New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1919-07-02

roots out 81 the masses 81 mankind.
Every hope We have for. the future
depends upon the discovery Of the way
that y better than war. But this is
not all The same psychology Of strife
which lies behind war lies behind our
business competition; and war itself
lss not more contenp tuous Of human
personality than our industrial system.
Our whole civilization is shot through
with self seeking, greed for profits, lust
Tor exploitation. Most. men are slaves
70 the few who own the land and the
tools OF production, and the masters
themselves are slaves to the false gods
OF their own system. How can you
expect men who are the willing victims.
OF stalnch supporters of such social
order to make the peace of brotherhood
IN international affairs? Not ideals
but economic motives and lust for power!
inevitably determine the nature Of the:
settlement. Tragic proof Of that fact
y to be found in the American attitude
toward the peace. Is it not almost
lnconceivable that we should be assent
ing to a treaty which sanctions all the
evils OF the old secret treaties? If Amer
lea We're true to what we once imagined
was her own self, would she not repudiate
TINS treaty not In. the name of selfish
natlonalism, but Of justice, and if neces-
sary negotiate a separate peace with
Germany for the salvation oss her own
|solR That she does not do this is.
proof aof the paralysis Of the will to
corrradeship and the power to think
which have come upon our national life.
And yet strange as it may seem, it
lis this sweeping conclusion which is
ground for optimism. If VIZ. thought
the Paris Treaties were to shape the des-
TIMES of the nations we could not now
look without bitter anguish upon the
little children inevitably destined to
perish In tomorroW's holocaust. But
these agreements Of the inperialists Wiu
not last. They contain in themselves
the seeds of their own doom: meanwhile
IN the growth of the power of Labor is
promise of a New Day. Just how soon
Labor will become conscious OF its power
and-What is more important how soon
it will be dominated by the healing spirit
of justice and goodwill we annot definite
" foretel. The sky still is dark but the
East is streaked with dawn. The long
night Of the oppressor and the exploiter
and the warrior is drawing to it's close.
The day Of the workers and the creators
Is at hand. The masses of men are lean
ing slowly, imperfectly, but surely,
that. fellowship is life and that Without
freedom there is no fellowship. They
are substituting an economic order based
on cooperation for the old game of grab
they are replacing industrial autocracy
by democracy. They are seeing how
absurd is the insistence upon the old
exclusive and diyisive nationalisn, how
tyrann us is the orthodox conception
of the sovereignty Of the absol-te state,
how nnobl;ne is the reecgG ticn Of the
essential solidarity Of all the workers
of the world.
True peace lies only in the new vision,
the change in mems motives and in the
organization Of their common life, which
some will hail as the social revolution
and some as the coming of the Common
wealth of God. To hasten its coming
is our constructive service. Meanwhile
let us do all in our power to make it
plain, first to our countrymen and then
to the world, that the imperialisms
created or buttressed in Europe, Asia,
and Africa, by this treaty (which tic
quote the London Herald leaves nc
honor for any of u.s. must not be
guaranteed by the military and economic
power of the United States.