Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1917-08-20

Soon as Autocracy Has Had Time to
BY WALTER WELLN
Washington, Aug. great mission in
the world war is to bring about perpetual peace. This
America is determined to achieve, even IL she has to
fight for it.
And fighting. for 1t is the only way.
All talk OF an easy way, q compromise, a truce, a
peace by arrangement, is a delusion and, snare.
+ American public opinion isS Approaching another
crisis. Efforts are being made on a great scale to pro-
mote an early peace. some sort Of a settlement, anything
that will quickly end the war. regardless of the future,
regardless Of whether 1t is a settlement that really set
ties anything, regardless Of whether Americas lofty and
experimenting mission ends in success or failure.
All such efforts, no matter how well intended. or
under what guise, tend to weaken Americas cause, to.
jeopardize Americas mission.
Let there be no mistake about this. tits important,
vital. critical. Every American should seek the truth
about 1t.
If this were a war simply to change frontiers in
Europe, to determine whether one European alliance
were to triumph over another and gain points in the old
game Of perpetual rivalry which occasionally breaks.
out In hostilities, If this were a war simply to tear down
one European militarism and put another in its place.
America would have no proper business in such war, and
American effort to end that war by truce or compromise
as quickly as possible would be wholly justifabie.
But this is not such a war. Whatever it may have
been before America entered, now it is a war for a pur-
pose different from that of any other war in history. It
is now q war to end the whole miNtaristic system, end
the rivalry in ornaments, and the rule of force. end wars
and dangers Of wars and the waste Of preparation for
wars.
This great achievement, now in sight, realizable,
only a little way off. is Americas gift to the world.
Americans who truly love their country should do
nothing. permit nothing, countenance nothing, that stands
in the way Of this great forward movement.
Why are we in the war? We have been told Il was
because Germany sunk our ships, killed our citizens,
forced war upon us, because we hated and feared Prus-
sian militarism. because we wished to make the world
safe for democracy.
But these are only vague expressions Of shadows Of
the truth.
The deep, underlying, compelling force which
brought America in was the intuitive moral sense Of the
American people that the time had come to end the war
system once for all.
1t has been said that the intuitions Of a people are
always stronger than their conscious reasoning, that
which they feel is more powerful in shaping action than
that which they logically think.
The moral instincts Of the American people are as
true as the needle to the pole. They are always toward
progress. They are always toward enfranchisement Of
the future from the errors and superstitions Of the past,
always toward relieving the many Of the tyranny or in
Justice OF the. few. They opposed autocracy, human slav-
cry, class and religious intolerance, pIutocracy.
Now, through a sort of law Of moral :.gravitation
within them Of which many are but dimly conscious,
they oppose mtlitarisn, oppose force as final arbiter Of
our civilization, favor setting up law and reason in their
place.
And here I shall reveal a secret known to but few.
an historical and most significant fact which some day
shall be fully recounted but which here I give only in
meagre outline.
When six months ago President Wilson was con-
fronted with the problem Of war or peace for our coun-
try the factor which in the end controlled his conclusion
and his action was this:
II the world war We're to continue as then aligned,
America holding aloof, it was morally certain the out
come would be nothing else than a protracted. desperate
war Of exhaustion ending in compromise, without any
positive decision or decisive result, a mere truce or post
ponement which would change nothing vital, leave the
militaristic system exactly where 1t was before as the
tyrant of Europe, and through its perpetuated mastery
there the master Of civilization for a half or whole CEN
fury to come.
Such an outcome, President Wilson clearly saw,
would be a disaster to the world, a disaster to America.
For its meaning would be that the people Of this country.
though a.bhorring militarism and eager to be rid Of 1t,
must nevertheless conform to a type of. civilization re-
|pugnant to them. could not in common sense or common
prudence escape the stern need OF reliance upon force
as the last word internationally, must arm, prepare. or
ganize. make ready on land and sea and on a scale hith-
erfo undreamed Of for any emergency which the system
might thrust upon them. For Americas olden ideal OF
isolation from the rest: of the world has been swept away.
But II America were to enter the war she could
avert all this, could transform the character and sign,n-
canoe OF the conflict, could lift up the aim Of her allies
ana herself, make that aim higher and nobler, more
truly practical and valuable than war-aim ever before
was, could make IT one Of the steps OF progress in human
history history instead Of a mere bloody link in the endless
chain OF rivalrtes, wars. truces. more rivalries, more
wars. which had hung about the neck OF the race through
all the centuries.
It was this that really brought us into the war The
president, sensing the half-conscious intuition Of the
American people. understanding the wonderful way in
which the psychology of civilization works out Its prob
lens Of salvation, visuaHzing the readiness Of the world
to respond to this mission Of a new freedom and a new
era once 1t were brought out of the realm of theory and
INTO the arena OF practical PRACTICAL world politics. reached his
|concluston, delivered his memorable address to congress,
the United States entered the war. the die was cast.
|RUMANIA SUFFERS FROM GERMAN ATT
AS SERRTA DEL CUITM M DnT AAIY