The Pulaskian., 1918-11-15

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aster. Who will now seek to revive
it? The arbitrary power of the mill
tary caste of Germany which once
could secretly, and or It's own single
choice, disturb the peace of the world
is discredited and destroyed. And more
than that-much more than that-has
been accomplished. The great nations
which associated themselves to de-
strey it has now definitely united in
the common purpose to set up such a
peace as will satisfy the longing of the
whole world for disinterested justice,
embodied in settlements which are
based upon something much better and
much more lasting than the selfish
competitive interests of powerful
states. There is no longer conjecture
as to the objects the yictors have in
mind
"The humane temper and intention
of the victorious governments has al
ready been manifested in a very prac-
teal way. Their representatives in
the Supreme War Council at Versailles
have by unanimous resolution assured
the peoples of the central empires that
everything that is possible in the cir
cumstances will be done to supply
them with the food and relieve the dis
tressing want that is in SO many
places threatening their very lives,
by the US of the idle tonnage of the
central empires it ought presently to
be possible to lift the fear Of utter
misery from their oppressed popula-
lions and set their minds and energies
free for the great and hazardous tasks
of political reconstruction which now
face them on every hand. Hunger does
not breed reforms, it breeds madness
and all the ugly dtstempers that make
an ordered life impossible.
For the fall of the ancient govern
ments which rested like an incubus
upon the peoples of the Central EN-
pires, has come political change not
merely, but revolution; and revolution
which seems as yet to assume no final
and ordered form, but to run from one
fluid change to another until thought
full men are forced to asked them
selves, with what governments, and
what sect, are we about to deal in the
making of the covenants of peace?
With what authority will they meet US,
and with what assurance that their
authority will abide and sustain in Sc
eurity the international arrangements
into which we are about to enter,
There is here matter for no small
anxiety and misgiving. When peace is
made, upon whose promises and en-
gagements besides our own is it to
rest?
Let US be perfectly frank with our.
selves and admit that these questions
can not be satisfactorily answered
now or at once
But the moral is not that there is
little hope of any early answer that
will suffice. It is only that we must
be patient and helpful and mindful
above all of the great hope and conf
denee that lie at the heart of what is
taking place. Excuses accomplish
nothing. Unhappy Russia has fur
nished abundant proof of that. Dis
order Immediately defeats itself. If
excesses should occur, if disorder
should for time raise it's head, a So
Der second thought will follow and a
day of constructive action if we help
and do not hinder
'The present and all that it holds
belongs to the nations and The peoples
who preserve their self control and the
orderly processes OF tneYr govern
ments; the future Of those who prove
themselves the true friends of man
kind. To conquer with arms is to
make only a temporary conquest; 10
conquer the world by earning its
esteem is to make permanent con
quests. I am confident that the ma
tons that have learned the discipline
of freedom and that have settled with
self-possession to its ordered practice
are now about to make conquest of
the world by sheer power of example
and of friendly helpfulness.
The people who have just come out
from under the yoke of arbitrary gov
eminent and who are now coming at
last into their freedom will never find
the treasures of liberty they are in
search of if they look for them by the
light of the torch. They will find that
every pathway that is stained with the
blood of their own brothers leads to
the wilderness, not to the seat of their
hope. They are now face to face with
their initial tests. We must hold the
light steady until they find themselves.
And in the meantime if it be possible
we must establish a peace that will
justly define their place among the
nations, remove all fear of their neigh
bors and of their former masters. and
enable them to live in security and