Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-06-21
THE WORLD ORDER IS
THREATENED BY HATRED
Disaster Sure to Follow Unless
American Statesmen Strive to
Remove the Causes Of
Discomfort


Discomfort
POLITICIANS the world over are
L more interested in carrying the next
! election than In assisting In the progress
Of civilization. They cannot see around
| the edges Of the ballot which they seek
to induce the voters to put in the box,
and their backs are turned to the past
so that they are unable to profit by its
lessons
There are exceptions now and then.
Mr.. Hoover. IL he can be called poll
tician. is a notable instance of a public
man with knowledge and vision. In the
course Of an address on the perils Of the
present and the causes which had pro-
duced disaster in the past he told
Rutgers College audience the other day
that IL there had been no foolish men
in Babylon that empire would not be a
heap of ruins. The Babylonian poll
ticians failed to read the signs OF the
times and they led a great empire to
destruction.
There are terrible portents in the
world today. the significance OF which
politicians in Europe and America are
failing to appreciate. Gilbert Murray,
DISTINGUISHED British scholar. con-
tributes an article to the Century Mag
azine for July in which, in the course
Of a discussion OF "Satanism aud the
World Order. he calls attention to some
Of these portents. His opinions deserve
the serious attention Of all thinking men
in public Office and out of it.
He tells us that 'the war has filled
not only Russia but most of eastern
Europe and western Asia with the spirit
which have called Satanism-the spirit
which hates the world order wherever 1t
exists and seeks TO vent its hate without
further plan" But, says he. this spirit
would not have got abroad had not the
world order betrayed itself and been
false to its principles and acted toward
enemies and subjects in ways which
seem to them what the ways of Nero or
Domitian seemed to st. John on Patmos.
There is no hope for salvation without
repentance. Mr.. Murray sees no sign
Of repentance in places of power, but
he is convinced that there is real de-
sire for change Of heart in the minds
of millions. He is confident that unless
the world order is changed by this
change Of heart the world order Is
doomed.
Unless it abstains utterly from war
and the causes Of war" he says. "the
next war will destroy it. Unless it can
seek earnestly the spirit Of brotherhood
and sobriety at home, bolshevism will
destroy it. Unless it can keep its rule
over subject peoples quite free from the
| spirit of commercial exploitation and
the spirit of slavery 1t will
be shattered by the widespread hatred
| of those whom it rules.
Mr.. Murray does not content himself
with pointing out the dangers. He re-
minds us that the world order. IL it sur
wives the present economic crisis, has
such an opportunity as has never been
granted to any previous order. We
have what no previous empire or collec-
ton of ruling states ever had-clear
schemes set before us of the road ahead
which will lead out of these dangers
into regions Of safety; the League OF
Nations with the spirit which IL i'm
plies; the reconcilement and economic
refrigeration Of European society; and
the system of mandates for the admin
istration Of backward territories.
We have been given everything, he
says, erccpt a certain necessary great
ness Of character. He concludes that il
we do not recover greatness of char
aCter, and il for any reason the great
! demOcraCies permanently prefer to fol-
| low low motives and to be governed by
| inferior men. it looks as if not the
British empire only but the whole world
order established by the end Of the war
| and summarized by the League Of Ma
tions may pass from history under the
! same fatal sentence as the great en-
pires Of the past.
These are solemn words from man
whose knowledge qualities him to speak.
There has been some disposition here
to think because we are separated from
Europe By 5000 miles of ocean we are
not at all interested in what goes on
there. Yet it is only a little more than
| three years since we were drawn into
European conflict which has ended
with Russia, most Of eastern Europe
| and western Asia filled with the spirit
of hatred against the world order OF
| which we are a part.
Unless we and the other nations have
! the greatness of character to devote
ourselves to the righteous task Of re-
moving the grounds for the hatred that
is now threatening the wOrld-if we
take the parochial view and forget the
teachings Of experience; il the counsels
of the same kind of folly to which Mr..
Hoover referred are allowed to prevail
we are certain to find ourselves once
more involved in a still greater conflict.
But Mr.. Hoover and Mr.. Murray are
not the only men who perceive the
duty of the present. Mr.. McAdoo rose
splendidly to the occasion when in his
statement refusing to permit his name
to 20 before the Democratic convention
he said that "the times are not pro =
pitious for equivocaton or for appeals
TO blind passion or TO doctrines of hate,
or for reactionaries and those who
would shut their ears to the great and
swelling voice of humanity which cries
aloud for the restoration Of peace and
good will at home and in the world and
for the opportunity to live in an at.
mosphere Of justice, progress and pros =
perity."
The swelling voice of humanity not
only in America but on the other side
of the ocean is demanding that the
politicians stop their pickering and
cease their struggle for the heshpots OF
ofice and combine to lead the world
forward out Of the morass into which il