Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-05-16
MONDAY EVENING. MAY is, 1921.

Inc man who reads freely OF the comment on the
var and its after developments can scarcely fail to ca
perience a feeling Of profound depression-if he believes
all that he reads. The war. as most of US may recallAwas
begun on rather short notice. a lot of history Was
crowded into a week. Austria served her uIhmatun on
Serbia; Great Britain. France and Russia joined in a
protest against Austria's summary action: an appeal was
made TO Germany 10 prevail upon her ally to make The
terms proposed by her ally more reasonable; Germany
refused, processing inability to control Austria's course:
Austria attacked Serbia; Russia moved for the protec-
ton OF her little ally: Germany declared war on Russia
and struck at France through Belgium; the French
armies were placed in the field; Great Britain declared
war against Germany, one by one the smaller nations Of
Europe were brought in; tho war had brought Europe
to the point of exhaustion and the United States entered
the conflict. These are some of the outstanding features,
stated approximately 10 their proper order.
There was no time for delibcrstion on the part Of
any of the nations of the Allied group. The aggressive
was taken ny the central empires. and the other nations
vent to war because no other course was open TO them
Short of witnessing the world overrun by Germany. The
democratic nations did not go to war for conquest. The
reasons why they went to war were very thoroughly an
alyzed while the war Was in progress, and there has never
been the slightest reason to question the belief then stated
that these nations went to war in defense of human
rights w.
The war was prosecuted for the sake Of high ideals.
We are now told with considerable regularity that those
ideals had been abandoned; that the nations which en-
gagged ih>warfare in defense of a holy cause have cast
their principles Ito the winds, and that their leaders, in
stead Of keeping before themselves the purpose of achlev-
ing a peace which should he one Of justice and rieheous-
ness, have become drunk with the lust of power and have
territory and power.
Fortunately, not all of this is true. 1t is true that
the war did not transform human beings into angels Of
light. 1t left them still human, with their human char,
acteristics. In the work Of framing the treaty Of peace
there cropped out something Of selfishness, something
Of ambition, something Of many other undesirable quail
tiles It u quite possible that these qualities were ac-
centnated BY the reactions from the long and tremendous
strain under which every man engaged in the peace ar
ranseunents had labored for long months or years.
1t may be possible that q company Of archanEels
could have passed through that experience and sat down
at a council table, with feathers ~unruffled, and prepared
a peace program which would have included all the heav-
emily things which arc SO greatly to be desired. Mere
human beings could not, and there has seemed to be
no way except to eutrust tho job to human beings, the
archa ngels being otherwise engaged.
We have been given descriptions of the work OF the
peace conference which wonld warrant the conclusion
that the conferees resen,bled a gang of pirates quarrelins
over the loot from a ship which they had scuttled with all
hands on board We have been given to understand that
the peace treaty Is an atrocity scarcely less abominable
than war itself. 1t isn't SO.
The treaty may be as full of holes as a sieve. 1t
contains, in all probability. some features which are un-
workable and some which are unjust. But with all its
imperfections, it does represent honest effort to better
human conditions. and that effort has not been barren of
results.