Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1917-08-10


one Individual or unit to selfishly
Ecoerce or compel another has wholly
disappeared In all the contacts OF the
peoples except only that maintained
by their government.
Formal, effective organization OF q
community of nations. individual
units sovereign at home but in all out
ward contacts only members of the
community, subject to community law
in those contacts, equal in rights re-
gardless of size or brute strength, for
hands, guaranteed community protec-
ton in ali lawful rights, obligatory
tribunals to determine those rights,
justice Of contention as judged by the
moral standards OF world society re-
placing self-determined prerogativc
enforced by private might.
Power as against neighbor no longer
useful. armament and force no longer
needed, an end Of rivalry for the pow
err OF physical strength, no nation may
use its might to coerce another, any
nation attempting this violates com
munity law and is disciplined by the
community, first by ostracism, non
intercourse, then by force If neces-
isary, the only lawful right Of COM
pulsion through arms resting in the
community for the common protec-
ton.
Is it Only q Dream?
Is all this too good to be true? Is
1t only a dream?
Or has the great war brought to
our civilization a new moral and spir-
itual sanity which makes it an immi-
nent reality?
There is no more important ques-
ton than this in all the world.
For II it Is true, II this political
reformation is to be fitting product of
the great upheaval, II modern civil
cation has determined hat its gov
erning system shall be modern and
no longer medieval, If the old, old
dream of a warless world Is at last
to be realized, the peoples may know
ure to win a prize worth to all OF
them, victor and vanquished alike, all
its cost.
The aim Of the war, what America
fights for. the achievement Of the war,
become one n the same thing. The
mists and misgivings are gone, the
road ahead may be long and rough,
but its ending is clear In the sunlight
OF this great truth.
Today only a relatively small num-
Der Of men know the most important
fact In the world, though (millione
will know it In the e future. The
greatest fact in the world today. tc
be discerned only in the quiet depths
far behind the smoke Of battlef1elds
inally started over nothing, q be-
come a war for everything. a war up.
on war itself, all its minor aims are
| obscured by the greatness of this aim
the leaders of the allied nations have
reached tacit but unmistakabTe under
standing that this is the goal they
now drive for, that It is "a practicable
and realizable thing. that without thi.
the colossal war will be q colossal
failure, that 1t is the only thing that
can make the war q true success, that
the winning of this IL to be the vic
tory.
Many Half-Truths.
But this all-important fact is hid
den under a bushel. Many high in au.
thority, see it dtmly or not at all, the
few who see 1t clearly fail to voice
1t in plain. blunt words which all the
world may understand, the people Dc
not get it within their mental grip
High-sounding but not very definite
the rights of peoples" "a world safe
for democracy" are only half trutht
which leave most men cropping II
mists.
why is the full truth and the grea,
truth not proclaimed from the noun.
tain tops? Why is the light kept from
the peoples? We know we'll. Here
again it is ;mankind's instructive .skep.
ttfcisrn, mortal shortsightedness as tt
the meaning OF events while we are3ir
the midst of them, chronic inability t,
look into the, profound depths OF TIL,
forest of world..usorsi8 growth. be
cause the trees Of material fact are ii
the way, the smultitudes OF echo.lik,
minds which sayStoyer and over agail
as they have said always about ever.
step Of human progress in the pas
that as a have always been war
must always be. ff
We. Must Rub Our Eyes.
American. Intelligence is hereby in
vited to rub its eyes, see the worlt