The World. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1912-1921, 1918-07-10
A NEW DECLARATION OF INDEPEN-
DENCE

DENCE.
The grip of present events upon the atten
ton of the individual is such as to obscure tht
future in general and all individual futures IL
particular; and it is perhaps this fact which
has lead to certain pessimistc attitude evi
dent in some as to the possibility of any gooe
which might come from the war. Without in
tentionally inclining towards the optimistic side
and ignoring the danger of CLOSING facts ii
such frame of mind, we cannot but believe
that the war is destined to yield rich and rare
benefits not only to this country but to the
civilized world in general. Issues have been
drawn III such a way as to emphasize the fact
that the Allied effort is directed to erase from
the face of the earth militarism as embodied in
the German ruler and rulers, and in a broader
sense, to establish freedom, political and econo-
mic for all peoples. All of which is perfectly
and gloriously true These detectives are not to
be lost sight of for minute in these times of
stress and strain.
But these same developments of the past four
years, and more particularly of the past year,
are beginning to have and will continue to have
with an increasing reality an effect upon Amer
lean manhood and won1anhood which nothing
short of the present conditions could ever have
effected. The possibility is speculation-provok-
ing @ -sssss1 ss
Turning from peaceful pursuit upon provo
cation which tested the nations morality and
ethics rather than its sense of economic fair
ness to struggle which is demanding every
day more and more of our very life and its
physical interests; turning from occupations
which yielded high measure of financial re-
turn, and, it ought also TO be admitted,N tended
tc make us pleasure-lovirg as a nation to ma
tional business which is in essence altruistic,
and supported not for the material gain it will
yield but because the nation could not permit
decency and civilization to be challenged with
out coming to their defense; calling from pri-
yate enterprises men of gigantic intellectual
and executive capacity, to say nothing of the
formidable military power which the situation
has erected, to step forward and without per-
sonal ambition take willingly part of the re-
sponsibility for the conduct of the nation S
business; these things, we do not for one mo-
ment doubt, will prove leaven in the national
ffe, the real results of whose working will not
~ evident until the war is finished and these
men return to their former communities.
The interesting speculation is What effect
will this contact with national business, this
participation in an endeavor which is entirely
free of narrow and partisan and short-sighted
limitations, have upon their activities when
they are again in peaceful pursuits? In a word,
we believe their return will mark the renaissance
Of interest on the part of honest citizens and
capable leaders in home problens-in politics,
IN civic economics, in phianthropic undertake
ings in every institution which has as its pur-
pose the betterment of community conditions.
We cannot but believe that these men and wo~
men who are so to speak, today upon the
mount of vision" will not allow the memory OF
their inspiration to die without having it leave
some impress upon those people with whom
they are accustomed to associate. The war is
drawing from those shells of secusion and self
interest thousands of men and women today
who have always held aloof, partly through q
feeling of backwardness towards everything
which partook of public nature, and partly
through an incapacity to feel any community
or public responsibility, from public affairs
and one effect Of such aloofness has been tf
allow the control of matters and interests es
sentially public in their nature to drift into the
hands Of a few men and women, some Of whom
have not been too attentive to the pubc's IN
terest in the case and others of whom have &C