Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1920-11-04
j. 5. CONTRIBUTION
WORLD PEACE
IS NEARLY D UE
American Boys Who Are Com
ing Home from France in Pine
Boxes Have Cast Their Votes,
Too, Says Lawrence Speaking
of Election-A Great Re-
sponsibility Rests Upon the
Shoulders of the Next Presi-
dent
ny DAVID LAWRENCE

En- Route to Marion, Ohio Nov. a.
Eight years ago in the little town Of
Princeton, N. j., group of CORE
spondents stood beside the then governor
vi New Jersey and watched the returns
come In which registered the triumph Of
woodrow Wilson. He was surrounded by
MS wife and daughters. Happiness and
Joy were theirs The victorious candidate
nreathed the enthusiasm of the great
occasion. College boys came to serenade
MN. He stepped to the veranda and, adj
dressing them. said 1t seemed to him not
moment of triumph, but of Solemn
responsibility"
1t has been responsibility ever since
And now as new man Is elected. az an
other takes up the task Of serving the
american people from the White House,
IL is pardonable for the cores pondents
VINO are accustomed to the joyfulness of
election victories to think of something
eise-to think more of the immense re-
sponsibilties that nowadays weigh down
the chief magistrate of the nation. Per-
haps 1t Is pardonable, too, to tell of an
incident In railroad station last night,
where our train stopped for a few
minutes, an incident that in its telling
can nave no touch Of campaign argument
Tor when the returns are published the
their preference for president,
The railroad station is deserted-it
might have been any station for that
matter. because a thousand such scenes
must be enacted in different parts of
the United States nowadays. There's a
trooper In full uniform asleep on a bench
near the baggage room. He wears an
ammunition belt and revolver. He Is on
duty. A few feet away on a baggage truck
10 white pine box and draping it Is an
American flag.
Hundreds of American boys are coming
nome from France that way. Their votes
were cast on the battleflelds Of France.
It's two years this month since the guns
stopped roaring in the Argonne. Both
sides in the political campaign have
talked either for the League Of Nations
as a provocative or preventative of war.
The election result is a mixed verdict on
domestic and International affairs. Yet
the writer cannot help thinking to-day
OF the scene at the railroad station at
night-the lonely remains of a boy that
had given up his life for the nation. 1t
seemed but a feeble aftermath of the
cry that went up during the war, to stop
war forever.
Boys are coming back from the other
side with beautiful flags draped about
Them soldiers escort them to the hum
dreds OF villages where the heart broken
parents welcome even at this late date
some faint reminder Of their sons hero
ism. These silent voters are received into
the soil of the land they sought to de-
fend. And yet. in the great presidential
election where party bitterness and the
friction of the contest have prevailed,
the thought has unquestionably been Of
issues and subjects far afield from the
sacrifice these troopers have made. The
erfort TO stop war has gotten little en-
couragement from America in the last two
years. Had the fatalities been as great in
the American army. as they we're in the
french. the neople of the United States
might have felt more deeply the wounds
or war. There might have been more de-
mand for constructive ideas on the pre-
vention of war. The campaign has I'M
fortunately conferred on domestic griev-
ances. Such scant attention as was given
to the greatest of all problems-world
peace-was concentrated on violent crit
icism 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 de-
serves sympathy as much as congratula-
ton. For the thousands of boys who are
returning home in the white pine boxes
come as mute reminders of American
duty still undone 1t may be the" league
or "a" league. but 1t will be some kind
OF a League Of Nations, something that
Will fulfil the pledges made when America
entered the war-and it will be that re-
sponsiblity which the new president Will
face
Such Is the underlying psychology OF
this election day-and when the parades
OF triumph and the happy plaudits OF VIC
tory have died down there vii. come
stronger and stronger the spirit Of these
silent voters to demand a real contribution
from America to world peace.