Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-11-06

"A We have put n new ink-rlbbon on our
typewriter.
THE old ribbon. that had served us faith.
l. fully since last March, lies before us,
tangled snarl OF inky tape. We feel
rather sentimental about it. That ribbon
carried us through the darkest days of the
war 1t was hammered and thumped and
worn thin with the sins of Germany, with
hopeful epitaphs written for the Kaiser
and Hindenburg and Ludendorff and the
Crown Prince. 1t was beaten and buffeted
with many and many third-rate poem,
many and many a shameful pun, many
and many dull paragraph Uncomplain-
ing, the noble strip of purple tape carried
us through and now--on the threshold Of
victory-we have discarded it, 1t will be
this new ribbon that will carry our gloat-
ings over Wilhelms downfall, over the
failure Of Prussian miltarism to crush the
world to it's insane ambition, over the new
era in which the common people shall have
a voice in cleansing and healing the earth.
DERHAPS we will be told that we should
not have swapped ribbons while cross.
ing a stream; but we felt that the old one
was connected with the bad grim days
that are, we hope down the fue forever.
And we look forward with much humility
to see what this new carbon strip may
have to say to us. Shall we be able to
collect our election bets? Shall we have
the pleasure of writing an obit for the
Kaiser? Shall we see tobacco and roast
nd har N tho
price where they belong? Shall we do a
little better in answering letters? Shall
we see a new world organization that will
in some small degree compensate mankind
for the abomnable sufferngs of the past
years? who knows? And yet 1t all lies
hidden on our silent typewriter ribbon.
II1E FACE our new ribbon with good
w deal of humility, as we have said. We
have made some private resolutions about
the kind of stuff we intend to stamp
upon it. We wish it weren't necessary to
sully its virgin tape with any discussion of
the fate Of Wihelm-"our sad bad glad
mad brothers name" But world opinion
has focused upon Bill as it never before
focused on any one man, even Napoleon.
With a directness and immediacy never
before attained by any popular mandate,
the world insists that the Kaiser must go.
He will Neither he, nor any man, is
strong enough to withstand the united
typewriter ribbons of humanity. A League
of Typewriter Ribbons is as powerful as
the League of Nations. 1t is the type
writer ribbons of the world that express
the thoughts and hopes Of men. And VIII.
helm has got himself pretty badly snarled
and noosed up in those same ribbons.
CPEAKING quite seriously, we have a
~ pretty lively hope for this new type
writer ribbon of ours. The world is NOV
ing through amazing days, days so full Of
meaning that 1t will take most of us a
long time to catch up with them. Now is
the time for all good men to come to the
aid of humanity. The peace settlement is
to be one that will do justice: justice to
the memory of the dead; justice to the
conduct Of the living; justice to the future
Of the unborn. 1t will not be ideal Justice:
it will be human and subject to passion
and error: but it will be a better justice
than the world has yet seen. The con-
science of humanity has been aroused.
AND the election, that we are all think.
Aing about? AS the ribbon unrols be-
fore us we have not heard conclusively
how it went. But honestly now, between
the ribbon and ourselves, does it really
matter? The country is not going to the
dogs no matter how it polls. America en-
tered the war in a high mood of resolution
and unselfish sacrifice, and we shall bring
our share of it to an end in the same spirit
We have all grown in stature since April
1917, and we have learned that many of
the old fetishes are vanished.
TIME one thing for all 20 remember is
L that the war is not over even when
Germany accepts our peace terms. There
are thousands of shattered villages to be
rebuilt, thousands of broken lives to be
patched, thousands OF hungry homes to be
fed. There are thousands of readjust.
ments to be made, thousands of griefs to
be mastered thousands of ambitions, rival
ries and hatreds to be adjusted. We may
we'll find the slow perplexing years OF
worldrebuildng more trying, more puz-
cling than the high adventurous mood of
combat.
| TIME fifty days from now to Christmas
l. will be days Of vast omen. 1t lies with
the rulers of Germany to say whether
| there shall be peace or war. AS there is
no limit to their madness it is still con-
cevable that they may choose to refuse
| our terms. But there is no question of
the outcome. II will be written, and writ
ten soon. This typewriter ribbon is one
Of those that will have the joy of celebrat-
| ing it.
The Piker
We had a friend once who always cele-
brated elections by laying two five-dollar
| bets, one each way. OF course, he always
| lost one and won the other. Thus his own
pocketbook remained in statu quo, he had