Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1919-01-30

I have known America and the
Americans close to half century now,
and, whatever else may know about
America, I know the nation has the
big heart and the kind, far-seeing eye.
If you stop to think of America and
of all the great and glorious things
America has done in peace and in war
I dare say you will think of America
as do-as a gigantic, youthful knight,
unafraid, clad in white armor, just and
compassionate, and SO vast OF stature
that the loftiest clouds scarce brush
his knees, while his head is close to
Heaven itself.
know my neighbors on my block,
and my neighbors in my town, and
my neighbors from ocean to ocean,
and they are all-When the test comes
--of noble heart and liberal mind.
They would rather do right than
wrong, and would rather right wrongs
than abet them. / know the Republic
that was created for us, and the man
ner in which we have preserved the
Republic
It is hard for me and my neighbors
to understand the Turk. Try as we
may we cannot quite grasp his mean
ing, or WHY he does what he does. 1t
was, in something of the same way,
hard for us 10 understand the auto
cratic, imperial German. The main
reason is probably because we are at
heart an unselfsh nation. We are
sorry when other peoples are in trou-
BILE. We worry about it and want to
get them out of trouble. We do all
we can to get them out Of trouble. It
has become part of our nature and a
great part of our national religion to
do this
World Conquest AbnormaIity Of
] Heather Days.
1t was hard for US to understand
why an imperial Germany should
think seriously Of any such WORKOUT
thing as world-conquest. Most Of US,
even up to the day when the war
ceased, did not thoroughly understand
that any people could actually mean
had so long had an ideal of world
prosperity and world-friendliness that
we could not think that any nation
could seriously have as it's ideal a
world drowned in blood and chained
to conqueror's chariot wheels. We
could not believe any modern nation
could actually have faith in any such
ancient, heathen-days abnormality
Still less possible is it for us to be-
dieve that any modern nation could
Intentionally and wilfully set about
numbering and starving vast portion
of it's own inhabitants. Even if we
could understand why a Germany
could murder and mistreat Relgians
we could not understand why Tur-
key should murder and mistreat hun
dreds of thousands Armenians and
Syrians who were the most prosperous
and inoffensive of her citizens.
The truth is that it is always diff
cult for the kind-hearted to under
stand the evil-hearted. Far more diff
cult is it for the man who lives in a
really modernly civilized land to I'M
derstand the man who lives in land
that is still ruled by the ancient ideas
of lust, rapine and oppression. The
American father of a family cannot
understand the pasha and the lord OF
the harem who still thinks slaves a
necessity and stolen wealth good
wealth. We cannot believe such peo-
pie exist today.
Flowers Do No Good After You Are
Dead.
The further truth is that the WOrlt
is not yet clean in all it's parts. There
are still portions of it that reek with
the filth of ancient days. There are
still lands that are ruled as Egypt was
ruled when Pharaoh was king. The
black stain of autocracy has been
wiped off the European shield; the
black stain of cruelty still mars the
shield of Asia. There is still work
for civilization to do.
Our first task is to see that death
does not wipe out those who will lend
us a hand in cleaning the foulness
that remains. There was work that
America alone could do in Belgium,
and there is a work that America
alone can do in Turkey. There is no
other land on the face of the globe
today that can do this work. There
is no time when a child is dying OF
hunger, to wait for indemnities and
reparation. 1t is to be hoped that in
the general Fighting of wrongs that IS