Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1919-05-01
WHY WAS THE WAR?

WHY WAS The WAX!
The New York Sun intimates that in. participating
IN the controversy over the disposition of Fiume SPresi-
dent Wilson has been meddling in matters with which
neither he nor the United States has any concern: Senator
Lodge has expressed himself substantially to. the same
effect. Others here and there have given utterance to
this opinion. "
Fiume is within the boundaries Of the. old Austro-
Hungarian empire, with which the United States went to
war. That empire has ceased to exist. Several million
people %inhabiting the territory of which the city is the
natural outlet have constituted, themselves a new nation,
and both the United States and IT'S associates in the war
stand pledged to the recognition of the sovereignty and
independence of that nation. We, with our associates,
are now engaged in the formulation of a basis of peace
with those whom we have been at war, and the fixing of
territorial boundaries enters naturally and logically into
the work. Yet we are told that the disposition of terri
tory formerly controlled by our enemies and now in dis
pute between two of our friends is none of our business.
We went to war with Germany. Victory having been
Won, we are now arranging for peace. 1t was necessary,
or was thought necessary, to prescribe Germany's western
boundaries, and to provide for the status of certain ter
ritories which, at the beginning of the war, formed part
of western Germany. 1t was decided by the representa-
tives appointed for that purpose-and we participated
i'll that work-that Alsace-Lorraine should be restored to
France, and that certain disposition should be made of
the Saar Valley and the Lower Rhine provinces. Perhaps
this was oil a mistake, too, and our participation a vio-
lation of true Anericanism. What have we to do with
Alsace- Lorraine and the Rhine valley?. Our interests
along the Rhine are no greater than our interests on the
Adriatic. .-' ,
Is not our entire participation, in the peace confer
ence a stupendous blunder? If we are out of our sphere
IT, the Adriatic we are equally out of our jurisdiction in
matters pertaining. to western Germany. And eastern
Germany is in the same class. We have nothing to do
with the boundaries of Poland or the disposition of the
Baltic ports. 1t is none of our business how much money
Germany pays to Germany or France. The situation
then resolves itself into one in which we should have
held aloof from our %neighbors, made such peace with our
enemies as we and they could agree on, and let Britain,
France, Italy and the rest, do likewise.
That brings up the question: Why did we go to
war? ~
Did we fight merely because some one persisted in
treading on our corns, and was our purpose merely to in
sure our own population the present enjoyment of certain
rights? If that is true, if we went to war for our own
interests and our own business; if we recognized no fell
lowship with humanity at large; if the woes of the world
did not concern us, and the destruction of human liberty
except within Our own borders did not concern us, then
we should have made our separate peace, closed our
doors, and gone on our separate way.
We went to war for no such purpose. Grievances
of our own we had N abundance. We were subjected to
irritations and outrages which would abundantly have
warranted war on our private account And these were
necessary to arouse us to a recognition of the real issues.
But behind and underneath the things which we suffer-
ed on our own account; was the struggle of an outraged
and abused"humanity for freedom to live" its own life
and to guide it's own .destinies in the ways of peace and
order. 1t was that freedom which was menaced, and it
was that freedom, not here alone, but everywhere, that
America rose in arms to defend. 1t was in defense of
that freedom that America, Joined in the great compact
of democracy and associated herself indissolubly with her
partners in/that great enterprise.
- We went, notTnto an American war, but into a world
war, for principles as old and universal as the human
race. We seek, not an American peace, but a world
peace, and we have no more right to shirk in making
than we had in waging war. 1t would be easier
and more comfortable for US to let others straighten out
the complications and settle the disputes. Butt the work
which we undertook will not be finished until the right
eous peace for which we fought has been achieved, and
we cannot abandon the task or:evade any of it's duties.