Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-03-12
THE SHINING EXAMPLE
OF oBERAMMERCAU
" the World Were Moved to % Penanee
for Its oHenses Industrial and Inter.
national Peace Would Be In SIuht

| are considering a revival of the Passion Play
| next year. Last year was the time for IL, but
the presentation of the play was postponed
because OF the unsettled condition of the
| country
Every one knows the story Of Oberam-
mergr. In the early seventeenth century
| the valley in which the village lies was Wis
! tied by the plague. The people regarded it
MS people were wont to regard such things
in those days as n punishment for their sins
When the plague was stayed they in
their gratitude registered vow that they
would represent the Passion every ten years
forever. They have kept the vow with as
much faithfulncss as is humanity possible.
That vow has made the villagers into hon
est, devOut and kindly folk, each man.
woman and child living in such n way that
he may be regarded as it to take a part ii
the representation Of the great tragedy that
changed the current of history.
In these sophisticated days we are wont to
smile ndulgcntly ut the simple folk who re-
garded the plague as a visitation from God
for the punishment of the sins of the people
We do not think in theological terms nova
days, as people thought in the age of faith.
But these seventeenth century Bavarian
peasants were more nearly right than we are
wont to admit. The plague was n penalty
for the offense Of the people-if We do not
it was punishment for their sins.
The offenSP, or the sim was ignorance of
and Indifference to the common sanitary pre-
cautions.
Some power. call it what you will, always
inf1icts penalty for this kind of an ofcnsc.
1t cannot be escaped. The laws are inexor
able.
The mistake. so far as there was any mis-
take made in Oberammergau, was in think
thot ho
for violation Of what is narrowly called the
moral law.
There may come n time however, when
the moral law will be regarded as broad
enough to cover all such ignorance as pre-
vailed then; and disregard of the rules Of
hygiene will be condemned by the churches
as sin, as it is now condemned by the state
as an offenSe against the common veal.
But while the peasants OF Oberammergau
are planning to repeat their act of gratitude
and penitCnce for the staying of the plague of
nearly three hundred years ago. one looks in
vain for any evidence Of a disposition to
recognize the great plague Of war from which
the world has lately been suffering as a
punishment for its offenses, and one searches
futilely for any adequate preparation for
gratitude that it has been stayed to say
nothing of evidence Of penitence for the
offenses which brought 1t about.
Germany. we are told, is the sole offender,
and she must be punished so severely that
she will never be tempted to repeat the
crime. So far as the immediate events are
concerned Germany was responsible. She
saw things which she wished and set out
to take them by the strong arm of force.
Her course was wrong-just as wrong as it
is for q man who sees his neighbors s wealth
and breaks into his house at night TO steal
il. And she must be punished as we pun
ish the burglar.
But the crime Of Germany was the crime
OF greedy nations since organized states first
came into being. Alexander of MacedOn
was guilty of IT, Caesar of Rome boasted
of his success in taking what he wanted
for his country. Napoleon of France made
OF this kind of burglary a fine art.
Caesar and Alexander, however, lived be-
fore the great events depicted in the passion
play had happened. Those events lifted INTO
! the consciousness Of the world new stand
| ard of human conduct. 1t is not necessary
to go into the theological phase Of the ques-
tion. Judged merely from the point Of view
| Of expedicncy, the principles laid down in
! the moral law are the best guide for nations
and for men that has ever been formulated
! Disregard of them is always punished, in
one way or another. The execution of the
sentence may be delayed SO long rs to make
men think that it has been forgotten. But
when they least expect 1t the oIoW 1a"s.
In very true sense the late war is the
Denalty meted out TO the world for its dis
regard OF the moral law, disregard OF
which all the nations involved IN that war
| have been guilty in greater or less degree IN
times past. Our own skirts are not ceor'
! Neither are the skirts OF Great Britain,
: France, Italy or Japan.
Wo have been wont to boast OF the intcS-
r.tv of our purposes and TO cite what we
have done MS an example to the rest Of the
world.
Dut as a matter OF fact there was more
than an epigram in the recent remark or
writer In the Atlantic Monthly that we
! have never gone out to seek anything which
we did not think we needed.
The disposition Of each nation is 70 regard
itseIf as m exception and TO defend its
course OK just and righteous altogether. But
This is b,cuuse there is not in the nations
thai sense e. moral responsibility which
stirred the hearts Of the Oberamm"Tgou pens
ants to penitcnCe in 1898.
There is no way out of the international
or the national problems save over the road
marked by the mile posts Of the moral law.
The determination to establish justice
must preccdc the formulation of any
adequate plan. Yet we find nations in
sisting that in certain matters they alone
shall be the judge OF what Is just or not.
We find nations seeking to control the un-
developed places OF the world Tor the PROFIT
Of their people regardless Of the right, Of
the inhabitants of those places. They 60
out and take from the defenscless that which
they think they need, and then they wonder
that conflicts come
Conflicts cannot be avoided when there j.
n greedy scramble for the riches lying
around in sight. But every lootins c1pcd
ton. however euphemstcally it may BE- de.
scribcd, sOws the seeds Of rctribution for
the looters; and every injustice carries
within II the penalty.
Lincoln perceived this when he reminded
the country in the course Of his second in
augurn address that "If God wills that il
(the war; continue until all the wealth pile[
up by the bondmens 250 years of unre.
Quilted toll shall be sunk and until ever,
drop of blood drawn with the lash hhal
be paid by another drawn with the sword
as was said 5000 years ago, SO still it mus
10 bp iplU 1T 81.