Omaha daily bee., 1919-05-31
PEOPLES ARE IN
SADDLE" AYERS
U. S. PRESIDENT
Private Councils of Statesmen
Will No Longer Determine
Destinies, Says Wilson in
Memorial Address.
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pathy, and I have no doubt that if
our British comrades were here they
would speak in the same spirit and
in the same language. For the
beauty of this war is that it has
brought a new partnership and a
new comradeship and new under
standing into the field of the effort
of the nation.
"But it would be no profit to us
to eulogize these illustrious dead if
we did not take to heart the lesson
which they have taught us. They
are dead; they have done their ut
most to show their devotion to a
great cause, and they have left us
to see to it that that cause shall not
be betrayed, whether in war or in
peace. 1t is our privilege and our
high duty to consecrate ourselves
afresh on day like this to the OBJ
jects for which they fought. 1t is
not necessary that | should rehearse
to you what these objects we're
These men did not come across the
sea merely to defeat Germany and
her associated powers in the war.
| They came to defeat forever the
things for which the central powers
stood, the sort of power they meant
to assert in the world, the arrogant,
selfish domination which they
meant to establish: and they came.
moreover to see to it that there
should never be a war like this
again. 1t is for us, particularly for
us who are civilized, to use our
proper weapons of counsel and
agreement to see to it that there
never is such a war again. The ma
ton that should now fling out of
this common concord of counsel
would betray the human race.
Must Maintain Safeguards.
so, it is our duty to take and
maintain the safeguards which will
see to it that the mothers of Amer
lea and the mothers of France and
| England and Italy and Belgium and
all other suffering nations should
never be called upon for this sacri-
flee again. This can be done. 1t
must be done. And it will be done.
The things that these men left us,
though they did not in their coun-
sells conceive it, is the great instru-
ment which we have just erected in
the league of nations. The league
of nations is the covenant of gov
eminent that these men shall not
have died in vain. | like to think
that the dust of those sons of Amer
lea who were privileged to be buried
IN their mother country will illingle
with the dust of the men who fought
for the preservation OF the union
and that as those men gave their
lives in order that America might
be united, these men have given
their lives in order that the world
might be united. Those men gave
their lives in order to secure the
freedom of nation. These men
have given theirs in order to secure
the freedom of mankind and | look
forward to an age when it will be
Just as impossible to regret the re-
suits of their labor as it is now i'm
possible to regret the result of the
labor of those men who fought for
the union of the states. | look for
the time when every man who now
puts his counsel against the united
service of mankind under the league
of nations will be just as ashamed
of it as if he now regretted the
union of the states.
You are aware, as I am aware,
that the airs of older day are be-
ginning to stir again, that the stand
ards of an old order are trying to
assert themselves again. There is
here and there an attempt to in
sert into the counsel of statesmen
the old reckoning of selhshness and
bargaining and national advantage,
which were the roots of this war,
and any man who counsels these
things advocates a renewal of the
sacrifice which these men have
made, for if this is not the final bat
tie for right, there will be another
that will be final Let these gen
tlemen who suppose that it is pos
slble for them to accomplish this
return to an order of which we are
ashamed and that we are ready to
forget, realize they cannot accom-
plish it.
"The peoples of the world are
awake and the peoples of the world
are in the saddle. Private counsels
of statesmen cannot now and can
not hereafter determine the desti-
mics of nations. If we are not the
servants of the opinion of mankind,
we are of all men the littlest, the
most contemplate, the least gifted
with vision. If we do not know
courage, we cannot accomplish our
purpose, and this age is an age
which looks forward, not backward;
which rejects the standard of ma
tional selhshness that once governed
the counsels of nations and de-
mands that they shall give way to
new order of things in which only
the questions will be, rs it right"
as it just?" "Is it in the interest
Of mankind?"
Do Not Realize Happenings.
This is challenge that no pre-
vious generation ever dared to give
ear to. So many things have hap
pened, and they have happened SO
fast in the last four years that l do
not think many of US realize what
it is that has happened. Think how