Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-12-17
A PEACE OF GUNS. OR PEACE
IN THE HEARTS OF ALL MEN?
Men, on the Other, Bring That An.
eient Question Up Aaaln

~ rising Cllnk of dividends and chatter
about big uavius and politicians moaning
thunderous,y for patronage make it seem
that the world is getting harder boiled than
1t ever. was before, the door opens and
Hoover comes pitilcssly in. lie comes to
talk OF the 5000, 600 children who are dying
Of starvation on his hands. And he comes
with question that never varies He wants
10 know whether civilization can find it IN
its heart 20 play the game of lterod on
scale 50 vast that II would have shamed the
CrueleSt and most iuiquitOus OF barbarian
kings.
StartlingIy ike the voice Of conscience is
this Hoover aud curiously like hurried
visitor from some Saner planet. For he has
been an opener OF mines a striycr with the
elemental forces Of the stubborn earth, II
maker Of money, a captain Of corporations.
n hard man in the boardrOoms ot his sort.
Yet here he is. at the end OF il all, the
tre,csS Ambassador Of the forsakcn aud the
forIorn, the one grcAt friend Of the friendless
and the little Always he returns. as harsh
aud ms unrecnting as Il John th" Baptist,
ro invade tho warm complaccncy Of these
flush days and extend his hat in the market
places and demand that you give--in the
nam" Of the God who is not concerned with
navirs aud oil concessions and dividends aud
Jobs.
It cannot be Hoover alone who commands
Nou 10 look again at your own children and
imagine what your emotions would be II they
were forced to die slowly under your eyes
Of cold and hunger 1t is the enduring spirit
OF America that speaks through this man in
charity and wisdom. They always turn up,
the men fitted 10 be- vehicles of that majestic
voice. and they always will. That Is why
We shall be safe. And Hoover Uttcrs a truth
native to this soil Of ours when. over and
over again. he filings into the faces Of clam
oriug statesmen this assertion
"You cduH0t make peace lrih documents.
peace must be made in tic hearts Of men,
WE'LL that has been said before. But no
one tried greatly TO make peace in the hearts
of mon, and Europe was swept by fires and
the dogs of war arc rattling their chains
again in the parliaments Of III. world
The ingoes are coming back. There is
wild talk of new and enormous fleets, fresh
rivalrics, great plans for the next war. y
The men who were the first to laugh at the
proposal for a League Of Nations are the
first to grumble about possible now burdens
| Of taxes Those who first called President
Wilson a visionary arc crying n charge Of
| hypocrisy against the United States because
we insist on being prepared against the dan
gers which they helped to max. inevitable.
Lot that pass II we have need for the
greatest navy in tho world we shall have
tho greatest navy in the world. But IL is
Hoover and men like him, and NOT the trem'
uous propagandists Of new suspicious and
hatreds. who are dealing with the factors Of
| permanent peace.
Wars are not made overnight. They do
fr,DN C,Iinp II IA
! memory Of great wrongs, great iniusticos,
| great expressions that feeds the fame once
! il is kindlpd Wherever great multitudes Of
| children are left 10 die in Europe. there the
whirlwinds will be sown aud there the mem
ory Of great crueltirs will rise like barrier
to divide anew people who Still desire pas
sionatcly to understand each other and live
in peace. The millions Of children for whom
Hoover speaks will not die altogether. They
will live in history md in bitter legends, and
they will haunt the chanCcn"res for genera
tions and governments will wonder why
there can be no peace.
In tho territory Of the central empires 10
per cent Of the children are broken by
tuberculosis the peculiar attiictjon OF the
starved
In Armenia the nurses and doctors. lack
ing medicine and food. often know only ono
service that thev can do for mul,itudes Of
children who wander In areas rs barren as
the face Of the moon They marshal them
in uneven ranks and lead them to the hills,
! where they may lio down and di" in peace.
Doubtless there are in America some ppO-
pie whose hatred Of Germany and Germans
, extends to infants in arms and hahos in the
cradles, but they ar" growing fCwor. Doubt
! -.