The Elbert County tribune., 1918-11-15

Justice, embodied in settlements
which are based upon something
much better and much more lasting
than the selfish competitive interests
OF powerful states.
There is no longer conjecture as ~
the objects the victors have in mind.
They have mii.ss in the matter nor
a1Iy, but heart also. Their avowed
sfd concerted purpose is to satisfy
and protect the weak as well as to ac-
cord their just rights to the strong.
The humane temper and Intention
of the victorious governments has al
ready been manifested in a very prac-
tical way. Their representatives in
the supreme war council at Versailles
have by unanimous resolution assured
the peoples OF the central empires
that everything that is possible in the
circumstances will be done to supply
them with food and relieve the dis
tressing want that is in so many
places threatening their very lives:
and steps are to be taken Immediately
to organize these efforts at relief In
the same systematic manner that
they were organized In the case OF
Belgium.
BY the use of the idle tonnage of
the central empires 1t ought presently
to be possible to lift the fear of utter
misery from their oppressed popula-
tions and set their minds and ener-
gies free for the great and hazard
Gus tasks of political reconstruction
which now face them on every hand.
Hunger does not breed reform; 1t
breeds madness and all the ugly dis
tempers that make an ordered life inn
possible.
For with the fall of the ancient gov
ernments which rested like an incu-
bus upon the peoples of the central
empires. has come political change
not merely. but revolution: and revo-
luton which seems as yet to assume
no final and ordered FORM but to run
from one fluid change to another, un-
til thoughtful men are forced to ask
themselves, with what governments;
and of what sort. are we about to deal
in the making OF the covenants OF
peace? With what authority will they
meet us, and with what assurance
that their authority will abide and sus-
tain securely the international ar
rangements into which we are about
to enter? There is here matter for
no small anxiety and misgiving. When
peace is made. upon whose promises
and engagements besides our own is
1t to rest?
Let us be perfectly frank with our
selves and admit that these questions
cannot be satisfactorily answered now
or at once. But the moral is not that
there is little hope of an early answer
that will suffice. 1t is only that we
must be patient and helpful and mind
full above all of the great hope and
confidence that lie at the heart of
what is taking place. Excesses ac-
complish nothing. Unhappy Russia
has furnished abundant recent proof
of that. Disorder Immediately defeats
itself. II excesses should occur. II
disorder should for time raise it's
head, sober second thought will fol
low and day of constructive action,
If we help and do not hinder.
The present and all that it holds
belongs to the nations and the peoples
who preserve their self control and
the orderly processes of their govern
ments: the future to those who prove
themselves true friends of mankind.
To conquer with arms is to make only
temporary conquest: to conquer the
world by earning its esteem is to make
permanent conquest. | am confident
that the nations that have learned the
discipline of freedom and that have
settled with self possession to its or
dered practice are now about to make
conquest of the world by the sheer
power of example and of friendly help
fulness.
The people who have but just come
out from under the yoke of-arbitrary
government and who are now coming
at last into their freedom Will never
find the treasures of liberty they are
in search of II they look for them by
the light of the torch They will find
that every pathway that is stained
with the blood of their own brothers
leads to the wilderness, not to the
seat of their hope. They are now face
to face with their initial tests.
We must hold the light steady un-
til they find themselves. And in the
meantime, If it be possible, we must
establish a peace that will justly de-
fine their place among the nations,
remove all fear of their neighbors and
of their former masters. and enable
them to live in security and content
ment when they have set their own
offairs in order. l, for one. do not
ooubt their purpose or their capacity.
There are some happy signs that
they know and will choose the way of
self control and peaceful accommo-
dation. If they do, we shall put our
aid at their disposal in every way that
we can If they do not, we must