New-York tribune., 1919-02-04
Sees
Menace Rise
Tn the East
Continued from page 1

VhtA"ucu lroH page
which drew the two nations together
in those years, which now seem
so far away, when the world was first
beginning to thrill with the impulse
of human liberty, when the soldiers
OF France came to help the struggling
little Republic Of America to get on
its feet and proclaim one of the first
victories Of freedom.
1--WE had never forgotten that, but
we did not see the full meaning or
it. A hundred years and more went
by, and the spindles were slowly
weaving the web of history We did
not see it to be complete, the whole of
the design to be made plain.
Diverging Lines Drawn Together
Nov look what has happened. In
that far off day when France came to
the assistance Of America America was
fighting Great Britain and now she is
linked as closely to Great Britain as
she is to France. We see now how
these apparently diverging lines of
history are coming together. The ma
tions which once stood in battle ar
| ray against one another are now shoul-
der to shoulder fighting common
enemy
"lt was a long time before we saw
that, and in the last four years some
thing has happened that is unp1ece-
dented in the history of mankind. 1t
is nothing less than this-that bodies
of men on both sides of the sea and in
all parts of the world have come to
reH1ize their comradeship in freedom
France in the meantime, as we have
so often said, stood at the frontier of
freedom.
Her lines lay. along the very lines
that divided the home of freedom from
the home of military despotism. Hers
was the immediate peril. Hers was the
constant dread. Hers was the most
pressing necessity of preparation, and
she had constantly to ask herself this
question: If the blow falls, who will
come to our assistance? p
"And the question was answered in
the most unexpected way. Her allies
came to her assistance, but many more
than her allies. The free people of the
world came to her assistance
And in this way America paid her
debt of gratitude to France by send
ing her sons to fight upon the soil OF
France. She did more. She assisted
in drawing the forces Of the worth ito
gether in order that France hight never
again feel her isolation; in order that
france might never feel that hers was
lonely peril and would never again
have to ask the question whoh would
come to her assistance.
"For the alternative is terrible al
ternatlve for France. | do not need to
point out to you that east of you in
Europe the future is full Of question.
Beyond the Rhinte, across Germanay.
across GLAND, across Russia across Rus
sia, across Asia there are iqaestions
unanswered, and they may be for the
present unanswe rable.
France still stands at the frontier.
France still stands in the presence Of
those threatening and unanswered ques-
tlons-threatening because unanswered:
stands waiting for the solution of mat
ters which touch her directly and in
timately and. constantly, and if she
must stand alone, what must she do?
She must put upon her people con-
stant burden. of taxation, She must
undergo sacrifice that may become in
tolerable
All Nations Involved
And not only she, but the other ma
tons OF the world must do the like.
They must be reeady for any terrible
incident of injustice. The thing is not
inconccivable.
81 visited the other day a portion of
the devastated region of France. | saw
the noble city of Rheims in ruins, and
I could not help saying to myself:
Here is where the blow fell because
the rulers Of the world did not sooner
see how to prevent it.
"The rulers of the world have been
thinking of the relations of govern
ments and forgetting the relations of
peoples. They have been thinking of
the manGuvres of international deal
lngs, when what they ought to have
been thinking Of wasthe fortunes Of
men and women and the safety of
home, and the care that they should
take that their people should be happy
because they were safe.
They know that the only wav to do
this is to make it certain that the same
thing will not always happen that hahs
happened this time, that there never
shall be any doubt or waiting or sur
mise, but that whenever France or anv
other free people is threatened the
whole world will be ready to vindicate
its liberty.
lit Is for that reason, | take it. that
find such an intelligent cnthusiasm
III France for the society Of nations
France with her keen vision, France
with her prophethic vision.
Sacrifices Seen as Necessary
ut seems to be not only the need Of
France, but the need Of mankind. And
France sees the sacrifices which are
necessary for the establishment Of the