The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-12-08


 palace of Versailles where the pea ce ter and would support my judgment) you would know that the American sol dier is the superior of any in the world, not because he basically is a better man, but because he has had American op- portunities But we remained long out of war. We waxed prosperous through it while others bled and died We must not take unfair advantage of the ac- claim we have won.
 It may as we'll be granted that the is- sue of the war was an uncertainty till the United States went in. The ali s might have won, they might have been defeated; after Americas entrance de- feat was inconceivable. So our men counted. Already our money had been powerful; it had financed the allies. it had succored Belgium, Serbia, northern France and Italy. Our industry had been immeasurably important; with it's efficiency and ingenuity 1t had furnished much of the equipment which the all lies had required above all our moral influence had been immeasurably potent in its effect on other neutrals. in its ef- feet upon the powers which developed into general enemies of all humanity in- cluding their own people. There are those of us who think we should have shouldered rifles quicker, but such thought is useless now. We shouldered them at last and brought the grim war to an end We have earned the right to respectful hearing, as a matter of plain fact we probably shall dominate the conference But we must be careful not to let our minds grow arrogant, or tactless, or let them lack appreciation of the many wrongs which we have never suffered but which to others have been very real.
 Problem Very Vital Thus the settlement of the Balkan question is an academic thing. To Eng land, France and Italy it is vital, and to the little Balkan nations it means life or death. To us, for instance, Serbia's destruction is impressive as the war pie lures shown in great film may be im pressive-startling, horrible, but never theless mere spectacle. It requires an especial quality of mind to be able to visualize distant things so that they will have the qualities of reality. The men of European nations who will sit at the peace table will not need to visu- alize the horror of this war-they have actually seen them, actually lived them.
 What does Belgium mean to us? A printed story, pictured horrors. We see the great wars refugees as we see char acters.imagined by Dickens or painted by Dore. The people of France and
 
 Italy fleeing from the Hun, frightened sobbing, starving. maddened as I saw those in Belgium come into England weary, weeping. ruined, pouring out of railway trains too dazed to realize that finally they need fear no German bru- tishness.
 I remember one night at Victoria sta tion, London, when the refugees were coming, met by committees of fine- min Suddenly there was hush as a group of nuns heavily-ah. terribly veiled:-- left half dozen of the funny little British railway carriagesl They had been expected and were at once sur rounded, to be led out of the station by a private route so that they need not face the eyes of sympathy, of curl osity.
 They were of the hundreds who had met with outrages at the behest of German soldiers lust and were to be sequestered in maternity homes The people of America have. not seen such sights.
 The people of America never have seen wounded coming in. even measur- ably fresh from battlefields, prone on stretchers, lame on crutches, blinded, arms in slings. heads bandaged pale and terrible. coming in not by the doz- ems, but by the thousands They have
 
 bearers hurry to the hospital trans after the crowds have been dispersed and carry off the brave, poor fellows who have died upon the journey from the war.
 Even the nose remote villages of France, untouched by wars immediate shocks though they may be, have seen these things; in England ambulances bearing wounded are a common sight on every street of every town on al- most every country road for so great has been the number of the wounded that hospitals have been opehed eve n in farm regions. Where has existed any fitting structure there the wound ed have been sent and they have been inadequate, so vast, temporary struc- lures have been built to take the over- flow Remember these things as you read of the peace conference.
 In the United States the war has not dotted every cemetery with the new made graves of soldiers In France. in England. in Italy no churchyard has<l escaped. In America. while our losses have been great, they have not touched the great majority. Here in London. just the other day, four business and office before lunch. Every man of tIe quartet had lost a son, one man had lost three.
 In America women still wear the garb of mourning for their dead ii. France and England. in Italy and thai little particle of Belgium which re- maiEed in freedom this long since ceased to be the practice. It would l have meant sombre note upon tho | streets detrimental to the general l psychology. Recall this some day when l you are reading of the peace confer 1 ence. Remember as you read that thesl people in the allied countries have 1 been everywhere Impoverished bv +:4esI treat war have score of friends | who have been wrecked because their businesses which were highly pros | porous before the war, were non- | essential. or because the draft Of rnei. ] took ak thefn workers or because ,v1, 1