The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-06-24
By LIEUT.. L. X. FIsHBAck

Nh ner, the other, the loser;
Ane1 thus, in the World War
t@SMI which is drawing to close,
kGWS3a we find one group of nations
the conquerors, and the OPP
posing group the conquered. At the
close of such worldwide conflict,
the nations that have won, as well as
the nations that have lost, must, nee
essarily have learned valuable lessons.
II the winners have failed to profit
from these lessons, they have won
only partial victory, and l question
very seriously If the price paid for
victory was not exhorbitant and fear
that the real victory has slipped from
their grasp.
William Lloyd George said in the
House of Commons, 'The lessons that
we are to learn, now that the war
is over, are the most vital and valu-
able part of our victory" The les
sons that Germany has been taught
differ in their nature from the lessons
that we or any of the Allies are to
learn. Germany today and for tho
next fifty years must be taught GER
tain fundamental truths, while the
Allies must acquire knowledge for
themselves.
MUST Be Taught.
1t Is a very simple thing indeed, to
say that Germany must be taught that
Might does not make Right when
Wrong is the Objective, but it is q
far more difficult task to impart this
instruction to them. To do SO, it is
necessary, first Of all, to prove to Ger
many that she and her allies were de-
feated In the Great World War. Such
a statement may sound peculiar to
those who were not fortunate enough
to go across to France, to have been
"Over There" when the Armistice was
signed, and to have seen the German
armies go home as conquering heroes.
They marched back to the homeland
with their gun carriages decorated
with flowers, with their bands playing
and their flags flying. Now to show
the peculiar German mind, will add
that not only is the above true, but
the German people received and well
coined their armies as the victors in
the great struggle. What was true in
November of last year is true today,
for the boys on the Rhine are con-
fronted with this same German frame
Of mind. They still claim to have
been victorious.
Germany must be taught that her
might was, in reality, her greatest
weakness. Weakness, whether In in
dividuals or nations must sometime
be overcome Germany failed to over
come her weakness, and today it is
the cause of her defeat
A true analysis of Germany's might
would prove to the most skeptical
that it consisted of an Imperial War
pY11a Ko9o !, IL
military nation which tolerated huge
armies and military advisors to their
ruler. Germany must be taught that
the tolerance of such institutions al
home leads to international disputes
Today, instead of finding Germany
a nation of people who admit defeat
and are willing to accept whatever il
may cost them, they are the same
insolent, arrogant race as they were
in former days of victory. 1t is this
attitude that we must change, ano
change It within thenext generation
of Germany of the future will be a
duplication of the Germany of the
past. The whole thing can be summed
up in the words of the Honorable
Winston Churchill in the House Of
Commons, "Brutes they are and brutes
they remain"
As result of our participation il
the war. the people of this country
have learned valuable lessons; 1 be
lieve the two million boys who were
over There" learned the most val
liable lessons of all. Speaking as one
of those fortunate enough to q
across, want to express it as forcibly
as l can that the first and creates
lesson we boys learned was to appre
ciate for the first time the capabilitie:
and accomplishments of our owl
country.
10 read of occurrences from three tt
seven thousand miles away, does no
impress one so forcibly as to be al
eyewitness to that occurrence To Sc,
a train of fifty or one hundred aut,
trucks pass through your city mean
very little to those here at home: blu
il you see those same trucks in France
filled with American soldiers on thei
way to the front, you begin to realiz
what was necessary in way of pre-
paration at home before those boy
could have been selected, trained
equipped, transported to France. an,
on their way to the front. This e4
ample is very small lin itself but j
serves its purpose in bringing befor
the American mind the magnitude O
actual accomplishments.
We who were members of the A
E. F. realized the wonderful prepare
ton at home, for we were eye-wit
nesses to the marvellous results acros
the water The longer the war last
ed, the more we boys in France I