Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-02-04

AT Frontier of Freedom
France. in the meantime, as we
have SO often said, stood at theDfron-
tier of freedom. Her lines lay along
the very lines that divided the home
of freedom from the home of mill
tary despotism. Hers was the imme-
diate peril. Hers was the constant
dread. Hers wac 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?
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 as
sistance.
And in this way America paid
| her debt of gratitude to France by
sending her sons to fight upon the
soil of France. She did more. She
assisted in drawing the forces of the
world together in order that France
| might never again feel her isolation;
| in order that France might never
| feel that hers was a lonely peril and
would never again have to ask the
! question who would come to her as
| sistance.
| Dts VuCStiOtts III E@ASt
For the alternative is a terrible
! alternative for France. l do not'need
| to point out to you that east of you
in Europe the future Is full of ques-
ton. Beyond the Rhine, across Ger
many, across Poland, across Russia.
across Asia there arc questions ulan-
sweretl, and they may be for the
present unanswcrablc.
| France still stands at the frontier.
! France still stands i'm the presence of
those threatening and unanswered
qucstions-threatenin because un-
answered.; stands waiting for the So
luton of matters which touch her
directly and intimately and constant
! ly, and If she must stand alone, what
must she do? She must put upon her
people a constant burden of taxation.
She must undergo sacrifice that may
, become intolerable.
And not only she. but the other
nations of the world must do the
like. They must be ready for any
terrible incident of injustice. The
thing is not inconceivable.
Where Blow Fell
"I visited the other day a portion
of the devastated region of France
1 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
4 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 maneuvers of international
dealings. when what they ought tC
have been thinking of was the for.
tunes of men and women and the
safety of home, and the care thai
they should take that Jfheir people
should be happy because they were
i safe.
4 They know that the only way tC
do this is to make 1t certain that the
same thing will not always happer
that has happened this time, tina
there never shall be any doubt o.
waiting or surmmise, but that when
ever France or any free people il
threatened the whole world will bt
ready to vindicate it's liberty.
1T is for that reason, l take 1t
that find such warm and intelli
gent enthusiasm in France for tn,
society of nations-France with he
keen vision, France with her proph
etic vision. 81.
ut seems to be not only the neet
of France, but the need of mankind
And France sees the sacrifices which
are necessary for the establishment
of the society of nations are not to b,
compared with the constant dread o
another catastrophe falling on thu
|, fair cities and areas of France"