The times-herald. [volume] (Burns, Harney County, Or.) 1896-1929, 1919-05-10
EUROPE NECESSARY
TO AMERICAN TRADE
Conditions Have Changed Since
Washington's Advice About
ENHANCING Alliances"

WuetuoT tuc hohBuo VI NaeiOha
will ever invite America to send an
army to Fiume--or somewhere else
and help to eject Italians, or Jugo
Slavs-or somebody else, this we
know not. And, recognizing that we
don't know, let us be mindful that
there are many other kinks about the
league whose twists are little be-
wildering to US.
Peace is supremely desirable. ANY
kind of league that makes any kind
of stab at preserving peace in any
kind of honorable way deserves our
whole-hearted endorsement. But don't
let us fool ourselves. Santa Claus
will not come every day. We must
not promise ourselves that everything
we want will happen automatically
after o few delegates have signed
their names. Half the nations of
Europe seem to want war rather than
peace just now They are likely to
nurse these bellicose enthusiasms for
some time. If they are all members
OF the same league as ourselves, and
they tell us to get in on few of their
wars because we are brother peace
leaguers. we may find the final differ
ent from the overture. But peace il
like every good thing; II Is worth all
the effort spent in the attainment.
Rhetoricians are constantly remind
ing US of what George Washington
said about entanglfng alliances. He
urged this country to keep aloof from
the problems with which European
politics were interviewer. He said
II many years ago, when few towns In
America were as large as Burns.
AS rule we associate Washington
with Fourth of July celebration
with commencement exercises. and
mellifluous oratory. We think of
brass bands and streaming banners.
AT the mention of his name we visual
ize marble statues perpetuating his
image, and oil paintings preserving
his features and the cut ofhis uni
form.
We rarely conceive him as being
intensely human. and abundantly en-
dowed with horse sense. We have
hung so many frills upon him that in
t h e encumbering vestments he
seems to voice pontifical utterances.
SO that his remark about entangling
alliances has established a religion.
very much as certain texts In the
Epistles have established the tenets
OF conflicting denominations.
Washington was no hierarch. He
was supremely practical American.
and took things as he found them. A
voyage to Europe took many weeks,
and his country was in no way de-
pendent on foreign trade. European
contemporary history was series OF
dynastic wars, and America had moth
ing to gain and everything to lose by
close association with the Old World.
Washington's precepts were uttered
for the guidance of the newly born
republic, just as the Mosaic Law ap-
piled to Israel of the Old Covenant.
Today these conditions are reyers-
ed. Europe is distant only five
days trip. European wars today are
not dynastic; they are largely con-
cerned with arguments between class
es-laborers. artificers, bourgeoisie.
peasants.
II Europe becomes dangerous
place for Americans it becomes dan
gerous place for American goods
raw materials and manufactures. We
shall be restricted to market on this
hemisphere, and, with the field mar
rowed, prices Will be cut in two So
will wages.
That is what Europe means to us
today. We need not become parti-
sans IN every European territorial
Quarrel. but no man In Burns who is
OF a Rip Van Winkle can fail to re-
osgnize that Europe is for us living
reality-not a quaint storehouse OF
historical associations
sxzaxsEI1zzgxzGGUqxzWzVT OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES