Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1919-03-05


the United States. Why? Because
and think / am now stating the most
wonderful fact In history - because
there is no nation in Europe that sus-
poets the motives of the United States.
U. S. Has Won Esteem.
"Was there ever so wonderful a
thing seen before? Was there ever
so moving a thing? Was there ever
any fact that so bound the nation that
had won that esteem forever to de-
serve it?
Il would not have you understand
that the great men who represent the
other nations there in conferences are
disesteemed by those who know them.
Quite the contrary. But you under
stand the countries of Europe have
again and again clashed with another
ir competitive interests.
ct is impossible for men to forget
the sharp issues that were drawn be-
tween them in times past 1t is i'm
possible for men to believe that all
ambitions have all of a sudden been
foregone. They remember territory
that was coveted; they remember
rights that it was attempted to extort;
they remember political ambitions
which IL was attempted to realize
and, while they believe the men mus.
have come into a different temper.
they can not forget these things and
so they do not resort to one another
e. Of
ters of controversy.
"Friend of Mankind"
"They resort to that nation which
has won the enviable distinction of
being regarded as the friend of man
kind. Whenever it is desired to send
a small force of soldiers to occupy
piece of territory where it is thought
nobody else will be welcome, they
will ask for American soldiers. And
where other soldiers would be looked
upon with suspicion and perhaps met
with resistance, the American soldiers
are welcomed with acclaim. And
everybody praises the American sol
der with the feeling that in praising
him he is subtracting from the credit
of no one else.
IL have been searching for the fun
damental fact that converted Europe
to believe in us. Before this war Eu-
rope did not believe in us as she does
now. She did not believe in us
throughout the first three years of the
war She seems really to have be
lieved that we were holding off be
cause we thought we could make more
by staying out than by going in. And
all of a sudden, in a short eighteen
months the whole story is reversed.
There can be but one explanation for
IT, They saw what we did-that
without making a single claim we put
all our men and all our means at the
disposal of those who were lighting
for their homes, in the first instance,
but for cause, the cause of human
right and justice, and we went in, not
to support their national claims, but
TO support the great cause which they
held in common. And when they saw
that America not only held ideals, but
acted ideals, they were converted to
America and became firm partisans of
those ideals.
And now do you realize this con-
fldence we have established through |
out the world imposes burden upon |
US? If you choose TO call 1t a burden. |
It Is one of those burdens which any
nation ought to be proud to carry. |
Any man who resists the present tides |
that run in the world will find himself |
thrown upon a shore SO high and bar
rem that 1t win seem as If he had been
separated from his human kind for
ever.
THE Europe that ! have LETT the |
other day was fun Of something Il had !
never felt fill its heart so full before. |
the second year of the war. the Eu-
rope of the third year of the war. was
sinking to "a sort of stubborn despera-
ton They did not see any great
thing to be achieved, even when the
war should be won. They hoped there
would be some salvage. They hoped
that they could clear their territories
of invading armies; they hoped they
could set up their homes and start
their industries afresh. But they
thought it would simply be resump-
ton of the old life that Europe had
led-led in fear. led in anxiety, led
in constant suspicious watehfulness. !
They never dreamed that it would be
"A Europe of settled peace and of
justified hope.
And now those ideals have
wro ight this new magic; that all the
peoples of Europe are buoyed up and
confident in the spirit of hope, be
cause they believe that we are at the
eve of new age in the world when
nations will understand one another,
when nations will support one another
in every just cause, when nations will
unite every physical strength TO see
that the right shall prevail
If America We're at this juncture
to fail the world, wha would come
.of it? do not mean any disrespect
to any other great people when | say
that America is the hope of the world,
and il she does not justify that hope.
the results are unthinkable. Men will
be thrown back upon the bitterness
of disappointment, not only the bitter
ness of despair. All nations will be
set up as hostile camps again; the
men at the peace conference will go
home with their heads upon their
breasts, knowing that they have failed
for they were hidden not to come
home from there until they did some