Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-12-13
THE LOST PEACE AND WAYS
IN WHICH TO SEEK FOR IT
General Bliss and the Meaning Of What
he Has to Say Of Past and
Future Wars

Future Wars
'T KNOW how to get peace" said preN.
L dent Wilson in the address at Boston
nftcr his return from Paris in March, 1919.
'Hnd they to not" lie referred. Of rour&r.
to the Lodge grouN IN the Senate. \ trnCi.
e "niIy different not" H"rvadcN the letter which
Mr.. WILSON has iust written IN acrcptun""
of the Nohcl peace prize. 81 am moved
by II very poignant humility" he
observes in the first paragraph, "hrfore III,
vGStnc>S Of the work still called for by this
CauSr.'
How vast that work must bc wa suggested
witty in the address delivered by General
HliS7 at the opening Of tho series of dis
courses in which the nGn shed work Of the
war period will be reviewed suthoritnt,vcIy
this winter at the Academy Of Music.
\ lifetime of bitter and enishtening ex-
rc?irncc has been packed into the twenty
months Of the Presidents life that have
passed since tho days when it seemed that
he wns about to turn the world from its
ancient and disastrous ways. He was mis-
taken at Boston nnd he admits as much now
for the first time. Had he really known how
10 get the peace he sought. the peril Of new
wars would nor now be settling like dark
ness over large areas in Europe. The peace
that Mr.. Wilson desired cluded him. lie
did not know how to get it, But us the
months and the years pass il will become
increasingly clear to every ono that the con-
sequences Of the loss may weigh even more
heavily on the world at large than they have
weighed on the lonely pioneer at the White
House.
We mnv have to wait n long time fully to
understand the causes behind the slow col
lapse OF the great scheme for world peace
advanced by the Americans at Paris. These
causes we're various and often they were
deep hidden and obscure. Great ambitions,
great hopes, great careers. great regulations
were bound uD incStricably in Europe with
systems Of diplomacy that generate hate and
fear as forces OF empire Against these sys-
tens and the hordes OF their propugandists
n handful Of Americans was unable to pre-
vail. And in the final crisis humanity lost
faith in the plans formulated by devoted men
for its salvation. What is plain now is that
no one man. no small group of crusading
idcaliStS. will ever be able 10 achieve the
ends which plain people everywhere visioncd
two years ag0. The people themselves must
learn to put their energies and their cOIlec
tive will behind those who still hope to stop
thu insNntirs Of militarsm aud miItariStic
competitions.
For there is no ncaco in sight. What Mr..
Wilson said Of Mr. Lodge and his group
know how to get peace" said every man
who believed in the old order, "and Wilson
does not.
They. too. wcrn mistaken. They were
more grevouSly mistaken than the PrcHi-
dent Cabinet Ovcrthrows are even now
threatened in moro than Cnp allied country
for the simple reason that every scheme of
erttomcu' bGs'l rpon n revived militHrism
has aI"0dy rrov"d unstable and trcNchrr-
GUS. 4oliCioS of post war finance founded in
sOIne European countries on n return to the
law Of might md expectation have been
leading tired AMI desperate nations not TO
the light but to the Drinks of new ahyssrs
SO. since there is no peace in sight for the
people Of the Old World there is none in
sight for their governments.
Like all other men who have lad to give
more than casual glance at the present
drift Of International affairs, General Hiss
realizes that moral leadership of bold and
imaginative kind s n"edcu to hold modern
civilization together and to guide the ma.
tons out of the bcwillerment and despair
into which they are sinking. Even in the
drama Of these days there have been few
figures more arrestin2 than that Of this mas-
ter of military science who bcsecChCs man
kind to have done with the mcCuhuisms Of
imperial war. But it is not alone because
OF it's dramatic force that General Bliss
suggestion must appeal TO even lazy
imagination. 1t is because it indicates Il
way to a complete revival OF the moral force
Of American opinion In the councils of civ
iization and to n establishment Of the
sort Of leadership which America held so
magn!crn,ly in the early days Of the Paris
negotiations that the first address in the
Academy series will be mcmorab.r
To nsgunlp that there can be OnlV n Spnti-
mental Or ethical iustifratiou for further
cfor't "t oars toward disarmament and
world pence is 10 prove that YOU know little
of the world y"u liz" in. Bliss and all
others who are familiar with the trends OF
the time make no such dismal mistake. Fu-
ture wars, with tue necessity fOr blockade,
will inevitably involve the bvstunlrrS, just
u, the late war Involved ny tHouGh "" were
Ia; world away from the actual scenes Of
IAr original conflict and even further re-
moved sr.m The causes Of the original quar-
rc.. And then wc shall have a. u result Of
the new rompr tition in armament "th' ma
lions in arms the last and most terrible
,'uaA Of in'rruu,ioual strife.
Wien Gcucral + Us talked of nations in
nrn.s h. spoke Literally. For In tine next way,
II ,I.rr" j. one, the pr"mrd.ttt"d slaughter
and devastation will not be confined - the
In,l'r Zines or 10 any clearly defined zones
# nn'iou VIVA ln", hani>nN uow being per-
r.nurd r.r war viii be- carried rarough the
air ~ ir,an"i@ ,i'i,-, uNI ru.>"n gas. only
r,. .rutIy ,"...iNH'IuS aurrur If t..r rrurar~
wig ia ~ n,nUD..'n b" the u"i'i"u OF NON
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l..'.rr v.l0. .n }tH.., a.~'"h It, t., ,h"l gle,
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d r1or q ..n.'H' "' ,on, "'.d oo.-",. 1t j, It