Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-02-10

There nre two EnElnnds. The real
ing n shut mouth. The other England r.
nsyr nsy,nE nI;t hystsrIss The aghtsr" hrs nrs oTdl
takers arc from the ranks of the chest
men" the thinkers and professional pa
| trtots Fortunately. the common people
are saving England
Tt ONE were to Judge England by the
4 speeches and writings of her notable men,.
one could honestly say that the panic which
began in August 1914, has developed into
downright Mysteries. 1t is easy to under
| stand why the panic came. England un-
| prepared for operations on land. But after
Englands soldiers were tested in the fires
of the furnace which famed at Mons the
panic died away. AS more men went into the
field, as more went into the training camps
England settled down to a grim business.
Now, since that business hasn't been easy,
there are fresh symptoms of fever. The i'm
fected area is an island England herself is
living across the channel The real England
is serene.
The truth that comes out of the whole un-
happy business is that the great minds" OF
England have failed, desperately discourage
ingly, entirely The little minds as they were
called. have assumed new burdens without
complaint the cockney and the loafer have
been wrenched from their old lives and
thrown into mad of unknown crcum-
stances. They have struck out bravely,
while the minds upon whom England had de-
pended have given a terrible exhibition of
moral and mental disintegration. Viscount
Bryce stands calm as a mountain top be-
yond the storms. Lloyd-George. known
a marvel of energy before has forced him
self upon reluctant England. But the rest
the Shaws, Wellses, Conan Doyles the North
clffes, the editors of great organs of public
rxfV,{Ap he Loo Nf Iah y AN initial
in what a piteous mess they have been!
While the fiippant arstocracy and the unde-
pendable commons have fought and died, the
great England has forgotten all her ancient
wisdom and austere control. Tommy At
kins, looking back at the England he has
left behind, can say now, ironically remem-
bering that Rudyard Kipling first said the
words for him:
II England was what England seems
An not the England of dreams,
But only putty, brass and paint
'Ow quick we'd chuck er But she amt!
Mr.. Kipling has been hit by the war, di-
rectly and dearly: but he is one of millions
who do not say as he says, "at least three
nations desire greedily that the Teuton be
killed in retail, since he cannot be killed in
wholesale" The German must be used up;
1t is war of determination for his species;
there must be German problem after the
war because there must be no Germans left
to present a problem. The Germans are rats
in a ditch. Shoot them and take pleasure
in each individual you kill. If you cannot
shoot, starve, drown, stab and rejoice! That
is the tenor of Mr., Kiplng's message, and it
has the sinister undertone of bloodlust in
every word.
The cockney speaks for himself nowadays
in his calm. cheerful way, but Mr.. Kipling
hoe pla
words to have significance. Unhappily, there
are others. James Bryce stood almost alone
among public men against reprisals A few
days ago a ship captain was actually de-
Tended in the press of a great nation for |
refusing to rescue drowning German avia-
tors. Worst of all has been the clamor of |
England's lofty minds for Intervention by |
neutrals Mr.. Wells takes 1t on himself to- |
assure us that we will take a back seat on |
Judgment Day, and the press of England is |
unclean with it's ISLANDERS about America. II |
this country is to go into the war it must |
go of its own accord, because moral
destiny forces us, not because England de-
mands And the loss of temper, the pulling |
plants against the whole world the refusal
to admit that any single German may have |
human eyes and ears, not DEVILS hoofs. are |
signs that might point to a moral break |
down in England. They point happily for |
England, only to the failure of her leading |
men, to the weakness of her pacifsts, to the
pitiable nadequacy of her apologists
To the man who lies in a noisome trench |
day after racking day, who creeps to outpost |
duty under the quiet stars the Germans are |
not rats in ditch. He is common man |
without the advantages of a great mind. and |
he perversey thinks that the Germans |
poor blghters who must not get into range |
He has more than suspicion that there will |
be a great deal of suffering If, through some
unhappy but necessary accident, Fritz or
Otto does not return home. He may not
know that a great deal of liberty is being
upheld, but he is uphodng the brotherhood
of men while he helps to destroy the brother
hood of nations.
It is vastly important that the tramp
ling drilling foolery in the heart of Europe"
be destroyed forever. 1t is necessary that the
arrogance and power OF Germanys inhuman
officialdom be crushed out. and that Ger
many humliate herself before the sacred
pillar of human privileges. But that humilia-
ton cannot be wrought by a nation which
grows hectic with hate, which is unstrung
and unhealthy and unwise The mind of the
English race is all that. But the soul of
England is more pure today than 1t was in
the soft peace of a year and half ago.
"