Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1919-03-31
No Peaes?-Thsn WHAT?

W. VO0C0S@b UOn "UAUs
Are W. Of the Allied nations, th>
vietors in the war, losing our morals7
During the war we heard much Of
this word morale" We learned
that the nations which preserved
their morale would win the war, and
that the best strategy was to ruin the
morale of the enemy. The enemy
knew this also and carried out his
frightfulness campaign for this pur-
pose. but he failed to break the faith
Of the Allies in their ultimate victory.
Never during the darkest days Of last
March and April when the German
rush for Paris and the channel ports
seemed to most world watchers to be
certain of success; when their salient
swept back into the heart of France
almost as far as it had in the first
days Of September, 1914; and they
retook in two weeks what the Allies
had wrested from them only in two
years; when Paris was being bonn
barded with lonG range guns 10 miles
away; when the Allied armies were
out numbered and seemingly out
generated; when the war was admit
ted to be a race between Ludendorff
and America with the odds greatly in
favor of Ludendorff; never did we
lose hope and faith in our combined
power to defeat and drive out Of
France and Belgium the Hun hordes
and all for which they stood.
Morale is a French word which we
have borrowed because it expresses
in six letters, according to the Cen
fury dictionary. "the moral or mental
condition as regards courage. zeal,
hope, confidence and the like, es-
pecially of body of men engaged in
a hazardous enterprise" Conversely,
loss Of morale means loss Of ones
grip, and the moral or mental atti-
tude becomes one Of encouragement.
vacillation, distrust of self, and fear.
This latter is the attitude in which
we find ourselves today, five months
after the armistice which was cele-
brated and re-celebrated as the day
which ended all the pangs and suffer-
ing of the past four years Of horror.
It is a fact which we must face, and
face NOW. We are beginning to
realize that we may have lost the war
in losing the peace, and this has up
set our morale so that We are begin
ming to despair Of ever having peace.
We repeat statement from the
despatch Of Dr.. f. j. Dillon from
Paris on Harck 6, which We quoted
some days ago.
People who ardently desire the estab-
lishment of permanent peace are re-
gretfully abandoning the hope of seeing
II achieved by the conference, which
fication for its task. They are utterly
disheartened and affirm there is no
leader anywhere.
The Philadelphia North American
paints dark picture of things as
they arc now, and a; they seem al
most certain to become, unless some
miracle takes place.;
1.-THE war. whose seeming cessation
was celebrated nearly five months ago.
still spreads its shadow over the earth.
and on a dozen battletields armies ar.
still lighting for causes that are obscure
and ends that no man can foresee. In
stead of concord there is widening
strife; instead Of unity among the ma
tons there is distrust and contention;
instead of a return to the healing activi-
ties Of peace there are new upheavals
and commissions, in which the .veTy
structure of human society is shaken.
If she Germany refuses to
consent to the peace. what then? TIE
lies and the United States may re. O,
TO military occupation-if they can.
With the fires of bolshevism leaping
across Europe and showering fam ng
brands into every country, with sol l.
ism intensely active and political IN
rest causing turmoil even in the All ed
armies. that procedure might we'll be
vain dream.
Because of the policy Of delay en-
n