The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1925-10-02
How the Great War
Came

IvTVI HE world must elCner prOHC DY the TERRI
BILE lesson of the great war or be plunged
into another and worse one.
Boiled down, such is the essence of Lord
Greys, or the Viscount of Fallodon s, memoirs,
"Twenty-Five Years-1892-1916 fresh from
the press
Many Germans say Lord Grey--Sir Ed
ward he was then-brought on the war. On
the allied side most folks say Prussia did it,
or the Kaiser. But Lord Grey differs from all
these. He frankly admits no one nation nor
any one man started the war, but just gen.
eral state of mind and of affairs.
And he ought to know He was either
Undersecretary or British Minister Of Foreign
Affairs for most Of the ''Twenty- Five Years -
he talks about. During that time he not only
watched the war Amazing but took leading,
if not the leading part in the great tragedy.
For decades he tells u.s. Britain, Germany,
France, Austria, Russia Turkey and the rest
of Europe regarded each other with the bale
full eye of suspicion. Every move was suspect
Every innocent gesture doomed as a threat
against the interests of this or that nervously
watching nation. Intrigue was rampant and
ornaments grew and grew, each power feeling
bound at least to keep up with its rival.
'In looking back through old papers, !"
says Lord Grey, lit is depressing to read of the
distrust and suspicion with which govern
ments regarded each other in these years. The
impression given is of an atmosphere so mis-
cradle and unwholesome that nothing healthy
could live in it,
Out Of this miserable and unwholesome"
atmosphere came the war And Lord Grey is
not so sure that we are not destined to see an
other. In fact, it was with the object of
helping prevent such a war that, though all but
blind he drove himself to complete these two
volumes of memoirs.
''It is Of vital Importance to the world, >"
he says in his introduction, "that there should
be true account of the events that led up to
the Great War; without this there can be no
right understanding of the causes of the war;
and without such understanding nations will
not perceive how to avoid the recurrence of
another and greater disaster"
Lord Grey's narrative is easily the most
important contribution Of its kind since the
armistice No one can read it without being
struck by the authors earnest almost reli-
gious, endeavor to state things as they actually
were and not as he, or Britain, or the allies,
would have them appear.
New light is thrown on President Wilson s
attitude toward the war and his belief that
America could not forever be kept out of it,
And there are numerous hitherto unpublished
letters from the late Theodore Roosevelt who
tells Lord Grey quite plainly that had he been
President instead of Wilson, he would have
thrown America in on the allied side the mo-
ment Germany crossed the Belgian frontier.
Dollar diplomacy, the kind that puts
money above morals, and the dangers of al
lowing i'll feeling to persist between nations,
are brought out as inevitable war breeders.
And just as clearly he shows the vital necessity
for some means whereby in future nations can
live together in peace on sheer basis of COM
mon honesty and decency.
The memoirs should be translated into
every tongue. Every American, certainly,
should study them. Particularly do we rec
ommend them to our State Department, our
members of Congress and other Government
officials in high places
For they point the way out of war.