Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1919-02-27


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
n competitive interests.
1T IS impossible for men TO fcrgl,
the sharp issues that were drawn be
"een them in times past. Il is I'M
}-ssible for men to believe that al.
lnbitions have all Of d sudden been
0TeGone. They remember territory
mat was coveted; they remenbe1
-ishts that it was attempted TO extort;
they remember political ambitions
which ii was attempted to realize
and, while they believe the men MUS
nave come into d different temper
hey can not forget these things anG
% they 90 not resort to one anothe-
or n disD2ssionate view OF the mat
ters Of controversy.
"Friend OF Mankind"
"They resort to that nation which
has won the enyi3ble distinction o.
Jcing regarded as the friend Of man
lind. Whenever it is desired to send
4 small force Of soldiers to occupy {
9iece OF territory where it is thought
A0b0dy else viii be welcome, they
ill ask for American soldiers. And
.Fncre other soldiers would be looked
p2n with suspicion and perhaps met
Fllh resistance, the American soldiers
IRE welcomed with acclaim. And
Eerybody praises the American sol
Ter with the feeling that III praisina
i'm he is subtracting from the credi.
i ro one else.
= have been searching Tor the fun
ana Itai fact that converted Europu
) believe in lis. Before this war Eu-
Jpe did not believe in US as she doe
-oT. She did not believe in u
throughout the first three years of the
var. She seems really TO have be
.cved that we were holding off be
;ause we thought we could make more
" staying ogt than by going III. ana
II of q sudden, in a short eighteen
lOntns the whole story is reversed
There can. be but one explanation fol
/. They saw what We did-thaJ
,ith0ut making a single claim we pui
II our men and all our means at the
iSp0sal of those who were hghtine
n their homes. in the first instance
at fox a cause, the cause Of human
d light and justice, and we went in, not
0 support their national claims, buG
0 support the great cause which they
ED in common. And when they saw
nat America not only held ideals, bu.
.cted ideals, they were converted Il
lmerica and became firm partisans Of
hose ideals.
And now 90 you realize this con
idence we have established through
ut the world imposes a burden upon
IS? If you choose to call it burden
( is one OF those burdens which any
lation ought 10 be proud TO carry.
my man who resists the present tides
hat run in the world will find himsen
arOWn upon a shore SO high and bar
IN that it will seem as if he had been
epar3ted from His human kind for
yer.
The Europe that ! have left the
ther day was full Of something it haG
ever felt fiji its heart so full before
l was fuli of hope. The Europe Of
.Ee second year OF the war, the ku-
ope UI the third year of the war, was
mixing to a sort OF stubborn despera-
ion They did not see any great
hing to be achieved, even when the
var shCuld he won. They hoped there
5ould be some salvage. They hoped
hat they could clear their territories
+ invading armies; they hoped they
,Ould set up their homes and start
heir industries afresh. But they
hOusht it would simply be a resump-
ion OF the old life that Europe had
ed-led in fear, led in anxiety, led
constant suspicious Watchfulness.
They never dreamed that it would be
! Europe Of settled peace and OF
justified hope.
And now tho&c ideals have
wrought this new magic: that all the
{eoples of Europe are buoyed up and
confident in the spirit Of hope, be
cause they believe that we are at the
ave OF a new age in the world when
nations will understand one another,
when nations will support one another
Il every just cause, when nations will
mite every physical strength to see
hat the right shall prevail.
If America were at this jUncture
o fail the world, what would come
i it? do not mean any disrespect
o any other great people when l say
hat America is the hope of the world
md if she does not justify that hope,
/ he results are unthinkable Men will
! De thrown back upon the bitterness
! If 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 &c
/ home with their heads upon THEN
/ Breasts, knowing that they have failed
for they were hidden not to come
home from there until they did some
thing more than sign a treaty o.
/ peace.
New Scrap of Paper.
I suppose we sign lne treaty o
peace, and that it is the most salts
factory treaty of peace that the con
| fusing elements of the modern worlC
will afford and go home and thinl
about our labors, we will know tha
we have left written upon the historit
tables at Versailles, upon which Vel
gennes and Benjamin Franklin wrpt,