Evening star., 1927-07-13

France has gwen us her beSt. she
has gone the limit. We would. indeed.
have hearts of stone il we had not been
moved by the joy she manifested In
our achievement. We have found the
heart of France, and it is generous
and gallant.
Flight One Of Good Will.
The extraordinary stirring days we
had in France following those hours
N the night fog and storm, when we
faced disaster, have had the effect of
forcing our minds to thoughts beyond
the trying experiences we had
thoughts concerning international re-
latiOnS.
After all, our flight was one of good
will Why, for example, has man
kind inflicted on itself so cruel thing
as war? What relation have the wars
of the past borne to the Unsuitable
prophesies of human progress? Could
it be possible for any member OF the
crew of the America to see any of
these French people, who have shown
such hospitality to us. destroyed in
any war? Surely not.
Cannot l. then. say something for
every patriotic citizen of our country,
for it was the people of our country
American flag which he carried which
they saluted.
Aviation Seen as Peace Aid.
Any American who might have
witnessed the spontaneous acclama-
ton of the French people every
where when they yelled from their
heart, "Vive rAmeriaue." would have
felt exactly as we do.
May it not be that aviation Is an
instrument of peace? 1t brings us
closer together as neighbors and so
brings greater knowledge of each
other. And knowledge certainly
makes for tolerance. Unfortunately
physical proximity does not always
make for mutual knowledge.
Since l was IL years of age I have
been trained for war. 1t is not
strange. however, that I am inter-
ested in peace, for our great country
had not prepared me for aggressive
war, but for the defensive. Incident
ally. our Navy is strong for peace.
| shall always, however, be most
heartily in favor of adequate de-
fensive preparation.
The fanatical pacifist Is unattrac-
tive, though l realize he may fit some
where in the picture of life. His dis
cussion begins and ends with the
statement that wars are hell and
should be abolished at any price. He
does not trouble to make an analysis
of war and peace and discover what
effect they have on the onward march
of the human race.
l want to say here with emphasis
that one of the first and most es-
sential things that must be done to
tackle the problem of war is to make
a scientific analysis of it so as to
know how it has affected progress,
how it may affect progress now and
how it may affect the race in the
future. Has 1t helped progress in
the past? II it has. is it not unnatural
that it should have done so? In the
state of nature animal eats animal.
The strong and swift survive. Cruelty
is the rule. BY this ruthless method
nature produces fine, stalwart species
and noble races This method is hard
for the individual but necessary for
the races-cruel to the living but
beneficial to the future. Today has
always been sacrificed for tomorrow.
Effort to Ban Cruelty.
But we must not forget that the
whole effort of civilization has been
to build wall around itself to keep
out this state of cruel nature and to
find substitutes for ruthlessness and
to organize so that the cruel method