The Glenwood post., 1918-11-23

"Hdt one would naturally expect Him
to stand for and approve of?
There are three things that the
United States has always stood for
| l. Both sides of the Monroe doc
| trine. Long ago one of our presidents
said 1--WE will look upon any at
tempt on the part of any European
power to secure any further foothold
on this continent as an unfriendly act'
We said in deed, if not in word: "We
/ VIII keep our hands off all European
territory. Our nation has been big
brother to all the small nations of
South America. Again and again we
have defended them from the land
grabbing proclivities of some other ma
tions and again and again we have re-
fused to take advantage of the weak
from them that which was by right
their own. We have taken the attitude
that any nation has right to work
out its own destiny without hindrance
and that so long as it does not violate
our rights it must be let alone We
seem to have had the feeling that that
which is fit to live and grow and re-
main will do so if given a chance while
that which is not will sooner or later
naturally gravitate toward its own
place. We have said: ''While you re
finding your place give us square deal
and We'll do the same by you" We
have seen Canada become strong on
our north while Mexico on our south
has remained weak, but we have tried
to give them both the same fair chance
and have interefered with neither. Com
pare this attitude with that of German
aristocrats who have purposefy brought
On wars with powers that they knew
| were weaker than themselves simply for
the purpose of taking away some of
their territory and who have openly de-
clared that Holland and Belgium and
switzerland naturally ought to belong
to Germany and that they exist as sep
arate governments solely by courtesy of
the kaiser and during his pleasure.
2. We have always believed in and
encouraged arbitration. Whether the
nation with which we have been in dis
| pute has been small or large we have
tried to settle the dispute peaceably
We would rather build merchant ves-
sells than war ships. We would rather
build tractor engines to pull ploughs
'han to move war tanks over the
ground. We would rather carry mail
in our airships than machine guns. We
nave never been warlike people
Read the books which give an outline
of our country's history and you will
discover that at the beginning of each
of the wars we have engaged in we
have been utterly unprepared for war.
Ever since / can remember anything
have heard that if some other country
were to see fit to attack us we were
helpless. We haven't wanted to think
of war with our neighbors nor to pre-
pare for it. / needn t say anything
about the conduct of the present ad-
ministration just before we got int
this war. President Wilson was elected
because he except us out of war; We
have been like the man who in dis
pnte was slapped in the face by the
other man. He turned the other check
as the scriptures suggest and that was
slapped also. Then he said: "You
slapped one cheek and | turned the
other. You slapped that also. That s
all the cheeks | have so now look out. -
Compare this attitude with that of the
Man With the Mailed Fist who refused
to agree to compulsory arbitration in
the Hague peace conference because i.
was not fair to him. He had been pre-
pairing for this raid upon civilization
for years and chose the moment TO
begin when he was absolutely ready
and the other nations were not. Arbi-
tration would have spoiled his plans
Ask yourself which of these attitudes
is the Christians S God most likely to
approve of.
3. The third thing for which we
have stood is the one which served as
the vehicle that carried us into the
war. We believe in the freedom of
the seas. When nations are at war we
have thought that the armies and ma
} vies ought to fight it out, but that the
women and children ought to be let
/ alone. We have disapproved the de-
, sruction of private property and all
! that was not to be used to carry on the
; war. We have always stood for q
small contraband list and large lis.
. IL