New-York tribune., 1919-06-29
The Peace

pcuOOuS ASSAULT ever Hduc OII dO-
vancing civilization is attested as re-
PEELED. The brave men, dead and living,
who threw themselves into the breach
did the work whose achievement docu-
ment now formally certificates, but it is
fitting to record that the statesmen did
not surrender at the peace table the
substance Of the victory gained for
right.
The assault, comparable to nothing
that had occurred since the northern bar
barians engulfed and almost destroyed
ancient culture, was met with an in
trepid frmness of which human annals
afford no parallel. Here was individual
heroism such as has made the names of
Bruce and Bayard imperfshable; here
was group heroism equalling that of the
defenders Of Jerusalem and The Alamo;
but here also was a mass heroism such
as mankind has never before displayed.
Whole peoples were involved in the
mighty struggle, and few were the lag
CARDS and dastards. Let us be proud Of
the human species. A lifting force has
beer beneath human society and has
pushed the sons of men to higher levels.
The supreme call of moral duty has not
beer vainly preached. The Word has
not returned void Millions of men have
put other claims above those Of indi-
vidual life. They brought their bodies
and freely laid them on the altar of
sacrifice that their souls and the souls
of their children might live.
The colossal contest was no struggle
between economic rivalries. Shallow and
visionless were those who saw it thus. 1t
was a grapple between two principles
between might and right. Wrong sought
to drag righteousness to the scaffold
and Righteousness not only found ways
to protect itself, but to bring evil to
it's own gibbet. There was and could
be no neutrality. Perforce, every man,
wherever he lived, helped or hurt the
great cause.
The marvel was the diffusion Of the
conception that energized the defence.
The pig raisers of Serbia felt the first
blow, and showed that beneath skin
clothing we're hearts which beat in SYM
pathy with the general aspiration Of the
race. Urban Belgium, sneered at as
softened and whitened by industrialism,
next felt the breath of the dragon, and
her reply revealed that the city dweler
yielded nothing to the mountaineer.
France, Great Britain, Italy, and Russia,
until the ignorance of her masses was
artfully played on-all these responded,
and, taking all things into consideration,
there is little to choose with respect to
merit-except to record that from the
nature of the struggle the heaviest bur-
den fell on France. And she was equal
to it.
Our country arrived late. We were
confused not only by enemies within our
gates, but by the tradition of aloofness.
But in, we achieved the impossible In
little more than year 100000 Amer-
cans stood in line. In the final engage
ments 100000 were actively engaged,
and it is not immodest to say there is
general agreement that our power tipped
the scale and sent Germany reeling to
defeat. All the experts said such thing
could not be done, but it was done.
The men and women of the last five
years have done their part What the
future holds will be determined by the
boys and girls now coming on. The only
abiding assurance of happy and we'll
ordered world is in their Arm resolution
to guard we'll what their fathers and
mothers preserved. And the best contr-
button by men whose business is to write
and to try to instruct is to let knowledge
never grow dim Of why the war was and
why it was won.
MIR. kitchin Misses the Point