The Washington herald., 1918-01-01


can win out over the newly arisen
obstacles.
President Wilson's failure to men
ton the measure in his annual mes
sage was a encouragement to some
OF the strong friends of universal
training. They were hopeful that the
executive would feature his message
with a request for enactment Of this
measure. The fact that he did not do
SO, together with the fact that about
the same time his Secretary Of War
came out in opposition to 1t, indicates
that the general plan of the war ad-
ministration Is not to press forward
to obtain this legislation at the pres
ent time.
Some Of those who oppose 1t now.
IL may be said here, are not opposed
to the principle so much as they are
opposed to the idea of proposing it
AT THIS PARTICULAR TIME. They
see nothing TO gain by passing it now.
and they see much to gain If it is
left alone until conditions reach a
maturing stage. Then the way can
be pointed very clearly to Congress.
these men reason. and they say the
enactment of the measure can be
brought about at that time. IL 1t is
SllO"h W bC bdols lllt SOutl-
try.
1t was said by one of Mr.. Creel's
staff the other day that of late the
Committee on Such Information as
1t Cares to Give to the Public has
been getting along better lately than
1t did for the first two or three months
after its establishment.
This is good news. The commit
tee in fact is now going more nearly
along, the line it should be going
and should have gone from the start.
The news accounts are being handled
in slightly different fashion than
when Creel first took hold of matters,
and the committee IS specializing in
the preparation of illuminating book
lets for the public.
Conquest and Kultur," one of the
really interesting works of the war
period. has made its appearance, and
requests for it are coming from all
over the Nation. The people in the
country who have read it-and there
are many-have repeatedly stated
their qualification at being able to re-
view the facts set out in the book.
And while they have discussed the re-
markable things which it portrays.
showing conclusively the German
ideal. they have aided Immensely in the
great campaign of acquainting Amer
lea at large with the reasons why
we are in the war and how long we
are likely to be there.
The really surprising thing about
the entire situation brought out by
the appearance of this work is that
while the people Of this country have
long received Germans here and have
thought of their country in terms of
admiration, we have not been keen
enough to see beneath the REAL char
acter of these people. We have been
supinely engrossed with our own af-
fairs and have entertained only most
superficial knowledgs of the people
about us. even those in our very widst.
We have taken them at face value and
have little thought of what relation
the native land of these people might
want to bear toward US. 1t was far
from our minds to think that these
people came to US from a land that
sought to conquer US and the rest of
the world with us.
Conquest and Kultur'' will have
performed its mission well If, with the
intimate tales of the people with whom
we are at war, it defines and illumi-
mates the war ambitions of these peo-
pie and makes us see that it does not
pay to become so obscessed with the
certainty of things that we do not
grant that some of the uncertain
things might very well be brought out.
THE. OBSERVER"