The Lancaster news. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1905-current, 1919-08-05
by
DR.. Anna Howard Shaw

tnlnh we cOuld not cooperate, no mat
ter what l thought about it.
To the honor of the women of this
nation, let it be said that from the
beginning of the war to the end of it
they maintained their pledge of co.
operation.
"War to End War"
Men told us that, if We made a con-
quered peace, if we subdued mill
tarism and the militarist spirit which
Germ w was melting not only in it's
own country, but in the countries of
the world, it would he conquered for
ever. This is the war to end war"
1t was that thought which brought
women together, This is war to
end war;" and women must play their
We know that men are ready to die
in war; but there are a great many
things harder than to die Every
body must die sometime and it does
not make so much difference perhaps
as to the number of days we live as
it does to the manner in which we
live the days we do live. There are
some things that are worth a great
deal more than life, and one thing
which was worth more than life to
the men who went out aid laid down
their lives for their countries was not
to leave a dishonored nation, a ma
tion unworthy of the civilization of
our time. nation which had no heart
to feel and no understanding to real
ize the conditions of intimate associa-
tion between nation and nation and
the obligatio which one nation has to
care for and sympathize with another.
Having grasped this idea Of democ-
racy, this idea of the oneness of the
human family, we declared that we
would give everything that we had
and sacrifice everything that we had
in the interests of ending war for
rifced and saved and toiled again, un-
til the war ended.
Not Ended on Field of Battle.
Now, whether we agree with every
part of that peace treaty or not, no
matter we agree with everything
there is in the League OF Nations or
not, the question remains that now
with the Germans, our opponents, de-
feated on the field of battle, is that
the way to end war forever. merely
10 defeat them on the field Of bat
tie? Is there not something TO he
done afterwards? Every one knows
that no war is ended on the battle
field. The last word in any war is
not spoken on the battlefield. The
last word in war is spoken in the
halls where the people meet together
to decide what shall be the result of
the war, what shall be the penalties
of the war, and how peace shall be
made.
If President Wilson were TO stand
before us today and tell US even a
part of what he knows that we do no,
know, we would be the most aston
ished people IN all the world. The
peace commission with all the facts
before them know: and out of their
knowledge, out of what they under
stand of the relation of nations to
each other, they have given us this
League OF Nations, as the best solu-
tion they could produce, TO bring
about just and lasting peace. That
is what we women have been work.
ing for from the beginning of the
war. In a conversation with Presi-
dent Wilson just before he went to
Paris, he said, The most difficult
task l have had since the war bega N.
in dealing with foreign nations, has
been to convince them that we do
not want any material advantage out
of the war. They cannot understand
it. ever before did any great nation
go into a war such as this, with our
men and our treasure. and then ask
nothing in return. could hardly
make them believe that we were per-
fectly willing to come out with empty
hands; and yet" he said, they are
beginning to understand that, be-
cause our men over there on the bat
interestedness. and they are able to
feel that If we can send men to die
in this disinterested way, those OF us
who are at home have perhaps the
same spirit. and so they are Begin
ming to trust us a little more than
they did in the beginning"