Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1919-02-28
LA PLATA. MARYLAND, FEBRUARY 28 1919


srudently be made which is not proper
iy linked in with the great series Of
other decisions which must accompany
1t. and II must be reckoned in with
the final result, If the real quality and
OF that result is to be proper
" judged
What we are doing is to hear the
whole case: hear it from the mouths
OF the men most interested; hear II
from those who are oficially commits
stoned to state it; hear the rival
claims. hear the claims that affect new
nationalities. that affect new areas OF
the world, that affect new commercial
and economic connections that have
been established by the great world
war through which We have gone. And.
| have been struck by the moderate
ness Of those who have represented ma
tonal claims can testify that l
have nowhere seen the CLEAN OF pas
sion. have seen earnestness, l have
sen tears come to the eyes Of men who
plead for downtrodden people whom
they we're privileged to speak for; but
they were not the tears Of anger, they
were the tears Of ardent hope.
Il don't see how any man can fail
to have been subdued by these pleas,
subdued to this feeling that he was
not there to assert an individual
Judgment OF his own, but to try TO
assist the cause Of humanity.
And in the midst OF 1t all every in
terest seeks out, first OF all, when it
reaches Paris, the representatives of
the United States. Why? Because
and think am stating the most won
derful fact in history-because there
is no nation in Europe that suspects
the motives Of the United States.
WAS there ever so a wonderful
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 deserve it?
q would not have you understand
that the great men who represent the
other nations there in conference are
disesteemed by those who know them.
Quite the contrary. But you under
stand that the nations Of Europe have
again and again clashed with one an
other IN competitive interest 1t is i'm
possible for men to forget those sharp
issues that were drawn between them
in times past. 1t is impossible for men
TO believe that all ambitions have all
of a sudden been foregone, They re-
member territory that was coveted :
they remember rights that it was at
tempted to extort; they remember
political ambitions which it was at
tempted to realize-and, while they be
lieve that men have come into a diff
ferent temper, they cannot forget these
things, and so they do not resort to
one another for dispassionate view
Of the matters in controversy. They
resort to that nation which has WOE
the enyiable distinction OF being re
garded as the friend OF mankind.
Whenever II is desired to send g
small force Of soldiers to occupy a
piece of territory where It is thought
nobody else will be welcome. they ask
for American soldiers. And where
other soldiers would be looked upon
with suspicion and perhaps met with
resistance, the American soldier is vel
coined with acclaim.
II have been searching for the funda
mental fact that converted Europe tc
believe in us. Before this war Europe
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 believed that we
we're holding off because we thought
we could make more by staying out
than by coming in. And all Of a sud
den, in a short IS months, the whole
verdict is reversed. There can be but
one explanation of 1t. They saw what
we did-that without making a single
claim, we put all our men and all ouI
means at the disposal of those who
were fighting for their homes, in the
first instance. but for a cause, the
cause Of human right and justice, and
that we went in. not to support theii
national claims, but to support the
great cause which they held in com
mon.
And when they saw that America
not only held ideals, but acted ideals
they were converted 10 America and
became firm partisans Of those ideals
Men have testified TO me in Europe
that our men were possessed by some
thing that they could only call re
ligious fervor They were not like any
Of the other soldiers, They had a
vision. they had a dream and they
were fighting in the dream. and they
turned the whole tide Of battle, and II
never back.
"One Of our American humorists
meeting the criticism that American
soldiers were not trained long enough
said; 1t takes only half as long to
train an American soldier as any other,
because you only have to train him to
go one way And he did only go one
way. and he never came back until
he could do It when he pleased.
And now do your realize that this
confidence we have established
throughout the world imposes a bur
den upon us--if you choose to call II a
burden. It is one Of those burdens
which any nation ought to be proud to
carry. ANY man who resists the pres
ent tides that run in the world will
find himself thrown upon a shore so
high and barren that it will seem as
if be had been separated from his hu-
man kind forever
Il invite him to test the sentiments
Of the nation. We set this nation up
to make men free and we did not con-
fine our conception and purpose to
America, and now we will make men
free. If We did not do that, all the
fame Of America would be gone, and
all her power would be dissipated. She
would then have to keep her power
for those narrow, selfish, provincial