Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1920-04-02
LEADING VS.. AMUCk.
Country Gentleman.D

Country Centlcman.)
When America Joined the war it
was the wonder of the world What
was she to gain by it? What terri
tory or idcmnity did she want? Ger
many would pay for the ships sunk;
what did America have up her sleeve?
And when it was found that Amer
lea went into the war not for what
she could get out Of it but because it
was right and that it was the Cuban
situation over again the Old World as
Il unit accorded us without argument
or delay u position of influence and
leadership beyond anything which we
won or could have won upon the field
Of battle. We were the great. virile,
rich, big brother who had gone away
and won his fortune only TO use it
and his all, if need be, for the COM
mon good of humanity. 1t all gave
Us Il place in the councils of the ma
thousand years by the slow process
OF ordinary development
The people were i'm this war heart
and soul with unanmity never be
fore shown in this or any other coun-
try in this or any other matter. The
soldier fought as if his own fircsidc
was threatened. The father gave up
his son willingly; the mother gave
her daughter to service; the wife
SURRENDERED her husband and faced Il
world of high prices with her little
ones clinging to her skirts Money
was poured out like water. Inventive
genius was turned loose and civilians
left places of the highest influences
and cmolumcnt and went into the SER
vice, in the Office or in the mud,
wherever their talents, their expert
cncc, their organizing ability or their
bodies could help to win the war. 1t
was Il holy war and America staked
all she had upon the issue without
hope Of compensation.
II was the most magnificent out
pouring of the spirit and purpose OF
II people that the world has ever seen.
II Ef0jectcd II new element into the
struggle and the world was quick to
recognize the position of America
and TO give it power. 1t would have
been CT magnificent consequence not
only for nltruism but for our own
selfish advantage, but we have lost
it.
As long as the soldier. the business
man, the farmer. the laborcr. the wo-
men and the children had the Job in
hand the matter went with vigor, and
we took to the Peace Conference that
thoroughly American proposition, n
union Of nations for doing the inter
national business of the word.
Then the issue passed into the
hands of Congress. Here the break
down came and our politicians have
lost what the people had won-thc
respect and admiration Of the world;
and what is vastly more from self
ish standpoint, they have sacrificed
the position Of commanding Influence
that had been fairly achieved and
universally accorded.
We shall enter the League Of Ma
tons; that is Il forcgonc conclusion
but we shall enter as Il rccalcitrant
and not as n charter member with the
power to write the constitution. For
the permanent loss of this stupendous
international. advantage we have only
our politicians to blame.
Our fathers established rcprcscn-
tativc government. They steored an
even course between the extremes of
pitilcss autocracy and irresponsible
democracy that had alternately OPP
pressed and disrupted the world for
thousand years. They placed the
power to govern in the hands Of repre-
scntatives, assuming that they would
fairly represent the public.
There could not be a more fragrant
case of misrepresentation than the be-
havior of our Congress in their share
of this great matter since the ARMS.
tice. The people were n unit upon all
the issues of the war. Congress has
broken up into antngonistic factions,
wrangling together over the most
trivial matters for political advantage
, of the cheapest order and discussing