The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-12-08

The Hall of Mirrors at tn, in peace, that 1t has given birth Cor at least has offered citizenship to the worlds most earnest pacifists As long as we could keep free of this war we kept free of 1t; when we went into 1t we went in to shorten 1t. We strove for peace at first and later on we fought for it. Our fighting won 1t and among the allied nations. as in defeated Ger many, 1t would be hard, I think, to find a man or woman of intelligence Nwho would deny that it was Americas eff fort which brought peace where war had been.
 In Europe an unworthy significance attaches to the term 'pacifst." In Amer ica it is not so and should not be- Every man who fought in Pershing's army was a pacf1st, for he was fighting not for conquest but for peace. Tne great Amer ican pacifsts have not been of the type which so justly has been gazed upon with something akin to horror by the red blooded patriots of the allies At Dart moor prison, as I write, shirkers of their military service still are held in durance and sneeringly called 'pacifists."
 In America such men as Andrew Car negie (whose genius as an ironmaster helped to make the winning of this war a possibility for the alIies) such men assHenry Ford (who became known ~.in Europe more than a year ago as the quantity producer of war" because of the immense output of his factories of war necessities); such men as Dr. Eliot of Yale, Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, pres ident of Columbia university; such men as Elihu Root and Joseph H. Choate- many individuals of widely diverging achievements, surely none of them ''rab- bits"-have been the .pacihsts,, each for pacifism, not one a shirker like the sexless, bfoodless, chittering creatures at the British prison
 AMERICAN "PACIFISTS" The contribution of American 'paci- nsts to the worlds peace idea has been literally incalculable. Let us sec for example, what that of Andrew Carnegie has been. Through the deliberations of the conferences at The Hague for which eventually he built the famous palace with million and half dollars of American money. were worked out most ofs those agreements which have saved the decency of the allies, which have preserved the self-respct of our own sol diers and their comrades by ordered well-considered rules of action, which nave emphasized the horror of the Ger man deviiment of firing upon hospital ships, bombing civilian populations. poi soning wells, torpedoing passenger yes sels and the whole long list
 That was something worthy of accom- piishment-real work by real ..pacifst.,
 do not mean by this that the soldiers or cur European allies ever could have been as vile as their grim enemies seemed 10 De py instinct; but do mean to say that the existence of the rules of civil IZ2d warfare a . uyorI al ,A Influence of American pacifists have been oi vast value. There have been a hun dred great American contributors to those theories of peace which will form the basis of that which is to come. Thee dore Roosevelt, was recipient of the No bel peace prize not so many years ago What our present President has done all know.
 The warning people of the world have bowed to Pershing (as they shouldl. to sims (God bless him), to the American soldier than whom none better ever has been seen or will be), but the American
 pacinst' has not been given credit for having helped to win the war ana for having helped more still to keep if da- cent on one side. at least And. after an, what are Sims and Pershing, what light for peace-but ''pacifists?',
 The American pacifist Is of a very spe cial brand. There were those abroad ana those at home who thought America softened. almost effeminate nation be- cause she talked so much of peace There was nothing soft, effeminate about lnal hrst grlm group of doughboys who marcned through Londons streets and made Englishmen stand gaping because of their physique, made every British newspaper next day comment on tha nerce determination of the lean Ameri- can race; there was nothing soft ef- feminate about the youngsters I saw (some of them fresh from my home town of Rochester, N. Y.), the last time II visited the American battle front: there has been nothing soft, effeminate about our sailor boys who have dared subma- irines and when they could, have fought them; there is nothing soft effeminate about the Iowa lad I met today upon the Strand in London looking very glum and who answered, when I asked him why he mourned: T haven't had a chance to stick boche and now the war Is over" Incidentally asked what his job was when at home and he said earn estly: T was studying theology when the war broke" And what do you want most of all?" Why, peace, world safe for democracy-and haven't helped to- ward either" But of course he had.
 WHAT hlND OF PEASE aH
 Now, what sort of peace will the United States demand? It has given of, its money. of it's products, of it's labor, of it's blood ..without stint or measure. that some peace might come; that it gave no more was only because no more was needed In a general way it knows what it desires.
 America wants peace with justice for all men.
 yxy:y
 VIII she Set 1t? Probably. And in one sense she will be more than anvone re- sponsible for it. first, because she fought Tor II with men and money, with in- genufty and her great genius for exact organization, with unselfishness of mo- tive and with developed, educated, ldealistic democracy behind her efforts. con wish to boast. as an Americar but if you, the readers of this sarticle' Knew the armies of this war even as well as do (and many knew them bef