The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-10-17
N EN w OM MEN
 A ND T HINGS

The war taught us much geogra- phy, for we had to go to our maps in order to understand tho dispatches which filled the papers; but unfortu- nately the map makers are not vet able to give us completed ones for some of the boundaries are still in dispute
 From the very start as a child I liked geography, and it was never q task but a joy for me to get the lessons assigned in it. used to pore over the maps with as great interest as if they were puzzle pictures I was trying to work out. | believe the only prize I ever got at school was a dictionary, which was awarded me for having drawn the best map of the United States from memory.
 It was tho same way. about his- tory. The records of the past year were never dull to me. I just raced through the text books put in my hands and ransacked the home and public libraries for side lights on what was reading, for 1t never seemed study to me I am glad that through life history has always had q fascination for me and that to this day l had rather read 1t than the latest best seller" among the novels.
 am great believer in the use of text and wall maps in the teach ing of history and confess when l look over the histories being is- sued now by the les sding school book publishers with all their illustrations, charts, maps and other helpful fea- lures, l Just covet the chance the modern boy and girl has to under stand the text and visualize whar they are reading, and penetrate back of the narrative to the things them selves.
 The problem of history is to under stand the past. Statesmanshlp is the utilization of history, and this being true, how necessary is 1t that those who sit around the diplomatic table at Washington to take up the great est question of the age, disarma ment. or the limitation of arming, should take long view of the mat ter and have at their fingers end the threads woven into the fabric of civilization from the time when man first began to keep record Of events,
 No statesman can ignore the past or pretend that it has been erased Each important event in the upward trend of mans march should be full ly understood just as each backward step should be noted. About each how that really was" which had tho power to sway men. change GUS" toms, and overthrow dynasties. Mere dates and unrelated facts will not suffice for time and conditions must both be given their proper places in the just estimate placed on any country or tho reign of any king or emperor or the rule of any executive elected by the people.
 And just because practically every form of government will be repre- sented at Washington calls for accu rate knowledge. the ability to sym chronize it and properly eyalpate it is of first importance or the con- ference will fail to arrive at any workable basis amidst the conflict of interests. I am not one of the school who believe that history is an exact science, for it can never be so, as historical analysis is colored or distorted to suit the case that that mind is trying to prove.
 I am among those who hold that even the tendencies of history are so shadowy that they are as easily manipulated as arithmetic and pro- vide glorious field for the exer- cises of temperament as does phil osophy. It is for this reason that statesmen must not give themselves too whole-heartedly to any personal or national bias in the belief that the thing they strive for is the only possible solution, but must have open minds, ready to give and take, for the history of civilization has been a series of compromises. If the dip lomats will do this, there is hope that working basis for disarmament may be worked out.