The Monticellonian., 1918-12-06

And now we are sure Of the great triumph for which every sacrifice was made. It has come, come in its eonl- pleteness, and with the pride and in spiration of these days of achieve ment quick within us We turn to the tasks of peace again-a peace secure against the violence of irresponsible monarehs and ambitious military cot cries and made ready for a new or der, for new foundations of justice and fair dealing.
 We are about to give order and organization to this peace not only for ourselves, but for the other peo- ples of the world as we'll, so far as they will suffer us 10 serve them. It is international justice that we seek, not domestic safety merely Our thoughts have dwelt of late upon Eu- rope. upon Asia, upon the Near and the Far East. very little upon the acts of peace and accommodation that wait to be performed at our own doors. While we are adjusting our relations with the rest of the world. is it not of capital importance that we should clear away all grounds of misunderstanding with our immediate neighbors and give proof of the friend ship We really feel?
 T hope that the members of the Senate will permit me to speak once more of the unratified treaty of friend ship and adjustment with the repub- lie of Colombia. 1 very earnestly urge upon them an early and favorable action upon that vital matter 1 be- lieve that they will feel with me that the stage of affairs is now set for such action as well be not only Just but generous and in the spirit of the new age upon which we have so hap oily entered.
 So far as our domestic affairs are concerned the problem of our return to peace is a problem of economic and industrial readjustment That problem is less serious for us than it may turn out to be for the nations which have suffered the dsarrange- ments and the losses of war longer than We. Our people, moreover, do not wait to be coached and led They know their own business, are quicK and resourceful at every readjust- ment, definite in purpose and self-re- liant in action. Any leading strings We might seek to put them in would speedily become hopelessly tangled because they would pay no attention to them and go their own way All that We can do as their legislative and executive servants is to mediate the process of change here, there and elsewhere, as we may. I have heard much counsel as to the plans that should be formed and personally con- ducted to happy eonsummation, but from no quarter have I seen any gen eral scheme of reconstruction emerge which l thought it likely we could force our spirited business men and self-reliant laborers to accept with due pliancy and obedience.
 While the war lasted we set up many agencies by which to direct the industries of the country in the ser vices it was necessary for them to render, by which to make sure of an abundant supply of the materials needed, by which to check undertak- ings that could for the time be dis pensed with and stimulate those that were most serviceable in war, by which to gain for the purchasing de partments of the government a cer- tain control over the prices of essen tial articles and materials, by which to restrain trade with alien enemies, make the most of the available ship ping and systematize financial trans actions, both public and private, 50 that there would be no unnecessary conflict or confusion-by which, in short, to put every material energy of the country into harness to draw the common load and make Of us one team in the accomplishment of | great task.
 But the moment we knew the ar mistice to have been signed We took the harness off. Raw materials upon which the government had kept its hand for fear there should not be enough for the industries that sup piled the armies have been released and put into the general market again Great industrial plants whose whole output and machinery had been tol hn nf hn ernment have been set free to return to the uses to which they were put before the war. It has not been pos sible to remove so readily or so quick ly the control of foodstuffs and of shipping. because the world has still to be fed from our granaries, and the ships are still needed to send supplies to our men overseas and to bring the men back as fast as the disturbed conditions on the other side of the Wa ter permit; but even these restraints are being relaxed as much as possi- be and more and more as the weeks go by.
 Never before have there been agencies in this country which knew so much of the field of supply. of la- bor and of industry as the War In dustries Board, the War Trade Board, the Labor Department, the Food Ad. ministratien and the Fuel Adminisira- tion have known since their labors became thoroughly syatematized and they have not been isolated agencies; they have been directed by men who