The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1922-10-19
OUR ONLY WAY TO THE
WORLDS RESPECT AND
GOOD WILL

OF all the important nations parti-
cipating as belligerents in the world
war, America is the only one that did
not go in from necessity. With all
the others it was a matter of self de-
tense, self interest, or combination
of the two.
Of all the important nations enter
ing the European war America is the
only one which, at the end of the war,
asked nothing in the way of territory,
indemnities or other form of reim-
bursement for the injuries sustained
and the sacrifices made. Against the
Vaccinations of the other victorious
powers we contended in vain for a
peace in which the last drop of blood
should not be drained from the veins
of our PROSTATE foes, and which
would not sow the seed of future
wars.
Because we did not enter the Euro
pean war the day England did, we
have been often rebuked by European
jingoes and home provincials. That
criticism is not based upon sane
judgment or sound considerations of
justice. Accepting the allies theory
of what the war was all about and
subsequent developments have some
what shaken American faith in the
sincerity of the cry that it was a war
to establish freedom and Justice
fbronorbouF tho x-OrIJ +Lo,.o 49, :. =.
good reason why we should have gone
into the war at the beginning. We
were not guarantors of Belgian or
other European neutrality. We were
not interested in the rivalries, jeal-
ousies, hatreds and ambitions which
had made Europe an armed camp and
led inevitably to war. All that has
been said to the contrary is plain
bunk" inspired either by ignorance
or alien propaganda.
Rudyard Kipling has recently been
quoted as attacking America because
we did not enter the European war in
August, 1914. He is alleged to have
said that we had all the gold in the
world, but had lost our soul, while
England was short of gold but had
soul enough to supply the export
trade. He was quoted as declaring
that America had been a degenerat-
ing nation since the Civil war, when
the best of our stock was killed off in
war and since that we had been flood
ed with European immigrants of an
inferior sort. Mr.. Kipling saws he
did not say it. Probably he did not
say 1t for publication. That these
are substantially his views, as often
privately expressed, seems certain.
That they are the views of most upper
and middle class people in England.
and not only in England but in
France and in other countries we
helped pull out of the hole when we
entered the World war and gave the
final push that turned impending
allied defeat into victory, is true. Mr..
Klpling can be criticized only for be-
ing less diplomatic than the rest. In
what he said he voiced the pre-
ponderant opinion of unofficial Eu-
rope.
The realization that what we did in
the World war has brought us only
the envy and hatred of so many Euro
peans of the higher social strata.
ought not to surprise Americans or
arouse here a corresponding hatred
OF our late associates in war. Our
plight is the usual one of the inter
national Happy Hooligan-the disin-
terested nation out to do good. The
man without visible selfish motive is
always misunderstood, no matter how
altrustie he may be, because the
weak human nature of his fellows al
ways lnvents motive, and ALWAYS an
evil motive, for him. Europe, with its
traditions, is so completely unable to
understand any motive but selfshness
IN international relationships, that by
trying to be noble in the greatest
crisis the world has ever known. we
nave only gained a reputation for be-
ing hypocritical and greedy. We are
to blame now, having got into the
European mess, for everything that
has happened in Europe for a thou
sand years. We are responsible for
the war between Turkey and Greece
right this minute because we failed
to take over Armenia and police the
near East. We are to blame for sell
ing the Allies war supplies before we
entered the war at time when we
might have pulled into our shell and
refused to sell munitions to anyone.
thus ensuring Allied defeat. We are
to blame for the debt Europe owes US