New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-05-18

NlcISlVAc oiSbii1dllN.
If the present conflict is war OF rival
nations, then there is no question that
American neutrality, neutrality OF the IN
tellect and Of the heart, is sound. ii, as
Mr.. Wilson has steadily held and now eX-
planned with admirable conciseness ana
clarity, the world is mad, then there is
every reason for sanity here. Always II
must be understood that all Americans are
agreed that there is no question OF the
United States as a belligerent. Those who
have thought that it might be necessary
to break with or fight Germany have
thought so only because of issues that we're
American, not European, and because OF
German aggression directed at America
But Mr.. Wilson is talking rather of In
tcllectual neutrality when he says. as he
did the other day, that we have no concern
with the present quarrel. He means what
he said in his original appeal to Amer-
cans to be neutral in thought. He means
that there is nothing Of the moral chal-
lcnge in the present struggle that need ap-
peal 10 Americans. He means, funda-
mentally, that what is going on in Europe
is not building a new world which will be
nobler, is not establishing, through sacri-
fee, a new spirit and a new principle, as
the Reformation and the French Revolu-
ton did. but is destroying a perfect struct-
ure, the civilization that was before the
war, and that when the war is over we
shall have to rebuild on the old lines. If
this be true. then his view is sound.
Right here is the break between two
conceptions Of the war, the purely Ameri-
can and the European. If the war is a
moral revolution, as Europe believes, then
we shall not start over again, but far IN
advance of the old landmarks when peace
comes. If the war is TO establish vital
principle in the world then only those who
hold to the principle itself will be abreast
of the world when the war is over, and
those who are not in step will have TO go
through their own intellectual and moral
revolution to get in step. If the war is
moral upheaval, it is impossible to be neu-
trial Intellectually, morally, spiritually, be-
cause there is no possible neutrality in the
contest between right and wrong.
Mr.. Wilson assumes that the war is
merely conflict between rival nations for
ignoble ends. In such a conflict he recog-
Mes that wrongs have been done. But
they are wrongs incidental to the great
wrong, which is war itself. Belgium leaves
him cold because it follows the declara-
ton of war itself; the German atrocities
leave him unmoved, because war itself, for
the cause that has provoked it, is the SUI
preme atrocity. All nations which fight
offend. sin against civilization and against
Justice; all are equally guilty in the larger
sense. and the minor manifestations Of pc
culiar viciousness need not be considered
Now, the European who would under
stand the American point Of view will do
well to accept Mr.. Wilson's statement; 1T
ic practically complete. All things con
sidered, this is the way the mass Of Amer
leans feel about the thing. There are thou
sands of Americans who feel with The
Tribune that this war is a war for human
liberty war that will change the whole
character of European and American civ
ilization, which will write one more endur-
ing and essential chapter in human history.
They regard the German purpose as al
deliberate attack upon the civilization that
they honor and love, and they believe that
German victory would annul what the lib
eral movements and revolutions of thou
sand years have won.
But those who hold this view do not rep
resent America, nor is there any immediate
hope that they can convert to their view
the mass Of the people who agree with the
President that this is just war, who are
sorry for Belgium, for Serbia for all who
suffer, but see in the suffering, the atroci-
ties, the crimes. only the incidents Of war:
who sec all the European powers engaged
in a mad struggle for power or trade, and
cannot perceive that principle is at stake
or a cause in the issue which has vital
relation to American future, or a close
utilization with the things for which Amer
lea has in the past fought.
Mr.. Wilson has clearly and utterly eX-
pressed contemporary American opinion in
his recent address. Those who, like The
Tribune, disagree with him must neyerthe-
less perceive the fact. 1t is possible to be
Eeve, as we do. that this American point
of view is mistaken, terribly mistaken; but
it is not possible TO mistake the fact that
it is the American point Of view which
gains new strength when eXpounded by
the President himself