Richmond daily register. (Richmond, Madison County, Ky.) 1917-1978, 1919-03-04
AMERICAS PART In
WORLD REBUILDING
Told By DR.. Homer Carpenter At
Methodist Church, After Attending
Atlanta Peace Convention.

w. carpenter at the meLHOuiSt cnufcn
last night, as the fourth number of
the layn,an's lecture course, missed
rare treat. Fresh from the .conven-
ton of the League to Enforce Peace,
which he attended as delegate from
Kentucky, DIR. Carpenter gave his
hearers inside information and
broad and comprehensive survey of
world conditions which necessitate un-
tied action among the nations of the
world, that its peace may not be jeo-
pardized again.; Speaking in part,
DR.. Carpenter said:
Let me at the outset disavow any
purpose of delivering lecture, even
if I could do such thing. I covet
rather the privilege of bringing to
you a message, which, in such group
is of common, If not Of compelling in
terest to all Of US.
1t is apparent to everyone that we
are tonight, in the presence of an un-
precedented world situation. It is
also obvious that before the construc-
tive forces of the. world, there is the
most stupendous task since time be-
gan. In the presence of these condi-
tions, America is struggling to find
herself and to determine her place in
the rebuilding of the world.
Within less than half dozen years
we have seen the fhce of Europe brok-
en- in bits as if shattered by a mighty
continent wide earthquake. The old
Europe is gone-gone forever, with
her secret alliances and her diploma
tic bargaining for balance Of power,
but the new Europe is not yet formed,
Chaos is everywhere. On the contin-
ent alone, seven new republics are in
the agony of birth. Finland, Poland,
the Baltic Provinces, Ulrain, Czecho-
slovakia and Jugoslavia, all wait for
their moulding. The Balkan boun-
daries must be determined, CONSTANT
|nople must be internationalized, au-
tonomy must be brought to Palestine
Syria, Armenia, the Caucasus, per-
haps Arabia
But not only Europe, the Orient has
been shaken by mighty .Japar
has taken her place as one of the five
major powers Of the world, and China
waits, that she may come into hel
own. The western hemisphere ha.
not escaped. While South America
with her twenty-one republics, ha.
broken forever the autocrtic ties witt
Europe, the United States in that
hour in which she entered the war
abandoned her age-long policy o,
aloofness from world affairs. Neve,
again can our country be the same
Never again can we boast of our iso
lation. War has broken up forever on,
seclusion. America has been hurle,
into the midst Of world activities. Ou
provincialism is gone-except per
haps in the United States Senate, an,
there it is on the way. This is tn
changed and turbulent world in t.
midst of which we find ourselves to
day.
In the presence OF this situation
America is trying to find herself, try
ing to determine the part that sh
will play in this mighty task of reor
dering the world. This is a matte
which is of vital and immediate con
Germ to every man who calls himsel
an American.
OF one thing we may be sure and
is this: AS a people we are at tn
parting of the ways. A great choic
must be made, and must be made nov
la choice which involves not only tn
future of America but the future o
the world. Two paths open to Us, bu
there is no third. We must take on,
or the other. America may turn bacl
to her traditional isolation, as the OBJ
structionists in the United States
Senate would have us do. She ma,
draw again within her little shell and
abandon the high purposes with which
we went to war. She may repudiate
the platform on which martyred mil
lions gladly gave their lives, plat
form which pleads for an information.
lalism that shall become the champion
of equity and justice and of equa
rights to all men the world over, tht
champion of the right against wrong
of the weak against the strong
America may turn her back upon thai
wilderness Of white crosses in France
|, and Flanders, may forget Chatear
Thierry, Belleau Wood and Argonns
Forest, she may say with Mr.. Lodge
as he is reported, 1--WE care nothirs
for. the colonies of Africa" or Will
Mr.. Borah, II would not vote for |
League Of Nations, even if sanctioned
lby Christ himself" This is the on
path that opens to America Bu
fortunately there is another. Ameries
may take the road that leads to a con