Omaha daily bee., 1921-08-07
Solid Gain for Human Good.

AS long ago as 1914 earnest thinking men
professed to believe that out Of the awful hell
of war then opened good would come to the
world As days grew into weeks and months
and years, and the terrible struggle continued
with undmnisied ferocity, its horrors being in
creased as science and invention multiplied the
means and extended the methods for slaughter
and destruction, the hopeful held staunchly to
their trust in the future Something of this spirit
moved Woodrow Wilson in his idealism, and
certainly animated great American leaders who
shared with the president in the conviction that
something better must supcrsede force as the
determining factor between right and wrong III
the world.
That belief came down to the masses, and
amounted to a genuine conviction that IN the
flames of wars awful furnace the unhealthy part
OF our civilization was being burned away.
Many perhaps set their hopes too high; new
conception of God, more rational religion,
purer and truer relations between man and the
Infinite, and consequently happier communica-
ton between man and man; altruism sublimated,
maybe, but not incapable of realizaton-these
were the things hoped for. Is our faith the
substance of them yet, and, if SO, may it not
yet lead us to the fruition OF our hope!
Disappointment has come in the almost three
years that have gone by since the armistice was
signed and "hope deferred maketh the heart
sick" Yet is not the turmoil, the selfish striv-
ing of these last years merely the bubbling OH
the surface of the caldron into which humanity
was thrust that it might be purged? And, as
the dross vanishes with the cooling of the pas
sions, may not the cleaner, purer solid metal be
noted beneath? ....
All that was hoped for was not lost, just
because it was not Immediately brought to pass
when the echo of the last booming gun died
away. Gibbon cynically refers. in his famous
Chapter XIV, to the hope OF the early Chris
tians, which led them to look for the return OF
Christ hourly. Has the strength OF the Chris
tian religion been lessened, or the doctrine OF
love and forgiveness lost any power, merely
because the fond expectation OF the unlearned
masses did not come to pass? So is it with
the fruit that may be expected IRON the war
Human nature is not so easily changed, yet
there are multiplying signs and portents whose
easy Interpretation justihes the belief that much
if not most of the possible benefit anticipated
because of the dreadful scourging of the ma
bled. penitent race Of sinners
The spirit OF service did not expire with
the cessation of battle, nor the Willingness TO
sacrifice If greed and avarice, and the worse
elements of mans nature seem to have come
uppermost it does not mean they are to always
dominate. AS the world emerges from the tur-
bulence and strife the unrest so much COM
planned of takes on more encouraging aspect,
ttat Of desire TO be helpful rather than to
obtain help. All wrong all evil, all violence viii
not at once vanish, but many of their causes Will
be found to have been greatly lessened if not
altogether wiped out, and solid ground in the
way upward will have been attained, just be-
cause mankind was so thoroughly tried in the
flames.
10Y cometh with the morning" and Il
dawn is not far off,