The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-06-24
LESSONS OF GREAT CONFLICT EMPHASIZED
BY RICHMOND MAN WHO WAS OVERSEAS

nous cable to President Wilson:
Send every available man at once or
the cause Of the Allies is lost" we in
France, probably for the first time, |
began to realize the importance of
our own country. We of the younger
generation had thought of our coun- |
try as the one discovered by Colum
bus; as the one which had been vic
torious in the cause of independence
and the great Civil war, and as
country which had, at late hour en-
tered the great World war. Aside |
from these great facts, our country
meant little more to many of US than
a huge political arena.
But the time came when all was
changed, for the hour came when the
Germans struck mighty blow at the
British armies The world read the
famous cable that transplanted two
million trained American soldiers to
France. You know the result of the
German drive for the channel ports
as well as the drive on Paris. Here
America came into her own and we
boys in France saw the spirit of the
Allies march down that endless Hall
of Fame and on Bonded knee pay
tribute to the greatness of America.
France, more than any of the rest,
worshipped at that shrine and Ameri-
ca became the idolized sister to that
republic of the tricolor across the
seas.
America Answers
We who were in France saw Eng
land battered and crushed; France at
tackled, despoiled and devastated
gradually giving way to the onslaughts
of the enemy; we saw Belgium and
Serbia as two peoples with their coun-
tries controlled by the Hun; we saw
italy stagger under the mighty blow
dealt her by Austria, and we saw Ru-
mania ruined, countryless people.
America answered the call of her
war-torn sister nations, and soon we
saw millions of the allied nations
clothed and fed. The empty hand of
want was filled and the pangs of hun
ger ceased to gnaw at the very vitals
of Europe We saw the great heart
of the American people go out to the
starved and half clothed orphans of
Belgium and France. We saw count
less hospitals spring up as If by
magic to relieve the pains and suffer
ing of thousands of shell-torn minds
and bodies.
Americas greatness was recognized
all the way from the ports of debark-
alton to the front line trench across
No Mans Land and all the way from
the north where the choppy waves of
the English Channel rebound in In
creased frenzy to the south lands
where the blue Mediterranean quoted
the nerves and cooled the feverish
brow of many mothers dying son.
, There are certain emotions that
words cannot describe. There is no
language save the language of appre-
citation that can describe Americas
greatness at the present hour. Offer
a starving man food-he eats it
thanks you-and goes his way. Give
warmth and clothing to freezing
| man, he thanks you for the gift and
passes on. A nation of people is
hungry and suffering from the cold
you feed and clothe them, but there
| is no language on earth, save the sill
ent language of appreciation, that can
describe the emotions that were crea-
ted by the kindnesses that have been
performed. We who were in France
saw that look Of appreciation which
was the outward manifestation Of an
| inward emotion, on the faces Of all
the French, and behind all this, we
could see the greatness of our own
America.
America Is Foremost
| Today, America, as the world will
testify, occupies the topmost place
among the nations of the earth. We
lead, others follow; we advise, the
rest consider, and it is the star of
| America that lights the worlds path
way, down which all nations must
| tread
/ Yet, in this hour of glorious achieve
! ments, dangerous tendencies are Ger
/ tain and must be very carefully guard
| ed. AS a young nation, we must take
care that we do not adopt or use the
| policies that have caused the over
throw of other nations. We must be
most careful in the Interpretation of
our laws and especially the constitu-
! ton.
We must as Albert J. Beveridge
has said, realize that the constitu-
ton was made for the American peo-
pie and not the American people for
the constitution" This statement is
as true today as it was when it was
made in defense of our Philippine
policy. Under the constitution, we
are to grow and expand into the
worlds mightiest nation. To do this,
we must distinguish between the just
and the unjust; and we must, upon
all occasions, place power and the
right to use power in the right place
and upon the proper authorities.
I We must also be very careful as to