Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1919-09-19
FoREwoRD.

i. =. Il AOLsA< w O@eADs
Regarding The Heart. of Humanity"
l. the Worlds Greatest Film, Which
/ Comes to New Theatre Sept 9th,
in Interest of Soldiers Memorial.
If Allen Holubar's master produc-
ton, '"The Heart of Humanity" were
n war play pure and simple; if it
merely depicted the heroism of men
in battle, of the suffering of those
who waited and wept at home, how
ever graphically the picture might
en- far short of his object. The war
is over. The choking. suspense which
gripped the throat of the world no
longer exists. Still is the clarion call
which sent two million knights Oh
Idealism across the ocean to slay
the dragon of Might, and which quick
ened the hearts of hundred million
people. Their work is done. A hum
dred thousand of those knights will
never come back. Their blood has
sanctified the ground where they
fought. Their praise has been sung,
and their spirit is enshrined in the
memory of their loved ones and those
for whom they fought so valiantly
and well.
But there is deeper significance
to the greatest war the world has
ever known, significance which has
been overshadowed by the martial
spirit so suddenly called into being,
the din of battle and the panoply of
war. If that were all that the United
States had to show for the most
glorious crusade In the history of the
world, then a hundred thousand of
its sons would have died in vain. They
did not, they could not, they must
not. Every man, woman and child
in this broad land must know why
they died. There is nothing more DO.
tent than the motion picture to i'm.
pinge this tremendous basic fact up
on our consciousness and focus our
minds for all time upon the wonder
full awakening of the great heart of
humanity, which this huge sacrifice
betokens.
That awakening is the true sig
pificance of "The Heart of Human
ity," and Mr.. Holubar conceived it as
a monument to that national con-
seriousness, of idealism, if you choose,
in which there was nothing of self
ishness, nothing of commercialism,
nothing of worldly gain, the great
mother heart which exists in every
man as well as in every woman,
In 1914 the world ideal was ma
terial. Self-interest dominated every
impulse, personal, communal and
national. In some nations this ten
dency had become more pronounced
than in others. In Germany, for in
stance, it had become religion, or
rather had taken the place of religion.
In America, land dedicated to lib
erty and the pursuit of happiness,
the pogess of mateialism had gown
SO insidiously asto blind us even to
the gross materialism of Germany.
We had become sodden with selfish
ness, laped in luxury, nation of
dollars chasers-and spenders. Our
friends, what few we had, said we
were too soft to fight; our enemies
that nothing would make us endanger
our dividends. In short, our pursuit of
happiness had become the pursuit of
the almighty dollar. 1t was out natl
onal emblem, our goal, our ideal. The
heart of humanity seemed about to
shrivel up. There was no place for it
in sordid world of business.
Then came the great awakening,
the electric shock that rocked the
world. to its very foundations and
brought men back to realization of
the fact that nothing in this whole
world "profieth man if he looseth
his own soul" Other nations, nearer
to the advancing juggernaut of greed
than we, came to realization of the
fact sooner, but when President Will
son, standing in the august Senate
Chamber, before the Congress of the
United States in joint session, de-
clared
"But the right is more precious
than peace, and we shall fight for the
cause which we have always carried
nearest our hearts, To such n
task we can dedicate our lives and
our, fortunes, everything that we are
and everything that we have"
he spoke with voice hundred mil
lion strong. The amazed world heard
him and applauded in anxiety and
with little belief. Came in rapid sue
eession. Chateau Thierry, st. Mihiel,
Cambria-VICTORY surrender
Of militarism and all that it stood for
of greed, selfshness and materialism.
The heart of humanity had conquered.
In the making of this monument
to the new spirit, the new inspiration.
Mr.. Holubar would have failed utter
ly had he attempted to paint merely
a war picture. But, on the other hand,
he could not have sounded the re-
cesses of the greatest inspiration in
the world without drawing wonder
full battle scenes. But in "The Heart
of Humanity" the battle ecenes are
the curtain on which are registered
in pulsating throbs the giant beats
of the real heart of humanity,
drama pulsating with reality. Against
the vivid background of the war, he
has crystallized wonderful story of
human interest, as Nature, the infinite
draughtsman crystalized the frost
on the window pane.
The keynote is love overcoming
everything, love triumphant, love
militant, love maternal, love frater-
nal, sweetheart love, husband AMI
wife love-love which through the
awakening agency of the war has
blotted out and destroyed forever all
that was evil and rotten IN the world,
blasted it out of existence as the
in~l, ~