Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-06-28
AMERICAS PART
IN WORLD DRAMA
Landing of Our Troops in France
Opens New Era in Our
History

| CCTNHE worlds great age begins anew
L sang Shelley. He didn't believe that
however He dreamed Of II. he longed TOT
| H. lie was a poet. an idealist.
THE first contlngents Of American troops
have landed in France" sings the Atlantic
cable Unfalterngly we can re-echo shell
| lcy's inspiring words today and credit them
Something more substantial than the eN-
altation Of poetry confirms them History
unfolds her wondrous scroll Some Of It's
characters are now blurred and almost
meaningless Others tell strangely incon-
elusive tales OF high purposes gone awry'
Of loose ends I'm national development OF
the fell "budEeonngs OF chance" To the
superficial cynic much Of the record seems
summarized by Macbcth's bitter verdict on
! life, full Of sound and fury sIgnifying
nothing"
| But History. for all her apparently blind
willfulness, cannot Justly bo dismissed in.
! this blanket fashion. Vain is the effort, Of
course TO un-iddlo ncr in every battling de-
| tail But through all her pageant in the
midst Of all her porplexities and freaktsh
doviations, there are surely three simmer
| Ing Jeacons or cnocracy--Greccc, Rome,
| America. 40 skcptlc can deny this. The
marshalng Of facts confutcs him. Three
| times the torch NJ enlightenment and truth
was held aloft i'm Libcrtys hand. Thrice
an abstract Of tho times foreshadowed eX-
! tinEuishmcnt Of the flame Of superb cfful-
| gence
Americas star-cyod goddess can scarcely
be otherwise than scf-conscious today. The
| crucial point Of departure has been
! reached For the first time i'm our annals
| Grating the Philippine lnsurrcction as purely
n colonial war. the Barbary states cXpe-
! ditons and the Boxer trays as Of minor,
| isolated importancc) the United states steps
| beyond the threshold Of the western world.
| Her cgions OF liberty are on foreign soil
! Emancipated at home We are carrying
our gospel abroad This is eventually what
| Rome did, eventually what Athens did The
! contention IS not here made that history
| is n mere monotonous wheel repeating rev.
olutons in rigid accuracy. But unpues-
| tionably the centuries evolve situations
and crises that are akin. Speculation
thereon is incontestably permissible. Not to
| realize in its essential motivation the mo-
mcntous. miraculous era in which We live
| is 10 blink at fact and to spurn the lesson
| Of a vast historical background that we
are richly entitled to interpret
Ancient Analoges
Athens and Rome, tho two great re-
! publics of the ancient world. began as
| purely domestic affairs Their particular
Monroe Doctrines, although perhaps not
! specifically formulated, operated as our
own code of isolation has done.
Foreign wars played no part in early
Greek or Roman political philosophy
Against sedtion at home, against invasion
Of their thresholds they were Of course.
proudly militant All Hellas, led by Athens.
her greatest State, rose against the hordes
Of DARIUS in 400 r. G. A phenomenal resist
ance punctuated with the glorious deeds
of Marathon ended in triumph Greece
returned TO her domestic interests. Athens
| enlarged her franchise rights. She
bloomed in democracy, burgeoned in culture.
Tho almost incredible performance of this
little state along the nohlest lines Of cul-
tural free civilization remains unparalleled.
4 There is no fcllow-age to the age Of Pericles.
Partly inspired by Spartan rivalry, but
also profoundly moved to implant the At
tic creed abroad, Athens finally took the
step which furnishes the analogy with the
arrival OF our troops abroad. Led by the
brilliant but unhappily INSCRIPTIONS Alci-
blades and by Nicias and Lamachus, an
| overseas expedition, proud and powerful,
was sent to Syracuse, rich and 'tyrant"
ruled Athenan democracy stood at the
| parting of the ways. It could have
wrapped its cloak of freedom securely
about itself. But the choice TO fling that
lustrous mantle abroad was irrevocaby
made. The true republcansm of Greece
! fell in that tragic enterprisc-at least in
the material sense. The triumph of SYRIA
cuse was decisive ana sweeping. Athens
never recovered from the blow. The spirit
| nal INTERPRETATION Of this crushing defeat
NAV. however, be far less pessimistic. The
seeds of Attic democracy were sown abroad
They are still Towering in those portions
of the globe that have the right to call
themselves truly civilized.
Rome's Great Departure
pome's tale furnishes the other side of
tba medal. Beginning merely with the
seven-hilled city itself, the Roman Repub-
H., as much responsible for the essence Of
our laws as is Athens for Sur culture, ex-
rorded until II embraced almost the whole
~ tba Italian peninsula But this develop
rrent was still purely domestic, internal.
Carthage. the Prussia Of her time, more
akin 10 Imperial Germany than any nation
in the book Of history, threatened Roman