The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-09-23

down to foreign selling" and al
lowed to go at that.
Only today, as one turns the
fragile newsprint pages which re-
cord the last days Of that van
ished world, is one struck by the
foreign market stories, which from
July onward reported the grow
ing heaviness of the European
pourses.
Never more than a paragraph or
two, and buried under small
headlines in the cavernous re-
cesses of the financial sections.
they day by day announced the
sagging prices and steady pres
sure Of selling coming from vi
enna-and St. Petersburg. They
were of small consequence, except
to a few expert spectators then.
Reading them today one seems
to catch the faint, dripping sound
of the lifeblOOd of nineteenth
century Western civilization, eb-
bling secretly away in the dark
ness.
TN the United States even more,
Il perhaps, than in Europe the
appalling suddenness of the par
oXysm in which nineteenth CEN
fury Western civilization persisted
was itself factor of far-reaching
consequences.
The New York Times on Friday,
July "a, announced the Austrian
ultimatum to Serbia as a matter
of serious but not of sensational
importance A brief editorial
recognized in only cautious and
theoretical way a threat of that
general war" which had so often
been discussed and in which no
one really believed.
Just one week later the ex-
hauSted diplomats of Europe we're
finally throwing in their cards;
the impossible had occurred and,
barring miracles, the general war
had come. There was no time to
think, no opportunity for assess
ing causes, examining backgrounds
and establishing reasoned atti-
tudes.
In seven days the framework of
an age was shattered; the mind re-
belled under the fearful abrupt
ness of the blow and the emotions
too readily took command.
Il
TINE general war, said the Lon
Il don correspondent of the
Times, could only be averted by
a complete backdown of one of
the two great triplices into which
the European powers are divid-
ed" and that alone should have
been enough to show that the gen.
eral war was inevitable.
Yet most of the New York edi-
tors, naturally, hesitated to pro-
claim it.
One, Frank H. Simonds of the
Evening Sun, who happened to
have some first-hand knowledge of
recent European history, did see
clearly not only what was hap
pening but the essentially imper-
Sonal character Of the enormous
disaster which had been precipi-
tated.
In a long editorial that Satur-
day afternoon he gave compre-
hensive analysis Of the whole
background of the crisis, and Vne
which was notably impartial.
Alone he understood that the
Austrian attack on Serbia was
not merely wanton aggression, but
Ausrrias declaration Of a deter
mination to fight for her own ex-
iStence" against the "attrition of
intrigue"
Neither side could now back
down without accepting destruc-
ton; and the great war had come
at last, not because any one had
willed ii but because it was the
only issue from the tragic fears
and rivalries of the last half dozen
years.
The article now remains to show
that such a detached and scientific
view was not beyond the leaders
of American opinion had they
striven to achieve it.
TINE sedate and ordinarily care
i full Evening Post waved aside
its competitors erudition; talk of
"long-smoldering backgrounds" it
implied was all very we'll but of
no present moment-obviously,
the whole crisis was the fault of
the Austrian militarists.
Our traditional sympathy for
small peoples (where our own in
terests were not involved was
quick to awake, and the liberal,
democratic New York World had
a flaming cartoon of the Austrian
wolf about to devour the innocent
lamb Of little Servia."
The Times, probably the most
influential American newspaper
in matters of foreign affairs. ar
rived at the solemn verdict that
Austria was the guilty party.
Tomorrow-The note to ]. p
Morgan.
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