Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-09-06
c-oNvALEScENSE is SLOW.

CONVALEScENSE IS SLOW.
Every mail brings accounts Of European condi-
lions brought by men and women who have gone
abroad to investigate the situation for business,
philantlropiclor other purposes, and many of these
accounts are depressing. The economic conditions
most Of US take for granted We know that indus
Try has been paralyzed, that production has been in
teIrupted, and that hardship prevails quite general
ly. The details which are given us merely empha-
size what we knew already
But there is evidence Of a note of surprise in
the comment which is made on the revelations con-
corning social, political and spiritual conditions.
wv are told of the atmosphere Of suspicion and dis
trust which prevails; of the outcroppings Of selfish
ness and greed; Of the squabbles over boundary
lines and mineral deposits; of quarrels over a score
.Bof things which, in Comparison with the stupendous
issues of human right and human liberty which were
$50 strongly emphasized during the strenuous days
ssof the war, seem petty and trivial. And there is
evidence of a strong feeling that the men who held
positions of leadership in the war itself, and those
who have sought to shape the work of rehabilitation
@tsince the war ended have failed miserably In their
Rtask.
Have they failed? Is ours, after al, a genera
Htion of incompetents?
For nearly five years the effort Of the whole
world was devoted to the single task of winning
battles in which more men were engaged than were
ever engaged.in battles before; in which the COM
batants were not groups Of soldiers in the field, but
whole populations; IN which every agency known
Ito many was utilized, and every material was made
; to play its part in the work of destruction. The
physical possession of men were either destroyed or
diverted to warlike purposes The skill of men was
turned into new channels. Nations struggled on to
the limit Of their endurance and collapsed. The
Fwar ended amid such wreckage as had never before
The men who were engaged in that struggle
were plain. human beings, with all the virtues and
AsaH the faults that characterize humanity. Through
long ages there had been built a civilization whose
necessities, traditions and customs had established
regulations and fixed certain restraints.
kThose regulations were obliterated and those re-
d straints swept away. Humanity was not changed,
fbut its less desirable characteristics were gwen
greater opportunity for expression And, ineyita-
gbly,t those attributes expressed themselves in a man
Ier which could not fail to be noticed
! The men who essayed the preliminary work of
reconstruction had gravitated to those positions be-
Il cause of a variety of influences. They were not,
and could not have been deliberately chosen for that
q particular task Because of conditions as complex
Ias humanity itself they were in direct charge Of the
4 affairs OF nations, and it was necessary for them to
take action. They acted with the varying ability,
I and with the mixture of motives which might have
been expected, To say that their work has been
4 marked both by success and by the lack Of it is
& merely to say that the inevitable has come to pass.
SuloA LIZ = uduu lucy COu4u IOL create q
new heaven and a new earth.
How well or how poorly the work has been
4 done cannot be known until distance is given a bet
ter perspective. But it is certain that no statesman,
and no set Of Statesmen can evolve anything APP
3aproaching perfection of our elements in which I'M
8perfection is SO inherent and SO strongly manifest.
The world has been sick unto death. It is, we hope,
passing through a period of convalescence. The
/ physicians have their limitations, but even if they
I were perfect, they could not achieve the impossible.
fQf1frrI or tho nof1nn = - - ~N~r.~1 >~-I::~-t1-
ponds largely on the patient himself. And conval-
Y escing patients,4even when making satisfactory
progress, have their moments Of petulance and their
occasional relapses.