Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-10-08

Never Before in Any Crisis Has the Nation
Been So Wholly Of One
Mind


German Emperor by dsgusted rejec-
tion of his peace overtures.
The incident is illuminating. On no
other issue, at no other hour in our his
tory, have we been so resolutely Of one
! mind. The vainest king in all the world
| must realize today that even the little
children in America are laughing at him.
adequate to throw new light on demo-
| cratic motives and impulses.
Plainly we are to be the deciding
! factor in the peacc-whcnever peace
comes. Allied statesmen in Europe have
been content to accept President Wilson
as their spokesman and to follow many
Of his leads in the newer diplomacy.
This is largely because America was
clearly aloof from many of the causes
that contributed to the war. 1t is logi-
cal that America should be expected to
avoid undue preiudices and to adhere to
the principles of common justice. The
President himself, as he has often said,
listens at the heart of his country. He
holds that his chief talent is an ability
to understand and interpret the general
will of America, to follow the lead of
mass opinion.
Therefore il may be said that it was
to the average intelligence of this nation,
to the conscience of the average man in
the street, that the German Emperor
made the appeal which he hoped would
-, H. l., ,,a1ysic
1t is conceivable that the German
statesmen expected definite rejection.
Their major purposes arc too transpar-
emily sinister to admit of any other an
swer. But they must have been stunned
by the force and suddenness with which
America turned upon them contemptu-
ously and made its determination for
complete victory apparent by every con-
cevable method of expression. At no
other time in American history has there
been so spontaneous and dramatic an
expression Of popular judgment. The
countrys answer was as arresting as a
clap of thunder-and as ominous. 1t
was sprung from a mood quietly but
passionately relentless.
Even on so recent an occasion as that
of the Austrian peace proposal an occa-
sional eager or hopeful voice could have
been heard against the booming of the
general mol" Now even the pacifsts
are become warlike. Their journals
have been stung and affronted by the
cumulative evidence of German pertidy.
e ipJc
formerly were clouded by a false hu-
manitarianism has awakened at last to
a clear perception of the incurabl. vii
lainy that hides behind the German pre-
tensions of reform. And these are but
surface indications of a phenomenal con-
dition of public opinion in America.
The Revolutionary War was almost
lost to the Colonies because of the frank
and outspoken disloyalty of the Ameri-
can Tories, who were proud to show
their contempt for the Continental Army
and its commander and to give comfort
to the enemy. The War of 1912 was so
bitterly opposed in parts of New Eng
land that there was talk of secession in
Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode
Island. This opposition in the States to
the Federal authority eliminated in the
notorious Hartford convention. LINCOLN
was bitterly opposed by powerful ele-
ment in the United States. Pacifism and
politics were mixed perilously to hinder
the winning of the Civil War. The
United States was not united in the sup
H.. ian
was voiced in many quarters even after
the war began. Plainly therefore the
country at large senses greater issue
in the present war.
We have nothing to gain in material
way with complete victory. Our insti-
tutions are not Immediately menaced.
Our men are being sacrificed, our whole
industrial system has been dislocated and
we cannot perceive the outcome. We
are pouring out money like water. And
vet, with one voice the country sent its
answer like trumpet blast and made it
plain that this war must go on till the
German beast is whipped and in chains.
The psychology of the case is simple.
1t is the psychology of the average man.
Your average man is easy going in
his tolerant contempt for bosses and the
little evils of his form of government.
But with all the power of his soul he
hates cruelty, brutality, pretense, false
| hood. He hates those who hurt the weak
He wishes to see children happy. His
loathing of those who hurt and kill them
is unutterable. He loves justice.
He is intolerant of bores and nuisances
He has one cry, the average man, when
in his familiar crowds, bore or Drag
CART becomes troublesome. He will
almost invariably raise his voice with a
eliminating, "Put him out!". He wants
the Kaiser put out.
And out he IOH be PIT!
Most mem like to imagine that their