Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1920-11-17
ARMISTICE DAY.

Il s~AS IL
!, Two years ago to-day the world wa
celebrating the signing Of the arms
tice-th end Of the war-the comm,
OF a peace that would justify sacri
fices that staggered the human i'm
, agination, To-day the world is look
ing toward the future doubtfully an,
apprehensively, wondering If til,
peace that was won at so terrible ,
price will ever be stabilized or at
tanned.
i So far as the United States is con
cerned, it is still in state OF wal
with Germany. In the nineteen months
and five days that elapsed from April
6, 1917, to Nov. II, 1918. this country
raised and equipped an army of more
than 100000 men, transported 2,0O0,-
900 troops to France and by the sheer
weight Of its military and economic
power brought the war to an end. In
the twenty-four months that have
elapsed since the signing Of the ar
mistice we have been unable even to
| ratffy treaty of peace that all the
other belligerents long ago accepted.
ave have contributed nothing to the
reconstruction of civilization except
doubt and turmoil and suspicion. We
alone have intruded party politics into
the treaty Of peace. We alone have
refused to recognize any responsible
ties or obligations arising from "a
victorious war. We alone have broken
faith with the dead.
By common consent, the French,
who were magnificent in adversely,
have proved themselves anything but
magnificent in success. but the grow
ing ascendancy Of the. French military
and reactionary elements would never
have come about if the United States
Senate had not played Republican
politics with the treaty Of peace and
defeated ratification. That unique Of
Tense has strengthened the hand Of
Imperialism everywhere, not only in
France but in Great Britain, Italy and
Japan, while in Germany the Junker
forces NV regard the certainty Of
q separate peace with the United
States as the longest single step TO-
ward the ultimate overthrow Of the
Treaty OF Versailles.
Much has been said both here and
in Europe about President Wilson's
mistakes, but most Of the indictments
OF the President reduce themselves
on analysis to two counts namely,
that he was an honest man who want
ed a peace that wasSsright and just
and who believed that the American
people would remain true to the ideals
which they professed when they en-
tered the war. Those are the Presi-
dents offenses.
The politicians who controlled the
Allied Governments did not want a
peace of justice They wanted peace
OF plumber. Germany was down, Cen
trail Europe was destroyed. and their
one thought was not Of the future
but Of the loot of victory. At home
the Republican Senators wanted no
peace at all with which the name
of Woodrow Wilson was identified.
No matter what the terms OF the
Treaty Of Versailles might have been,
they would have fought any other
treaty as bitterly and as viciously as
they fought the treaty that was sub
mitted to them for ratification six
teen months ago.
The dead and the living alike have
been defrauded in the two years that
have passed since the armistice was
signed. The war that was fought to
end war turns out to have been a war
in which one kind Of Imperialism has
been triumphant, over another kind
of Imperialism. The peace OF the
world is still precarious be-
cause this Government has failed in its
supreme obligation, and the record Of
no other Government is 80 shameful
or SO inexcusable as that Of the United
States, represented in Senate drunk
with the raw alcohol Of a poisonous
partisanship.
Two years ago the United States
occupied a place of prestige and in
fluence in the affairs Of the world
such as no other nation had ever at
tanned. We have nothing whatever to
show for 1T now Our financial and
economic power is feared, because no
body knows how we may use 1t; but
otherwise we are distrusted and hated,
and are without real friend in the
world. Two years otter the armistice
that is what we have to show for our
sacrifices.