The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1929-11-11
,Official City, state and County Newspaper
The Greed Of Armistice Day

ma I. has IL individual significance for America. for
inHritain, for France. for Germany and all the rest OF
he nations locked in the titanic conflict that came 70
raIssumc the vast proportions OF Armascddon. but 1t i'-
crr1lls a wider and greater distinction in having released
is he entire word-white. black. yellow and brown. Chris
resian, Moslem and Buddhist-from the catastrophe OF his
.u..orys greatest collision OF nations and races.
-, Armistice day conno.es more than any other day since
fechc prince Of peace himself came to earth-the sentiment
strf peace. That was all there was to the thrill Of its
ha,roclamation November II. 19l8-jGst the idea OF peace.
70 element OF treaty, no hint Of penalties to be i'm
'o.oscd on tho yanquishcd. no thought OF rcvcngcs to be
msratified. no cunning %cupiditics to SIT at the bargain
cong table. no political projects to be promoted, maps t"
CUBE remade. empires to be abascd or disjonted or vast
acansoms to be exacted.
Il, The whole world gave itself up solely to the ecstacy OF
osrlcliyery from wholesale slaughter. Its joyous rcvels for
he time, whether in convivialty or in abandonment to
ae3ure hysteric gladness. were an outburst Of emotional
~qGvidencc Of the worlds attachment to peace and q tribute
10 its bencdicsion.
g There can be no better dedication Of the annual rccur-
mcncc Of the day than to the original significance,
tAxhether that be expressed IN the idea Of peace without
qualification. as III the gesture OF the Kellogg pact
r.renouncing war as q means TO setting international
ffdclashes. or III peace by preparedness. now proposed to be
standardized in the form OF armament limitation based
abn international ratios.
II For, alas, the era Of armed conflict has not quite
passed out of the picture OF the world. Just the other
feday, despite the still vivid memories Of the four years
trf inferno in the popped fields OF FLANDERS ana the
hcilalisy plains of France, the head OF a great power
tr .ttled the sabre that the world might know. that he,
'riussolini, had a chip on the shoulder and woe to the
;,nation that ventured to displacc IT. Italy would fight
with every national resource thrown into the cause,
l,cvery man. woman and child, the last centcsimo to its
frame sacrificed if necessary. not a device for killing,
starving or otherwise overwhelming al opponent omitted
,,from the martial dream of the dictator who rules the
cscat of the old Roman empire.
CO tho ,nvir,c n Sitch virilo Anoaricapc pf Wl1Onl
Roosevelt was a type. still arc found to be fraught with
sage wisdom. Tread softly. but carry a big stick" But
mot even now is 1t necessary, as It was not IN the past.
sfor America to embark on militarism. This is the dis
itinction which should govern Americas attitude on peace
suntil the remuneration Of war written into the Kellogg
pact shall have proved itself a hard and fast obligation
accepted by the world in sincerity and practice and not
o gesture to be ~repudiatcd like a scrap OF paper.
! With such an attitude for the governmental back
tground. the nation itself can turn to that other course
of duty which deyolves on it as a people and as an
obligation to the men for whom the truce OF II years
ago was a requiem and not a rclcasc-can dedicate itself
anew to the slogan that the World war was a war to
end war. The Kellogg pact has carried that idea far
and the coming together Of Ramsay Macdonald, the
English premier, and President Hoover in an attempt to
set definite limits to naval armament has given dram
attic effect to the movement for universal peace. Amer
lea took the slogan Of war days at its face value. but
has lived to sec it glaringly spurned III the actions
OF certain European powers. while suspicion. war debt
jcalousies and obvious Imperialism have made inter-
national relations petulant, delicate and difficult.
America can contribute immensely to browning the
sacrifices some 10000 of its sons made on the fields of
Europe by promoting the idea that the world is reach
ing . day Of moral intelligence when its ~arbitraments
need no longer be made by the sword but by rational
mediums of a new and greater international code of law.
Ii the nation will mistakenly think in terms as this. the
world must ultimately be conquered to the idea by the
dominating power which We arc able to exert in trade.
finance, in ethics and in that relationship Of brother
hood for which this democracy stands in the family of
nations. America can then build up bulr'arls of policy
against war, against such gigantic tragedies as the world
went through from August 4. 1914. to November II. 1918.
We are committed to the cause Of supplanting war
by peace. Armisticc day, as said. is spontaneous with
the memory of peace. Because Of the memory of the
dead cntwined with that of the world s~heathing its
sword and silencing its guns over there II years ago,
there also Is the sacrcdncss Of a memorial day about the
anniversary. What better tribute can the nation pay
to the hero hosts beneath the sod and the wave today
than the promotion Of the cause to which they gave
their lives? And that was-not war but peace.