Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-11-11
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER II, 1919
THEN AND NOW

N joicing immeasurablY over the
= signing of the armistice terms.
The war was over, the great day for
which we had been working, and
longing and sacrificing had come.
The clouds were breaking. the sun
was. shining. 1t was a good old
world, after all; we had fought the
good fight, and now we were about
TO enter into our reward. The dark
days were over; happy times lay
just ahead.
But our anticipations have not
been realized. Industrial strife has
followed the war of guns. Bolshe-
yism stalks red-handed through the
land. Deluded men have been
listening to false doctrines. A new
Nebuchadnezzar has set UP a new
image, and thousands have fallen
down to worship. Socialism and
Bolshevism on one side are offered
to us as panaceas for the cure OF
: all our ills; on the other. interna-
tionalism that would rob us of our in
dependence as a nation, even as the
doctrines of Marx and Lenine would
rob us of our independence as indi-
viduals, has been urged upon us.
Using a similar figure of speech
and. this ancient illustration OF
Nebuchadnezzar's craven god, DR..
Charles Wadsworth, Jr., speaking
before a New England audience. not
long ago, said: THE treasure OIL
humanity is not the golden images
which visionaries and autocrats de-
wise. History is full of image
makers, egoists who work their own
vagaries into erractic contrivances
which they have the affrontery to
call ideals and which they proclaim
as the panaceas for the race. the
keys to peace, the doors to the MIL
lennium," but, he adds, all have
failed, and the one real treasure OF
the universe is the independence OF
the individual and of the nation
Socialism would sink the interests
and personality of the individual
into the crowd or the mob, and in
ternationalism would do the same
for the nation"
Many Americans have been listen
ing to false prophets. Looking abou
to put into actuality their longing
for better things, for the dawnint
Of a new era for all mankind. they
have been led away by those wh'
have promised them most, who nave
been loudest of mouth and who have
held up to them a golden image, o
little work and high pay, for then
to worship. But as the darkes
hour is just before the dawn, ant
as the German hosts We're on tn
verge of defeat even when they wer
knocking at the very gates of Paris
SO now, with all the country in ;
turmoil, with arrogant leaders o
minorities threatening to defy tn
laws of the land, there are evidence
of a strong trend in the other di
rection. Everywhere the eommo
sense that has been the saving grac
of the American people in many
more trying hour than that of tn
present, is coming to the surface
Men are saying: This thing ha
gone far enough" Intelligent publ
opinion, forcefully voiced, is callin
the tyrants of all glasses to accoun
Nothing in America can stand be
fore aroused public opinion when
makes itself heard, and hearkenin
to the angry voice of the multitude
to the lovers of individual and ma
tional independence who hav
= sprung to arms on every occasio
when the nation was threatene,
either from within or without. thos
who would force their wills upon I
are quailingY
Armistice day brings us promise
of better times just ahead, even 6
last year it heralded the end of. til
bloody war. The American peop
are asserting themselves. They wi
stand no trifling with their. ind
vidua1 nor with their national IL
dependence. Neither an autocrat
of wealth nor an autocracy of lab,
shall rule this country. Both a.
intolerable. The American peop
will have none of either, They al
registering that determinatis