The Hawaiian gazette., 1917-12-21
Win,lina and "a fterlpardsL


portance, personally representing the President OF
the United States; told his interviewers that the
tramp Of American soldiers would be heard ever
increasingly upon the soil OF France until perma-
nent peace had been assured and the world forever
freed from the specter of the sword.
The occasion may have been the better for a
little rhetoric, and generalization OF this nature
is reasonably safe declaration of ideas to meet
such requirements, says the Chicago Tribune, but
Colonel Houses statement increases the feeling of
disnay OF which many people in the United States
are beginning to be conscious. ..s .s,..#
We fear that Colonel House was not talking
with the permitted rhapsody of an important per-
son trying to say something important without
saying anything but that he was expressing ma
tional purpose as construed by government Is
We can only see the awful waste OF a war under
taken for such end and cannot see how il could
be justified in the consciences OF the people who
had undertaken it. @
II the people realize why they actually must
fight, they not only will fight much better but
they will know what in addition to fighting they
have to do to accomplish their purpose. ~
We are not fighting for an assurance of perma-
nent peace There can be no assurance. There
is no power which give it. Permanent peace
is condition which no nation guarantee for
itself. II we were fighting for that, we fight for
thing that cannot be had If we think that this
war; resulting as we wish il to, will bring perma-
nent peace we rest satisfied as il an object had
been accomplished. That is the damage
People are attracted to the idea Of overcoming
. malevolent condition Of life by one supreme
effort against it. They preserve the conception
Of the hero who killed the dragon and it must seem
always possible to get rid of detested and abhor-
rent quality Of life by determined attack upon it.
These notions persist in the illusions, for some
valuable purpose, but when they fail to calculate
upon experience and relate it to probability they;
as decisions, can distort judgement and damag-
ingy influence conduct. ... 49,. - w,
Americans have mania for thinking that war
is outside, OF their reasonable calculations They
trust that deluson. 1t affects their conduct They
think and act upon the theory that they will never
be in war and the first thing they know they are
in one and totally unprepared for il. They strug-
gle and suffer but then deny every experience they
have had and return at once to their favorite deu
sion--that they are through with war a.
The history of the United States is melan-
choly record of the progress of this great delu-
sion, and now, with the greatest overthrow the
delusion ever had Americans being told that at
last the time has come when they may make their
fairy story live forever. -. .
In the midst Of this experience we are asked not
trust it but to trust the delusion which it causes
to evaporate. II our government persists in the
theory that this is war for an assurance of perma
nent peace, the people naturally will be encourage
ed to think the way they have been accustomed to
thinking and the way they want to think
The assurance of peace is in American hands
now. 1t is not at the disposal of the future if
Americans will not contribute to it themselves
They cannot trust elements which they do not in
tend to modify or correct The future cannot be
Of itself protective if nothing is to be done except
to trust it. ia - f.. 49, IT,
Conditions will change, no doubt There will be
more democracy! There will be less military auto
craoy There win be new impulses in the world
There will be great WEAKNESS of war and great
determination to avoid it, but the same elemen-
tary impulses which have guided the world to date
will be in control and experience will repeat itself
The way for the United States to safeguard its
security is to take rational view Of its mill
tary requirements; not to deny that it ever will
need an army again but to admit that 1t will to
provide for that army by method which permits
it to exist instrument of national discipline
and security at the least expense and with the best
results. .,.... ..... G.-a r..
ii congress will pass universal service law, the
United States will be started towards reaiza-I
ton Of its ideals OF dignity. security, greatness
The greatest purpose Of the war as it affects the
United States cannot be won unless the American
experiences guide American legislation from now
on The war cannot be really won unless it also
is in the United States and unless the victory
is written in American laws.
.gt W. ----~<~--- .."
etrust that ways and means will be found to
sac mic frial Tnr