Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-02-13
"MALlcE TOWARD NONE
AND CHARITY FOR ALL"
The Lincoln Spirit ls Needed to Guide
the World Toward q Solution
Of Its Problems

Vt THERE ever was n time when the
L spirit Of Lincoln's second inaugural ad-
dress should control the actions of men,
that time is the present.
That address Is one of the profoundest
spiritual documents ever drafted by a
fallibe human being. There is In 1t re-
spect for the divine forces that govern the
world. tolerance for all sorts Of honest
opinion and Il sincere demand that atten-
ton BE- concentrated on an effort to estab.
lish justice.
Lincoln called attention to the fact that
the people Of both the North and the South
read the same Bible and prayed to the same
God, and that each invoked His aid against
tho other.
ut may seem strange he continued,
that any men should dare to ask just
Gods assistance in wringing their bread
from the sweat Of other mems faces; but
let us judge not, that we be not Judged
The address concludes with a sentence
which should be deeply pondercd by every
responsible statesman in Europe and
America.
with malice toward none he said.
with charity for all: with trmness in the
right ms God gives us TO see the right. let
US strive TO finish the work we are in: to
bind UP the Nations wounds: to care for
him who shall have borne the battle. and
for his widow. and his orphan-to do all
which may achieve md cherish just and
lasting peace among ourselves and with all
nations
The thing that is crying ont to be done
today is the binding UP Of the wounds Of tn"
world in spirit Of charity and the sub
ordination of everything else to the estab
lishment of n lasting peace.
Hatred and bitterness unfortunately pre-.
vail in many quarters. 1t Is assumed that
the victors were completely right and that
the vanluished were wholly wrong. And
there still is determination that the van
quishe'l shall be compelled to pay to the
utterinost.
There seems TO be inability to take the
broad and long view of the great war. a
view which finds the seeds Of the conflict
in the conduct of all the European nations
and holds them all in greater or less degree
responsible for the catastrophe.
Lincoln desired the two sections Of the
country to unite in binding up the Nations
wounds. The wounds Of the world cannot
be bound up until there is corporation he.
tween the victors and the vanquished. until
the future is faced with determination to
remove the provocatious to rcprisal on either
side and disposition to cooperate in cs-
ta6lishing just relations among all the ma
t.oHs' even SolUe ol tnpln MAY DC
called upon to make sacrifices.
The recent Washington Conference was
conducted in the Lincoln spirit. 1t sue
ceeded in facing certain issues in q spirit
Of fairness to all parties. with no attempt
to deprive any nation OF its just rights. 1t
has set an example which ought to be in.
fuential upon future conferences. and
especially upon the proposed economic con-
ference at Genoa.
If representatives OF the allied and asso-
ciated nations can sit down with repre-.
sentativcs Of Germany and the states
organized out OF the Austro- Hungarian
Empire. and with representatives Of Russia
also, and enter in good faith into a discus
sion OF the economic rehabilitation OF the
world. some progress can be made. SO long
as industrial chaos prevails in Russia and
in Germany there can he no satisfactory
industrial recovery Of France or Italy or
Great Britain and so long as nil these
countries remain industrially feeble there
can be no real rehabilitation In the United
States.
The nations of the world are linked to-
gcther by indissolublc chains. None of
them liveth to itself alone. None of them
can ignore the others without suffering in
one way or another. Without whole.
hearted 90 operation the present conditions
will continue for no one knows how long,
and new complications will arise which will
max" 1t still more difficult to find a way out