The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1939-07-27
Shall We Send Our Youth to War

make it a war to end war. / be-
lieved we could make the world
safe for the spread of human
liberty. If experience has any
value to nations, there are in the
wrecking of these hopes thou
sand reasons why we should
never attempt it again.
Prayer for Real Peace.
When President Wilson arrived
in Paris, the common people of
the world were praying for a
real peace. There were good men
there, and there were high aspir-
ations. But there were also con-
centrated there the invisible
forces of age-old hate and greed.
Mr.. Wilson met determination
to crush the enemy in a Carthag-
inian peace. He met the sinister
demands for power. He met
greed for possession of world re-
sources. Above all, he met with
the pressures of populations and
the unsolVable problems of Eu-
ropean boundaries and economic
life. He worked valiantly to COM
bat the evil forces. He spread
American idealism at the peace
table. He argued and cried out
for reason and justice-not be-
cause he felt that mankind must
turn its face to the future and
its back on the past. When Ger
mans blame him, little do they
know what Germany would have
looked like had it not been for
Woodrow Wilson.
To Mr.. Wilson I criticized bit
terly the provisions of the peace
treaties before they were signed.
I felt that instead of healing the
wounds of the world they would
spread disaster over genera
ton. I have before me a memo
randum that I gave to Mr.. Wilson
two months before the treaties
were signed, urging their lack of
vision and the dangers to Amer
lea. He won some victories for
sanity. He helped some nations
to freedom. He hoped that, with
time for hate and avarice to cool,
the League of Nations could re-
construct the failures of the
treaty.
Americans will yet be proud of
that American who fought fight
for righteousness although he par
tally lost. But he proved that
American idealism and American
ignorance of the invisible forces
in Europe can only confuse the
grim necessities of European
peace.
What is happening today? Eu-
rope is suffering repeated earth
quake shocks from the fault of
the Treaty of Versailles.
But, beyond all this which is
obvious, something else is NOV
ing. Europe is again engaged in
a hideous conflict for power.
Stripped to its bones, today the
quarrel is much the same. Die
tators in Germany and Italy rise
to power on opposition to Com
munism, launched into their peo-
Piles by the dictator of Russia.
Again the dictators are in con-
flict for power. Again France, a
democracy, ties herself to the die
tatorship in Russia. England be-
comes endangered should the die
tators of Germany and Italy over
whelm France. And thus again
begins this dreadful treadmill.
What is proposed? That we join
to stop inevitable movements and
readjustments of peoples; that we
engage in theological wars. Who
will pay for it in blood and treas
ure? Our children.
The time may come when we
could arbitrate the quarrels
which arise in that game at some
point before shooting begins. But
if we sit in the game we shall
never be arbitrator and we may
be drawn into the shooting.
My sympathies are with the
democracies. But the democra-
cies of Western Europe have the
resources to defend themselves.
They comprise great empires of
hundreds of millions of people
with all the resources needed to
secure their defense. Whether
they preserve their democracies
is a question of their own will.
Americas Service.
America can be of service to
the world. We can hold UP the
standards of decency in the world.
We should hold that the basis
of international relations should
not be force, but should be law
and free agreement.
The greatest immediate service
that we can render is to join in
economic cooperation with other
nations to relieve the economic
pressures which are driving the
world constantly to instability. A
great part of these pressures for
war are economic. The greatest
healing force that could come to
the world is prosperity. There is
vast field for American action
which is free from political en-
tanglements. We should resume
the conferences which were start
ed under such good auspices by
our country in 1882.
But, far beyond that, we can
hold the light of liberty alight on
this continent. That is the great
est service we can give to civ
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