Evening star., 1941-12-13
Incredible Events

Incredible Events
On Sunday evening last there sat
in Washington home an old man,
who, prompted by the tragic news of
the day, talked with his grandchil-
dren of times which he had known
in the distant past. II remember"
he said, that on December 81, 1900,
wrote an article in which I ex-
pressed the confident belief that the
twentieth century would be free of
the blight of war"
The patriarch, it should be ex-
planned without delay, was not alone
in his faith that armed conflict was
an anachroniSm in the modern age.
Some of the most deservedly famous
persons then living were just as GER
tain of the accuracy of their proph-
ecy of peace. 1t was a popular doc
trine, universally accepted, that vio-
lence between nations never again
would afflict human society.
War, it was insisted, had become
too expensive. No country could af-
ford to risk a military adventure.
The Spanish American War and the
Boer War were considered the last
errors of a reformed civilization.
Andrew Carnegie gave millions Of
dollars to build an assembly hall for
the representatives of a federated
earth. The Peace Palace at The
Hague was opened in 1918, and the
first World War began a few months
later. But even after the Kaiser had
been defeated the innocent pacifism
of mankind was uncorrected by ex-
perience.
Human prescience, however, is a
myth. Incredible events at last are
teaching the people of the United
States the solemn fact of perversity
which unhappily characterizes ag-
gressor nations in Europe and in the
Orient. 1t seems only yesterday that
otherwise rational individuals per-
suaded themselves that Adolf Hitler
was not really dangerous, that he
was in effect a 'bluffer" whose
eXtravagant pretenSions could be
ignored with impunity. When he
had organized his armies for action
there still were observers who argued
that he would not use them. If he
attempted any real mischief, all his
neighbors would unite to suppress
him before he marched very far along
the path Of conquest.
That was the period when re-
sponsible statesmen argued that the
Germans and the Russians never
could agree and that even II they
did the Maginot Line would protect
France and the English Channel
would protect Britain. 1t also was
the era of pleasant sophistries about
the "infeasibility" of bombing unde-
Tended cities. An attack upon Lon
don would result in the destruction
of Berlin, II Duce would not help Der
Fuehrer, the Reich lacked oil for a
long campaign, the German people
would revolt rather than fight, it
was ridiculous to talk about Hitler
overrunning the Scandinavian coun-
tries or the Balkans.
Above all, certain authorities
official and volunteer alike-who
were supposed to know the truth
about the efficiency Of modern
machinery were complacently opti-
mistic about the insularity of the
United States. Nazi planes and Nazi
submarines might harry England, but
it was stated with unqualified assur-
ance that they could not reach
America If any one seriously had
announced the possibility of a sue
cessful japanese raid on Pearl Har-
Dor, "the greatest naval fortress
on EARTH" he would have been
laughed at.
But Hitler was right when he de-
clared that there are no islands any
more" The people Of the United
States are awakening to the stark
truth of their danger. 1t will help
them in the work which they now
have to do if they will abandon alto
gether such fairy tales as still may
linger in their minds. Anything is
possible in this era of disagreeable
surprises.