Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1919-11-02
Copyright, 1919, by the Press Publish
ing Co.
(The New York WORLDLY
Especial Cable Dispatch.)

Paris, Nov. Tine peace settle-
ment which was to have been the end
of war is on the rocks in great dan
ger of breaking up" II America
still hopes that from the great war
shall come conditions making for per-
manent peace she hasn't moment 70
lose.
Certain it is that in 1917 a majority
of the American people plunged with
passionate enthusiasm into the strug-
gle only because they believed 1t "a
war to end war" and always In the
discussions of those days it was said
that when the war should have been
won the character of the settlement
would be Of supreme Importance.
Every one agreed it must and should
be Sediment meant to end war.
Blames Ignorance of America.
To any American who has seen tho
plight of Europe near at hand and
watched the shadows of future trou-
lie deepening through recent months,
the delay in the attitude of America
has been disconcerting. 1t can result
only from ignorance, not the negative
ignorance of European affairs which
| existed before the war, but an agra
waited positive ignorance encouraged
! by those who would trade on Ameri-
| can traditions for their own purposes.
| This settlement, the most difficult
| and most dangerous In all history, is
only begun, and certain of our me-
! tional leaders seem to have thrown it
Unto the discard" There appears a
willingness to leave the outcome to
chance-or, worse than chance, to the
| passions of pride and cupidity and to
| the helplessness of Europe.
| | have lived for the past six months
| very close to the European nightmare
and | send this appeal from great
! fear that the American people. not
realizing the desperate situation here,
may find when too late that they
| have played a very sorry part in the
world tragedy We have helped to
| break UP the map of Europe and
| turn many of the national boundaries
into open sores; we have joined in de-
creeing drastic punishment for Ger
many. BY our aid, the despair of i
score Of peoples was turned into the
joy Of victory, which has carried
many OF these peoples past their first
simple feelings of relief, past their
first new hopes--has carried them on
to such towering ambitions mixed
with lust for revenge as to threaten
to make the settlement Pandora's $
box of future wars.
Anarchy's Forces Are Rising.
nomic and financial exhaustion in
every European country has become
fertile soil in which the forces of
anarchy are preparing bloody crops
| for all the world. In such a crisis the
| cool omplacency of America towards
| the settlement Is disappointing, since
only the leadership of America, bring
| ing with it the necessary economic
assistance, can rescue that peace to
end war of which all dreamed.
| II the gospel of American indiffer-
ence to the European settlement shall
| prevail, our summons to the youth OF
the nation to fight a war to end
war; was worse than hypocrisy, our
| participation therein was Il tragic
crime, and more than 100,00 Ameri-
can lads will have been done to death
through a pitiful swindle.
Europe is at this moment economi-
cally and morally bankrupt. Most of
the countries are what we should call
good properties" only to be brought
back into productive activity by
| benevolent ''receivership." America
is the only country in the world cap
able of acting as such a receiver"
II she refuses the task or accepts it
| half -heartedly, If she doesn't put her
credit and raw materials behind Euro
pean industries on an enormous scale,
millions of forlorn, hopeless people
must descend into a winter of great
| hopelessness, from which terrors for
| America as well as for Europe may
arise.
And further if America, backed by
| her dominating financial position
doesn't maintain throughout the period
of political reconstruction such NOR
al leadership as shall prevent the
peace settlement from degenerating
into a series of opportunist bargains.
there will be sown in Europe, not seeds
of peace but serpents teeth for many
| wars.
The best men in every nation are
struggling to stem the rising tide of
sordid national and personal ambitions
which threatens to submerge every
chance of real peace, but the forces
of materialism are proving too pow
erful for them. Certain it is that the
hope of the world at this moment lies
in the willingness of America to act
as a moral as well as an economic re-
ceiver
No Domestic Excuse.
We cannot take refuge behind the
plea of domestic troubles: our stake
in the European settlement makes
these trivial by comparison. Nor can
we claim that the task Is too great
for our resources. Out of our present
abundance, the materials and credit
needed to set in motion European in
dustry can be furnished with ultimate
profit to ourselves, and from our fresh
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