Evening journal., 1918-11-16

There are three ways in which the
Allies can treat Germany. There are
three attitudes which we as individual
Americans can assume toward her.
The first would demand revenge.
The second would treat her with SEN
timental tenderness.
The third would seek Justice.
The two extremes we conceive 10 be
equally dangerous, equally Irrational.
equally destructive Of the finer stuff Of
our hearts and minds The mean Of
justice, difficult as II is TO cleave TO.
holds the one hope Of peace and right
and progress.
Alike in the spirit OF revenge and in
the mushiness Of sentimental tender
ness easy feeling blots out reason and
all finer emotion. Brute, binding anger
and hate are the springs of a desire for
revenge. II we gave way to these prim-
tive emotions we should demand an
eye for an eye, we should murder and
rape In Germany as German soldiers
murdered and raped in France and Bel
glum We should dismember and en-
slave the German nation. BY so yielding
we should end a war begun i'm the de-
fence of law and right and for the pro-
lection Of the weak in a chaos of bru-
tallty We should indeed sink ourselves
10 the level Of our enemies.
The other extreme is based on a mass
Of soft emotions that are fine or fool
ish, according as they are or are not
devoted TO right and cont oiled by in
teligence. The parallel is complete.
Anger and hate are fine and true and
ennObllng when they are righteous and
unselfish. They are part, and an im-
pOrtant part, of every stalwart right
doer. II Is only when they reach the
point OF blind rage and eXtngulsh rea-
son and the sense Of right and wrong
that they become evil. So with pity
and kindness and tenderness and mercy
They are part and parcel of our finest
civilization. But when they envelop and
dissolve all other emotions and all
thought and reduce a human being to a
qulyering, shuddering, nOn-resistant,
they become q positive menace.
You can observe these two extremes
in the bringing up of children, in the
punishment of criminals. The angry, |
cruel parent harms irretrievably both
himself and his victim. The too len |
tent, sentimentalizing parent, who Is |
too tender-hearted TO rebuke or control
or punish does surely not less harm. We
have abandoned our old prison methods |
because they were destructive and bru- |
tai But there is another extreme, |
equally dangerous, in which the sentl- !
mental and klnd-hearted person shuts
ewes 20 the facts and would treat the
criminal as a sort Of martyred hero, TO
the destruction OF all reform and to the
very great peril Of the community.
Justice. the golden mean, is no easy
road 10 travel Il means "a vastly COM
plicated decision, based on clear
knowledge Of the facts, doing right by
all concerned community as wei as
criminal. Il demands patience, resolu-
tion. wisdom. In the case OF Germany
II means first Of all insuring, so far as
passible, the safety Of the world against
a repetition Of German crimes. by
either Germans or others. For this there
must be punishment both for the edu-
cation of the German heart and as
warning TO others. To let Germany
now go scot free and TO welcome her at
once back into the family Of nations as
an equal would be 90 commit the same
sort OF error which the weak, foolishly
tender mother commits when she re-
fuses 10. punish her child who does
something positively dangerous to other
children. II we are wise and just we
shall bring home the enormity Of Ger
man crimes against civilization by the
very hOmely and normal method that
every parent uses of making Germany
repair. so far as possible. the damage
she has done We shall then hold her a
prisoner Of civilization for a period OF
probation. Such a sentence must neces-
sarily be indeterminate. II may not op-
crate equally against all the Central
Powers. Time alone can tell.
There Is no real quallel between the
due the world for its pro-
lection and the punishment due TO Ger
many for her salvation. Save in a world
of revenge the goal is identical in each.
we must reform Germany, if we can,
for the goal OF the world as well as for
her own good. We cannot possibly re-
form her by dissolving in tears and act
ing as If black were white, and per-