more clear on that account.
If this war has accomplished nothing
else for the benefit Of the world, 1t has