The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1921-11-22
LINCOLN At0
Arms MEETING

Author OF THE soul of Abraham
Lincoln etc.
We cannot be in any serious
s doubt concerning the attitude OF
Abraham Lincoln toward the ~
sant!aI problems involved In the
conference called for a reduction
Of world ornaments. We can. with
slight modification to tit this par
ticnlar issue, form from his own
utteranceS something not unlike
what he might have said . :.
First, he would have said that
one.half the world-the peace-lov.
ing half-cannot safely disarm and
leave the other haIf-the belliger-
ent haIf-armed to the teeth. He
might have said, much as he said
IN 1858:
III We could first know where
we are and whittier we are tedinS
we could better judge what to do
and how to do It. We are nov past
the third year since a policy was IN
itiated with the avowed object and
confident promise OF putting an
emu 10 "AE'
I'm my opinion that object viii
not be attained until we face the
issue and PASS Il. A house divtd'
ed against itself cannot stand"
The governments OF this world
cannot permanently endure half
on a war basis and half on a peace
basis, I do not expect the world
to 10 to ruin-I do not expect the
house to fail-but T do expect tina
It will cease to be divided. 1t VIII
become all one thing or all the
other.
EITHER tho opponents of war
win prevent its recurrence, and
win place It where the public
mind will rest IN the belief that
IL Is in course Of ultimate extinc'
ton or the advocates Of arma-
ment will push II forward TIL all
the world shall be in arms"
He might set forth in unmiBtak-
able terms Americas own love OF
peace, and freedom from mtlitar-
Sistic designs. He might say that
America alone, however peace.
loving, cannot solve this problem.
HE might say, as he said in the
closing paragraph OF his first IN
augural address:
In your hands, and not in mine,
is the moInentous issue OF world
ipeAce or world war. This govern
ment will not assal you. You can
have no conflict In which we are
concerned without yourselves he
ing the a%sgressors. | am loath to
close. We are not enemies but
friends. We must not be enemies
He would surely have oontem'
plated with heartfelt sadness the
ten million graves in Europe, IN
which number America has q re-
latiyely small but nobly honorable
share, and he might have said:
"It Is for US, the living, to be
dedicated to the unfinished work
which they who fought have thus
far SO nobly advanced.
at is for us to be here dedioat-
cd to the great task remaining
before us-that from these honor
ed dead we take increased devo'
ton :that we here highly resolve
that these dead shall not have
dIod in vain; that thees nations
under God shall have a new birth
Of freedom; and that government
Of the people, by the people, for
the people, shall not perish from
the earth"
He would have permitted the
conference to forget that their
WAS a heavy responsibility. he
might have said as he said to Con-
rress in December, 1862:
..The dogma of the quiet past are
ipadeouate to the stormy present
Tie occasion is piled high WIN
difficulty, and we must rise WIN
tbo occasion. AS our case Is new,
90 we must think anew and act
anew We must diSenthrull our
Eelves, and then we shall save our
countries, We cannot escape mis-
Fnry. We OF this conference shall
be remembered In spite OF our
selves. :,
s%tgnificance a spare ono or an
other OF US Wo know how to save
the wOElu H4EOLA AHluA0
world knows we know hOw To
save It. In giving security and
freedom tU the nations that neeo
PROTECTION, we assure freedom tC
those that are secure. We shan
mere nobly save or meanly lose,
Tho last, the best, hope OF earth"
He could not have ended his ad'
dress in terms less earnest, less
nobly sincere, less passionate, less
religious. than these OF his second
inaugural:
"Tho Almighty has His own
purposes, " Woe unto
tho world because Of o~ffenses! FOL
Il must needs be that oSfcnscs
come. hut owe unto that man BY
whom the ofHense cometh! " '
The judgments Of the Lord are
true, and righteous altogether.
with malice toward none; with
charity for all: With firmness IN
the right as God gives US to see
tho right, let us strive to finish
the work we are into bind up
the wounds OF the nations; to care
Tor him who shall have borne the
battlc, and for his widow, and
his orphan-to do that which may
achieve a just and lasting peace
with all nations"