Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-11-02
LEAGUE APROBLEM
FOR new EXECUTIVE
Pledges of Our Dead, Oh
scured by Strife, Will Be
Responsibility, Is Claim.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

EN- ROUTE TO MARION, Ohio. No
vember Eight years ago IN the IN
tie town of Princetown, n. J.' srSup
of correspondents stood pesioe 'he
.ben Governor of New Jersey anu
watched the returns come in when
ro,;stered the triumph of Woodrow
,,,i,.on 1Ie was surrounded by his
wife and daughters. Happiness ana
ioy were theirs. The VICTORIOUS Can
didate breathed the enthusiasm Oh 'he
great occasion College boys came 10
soren.de him. He stepped to the
veranda and, addressing them sara IL
seemed to him not moanene Gi
triumph, but of solemn isp'"
bility." x.,;. aver since
And now as a new man is elected, ds
another takes up the task OF seINiuS
the American people iron. ny go
House. it is pardonaole LOT tne ~ 20
RESPONDENTS, who are accus.ouieu ~
,he iovfnlness of election victories 70
think of something eise-'o ,.tnn
more of the immense responSlolItieSs
that nowadays weigh down the Snie.
Magistrate of the nation; fernap
is pardonable. too. to tell OF an IN
cident in railroad station last Hisne
where our train stopped Tor rev
minutes, an incident that IN i.S otl
ing can, have no touch OF Gaap"is ,
argument. for when these INES are
mbIished the American people VIII
have expressed their preference LOT
President.
One Soldiers Return.
The railroad station is deserted-it
might have been any station, lot tha'
matter. because a thousand such scenes
must be enacted in different parts OF the
p0uvcIavS ThereS
trooper in full uniform half asleep on
bench near the baggage room. he wears
an ammunition belt and REMOVER. ne
is on duty. A few feet away on Dag
gage truck is white pine poA anu
draping it is an American nag.
Hundreds of American boys are COM
ing home from France that way: ihelr
votes were cast on the battieneios y.
France. It's two years this month slIlce
the guns stopped roaring in the Areohne.
Both sides in the political campaign
have talked either of the league OF ma
tons as provocative or preventive y,
war The election result is mlxe1
verdict on domestic and international
affairs. Yet the writer cannot help
thinking today of the scene at the ran
road station at night-the lonely re-
mains of a boy that had given up MS
life for the nation: 1t seemed put a
up during the war to stop war forever
Bows are coming back from the other
side with beautiful flags draped aDout
them, soldiers escort them to the nun
dreds of villages where the heart broken
parents welcome even at this late date
some faint reminder of their sons nero
ism. These silent voters are received
into the soil of the land they sought to
defend.
Deserves Sympathy, Too.
And yet in the great presidential!
election where party bitterness and
fri of
vailed. the thought has unquestlon-
ably been of issues and subjects far
afield from the sacrifice these troopers
have made. The effort to stop war
America in the last two years: Had
the fatalities been as great in the
American Army as they were In the
French, the people of the Unlted
States might have felt more deeply
the wounds of war. There might have
been more demand for constructive
ideas on the prevention of war. The
campaign has unfortunately centered
on domestic grievances. Such scant
attention as was given to the ereatest
concentrated on violent criticism OF
the one plan offered and thus many
people have been led to forget the
original objects and principles OF the
whole thing.
The new President of the United
States will have great responsibilities.
He deserves sympathy as much as
Congratulations; for the thousands of
bows who are returning home in the
white pine boxes come as mute re-
minders of American duty still un.
done. It may be 1.-The" league or
league, but it will be some kind OF
league of nations, something that
will fulfill the pledges made when
America entered the war-and 1t Will
be that responsibility which the new
President will face.
Such is the underlying psychology
of this election day, anr when the
parades of triumph and the happy
plaudits of victory have died down
there will come stronger and stronger
the spirit of these silent voters to de-
mand a real contribution from America
to world peace.
Copyright. 1920