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Show THE CITIZEN 6 aries arc uncompromising. They are the challengers; the public cannot remain pacifistic in this presence any more than the nation could remain pacifistic in the face of continuing Hun violence; But there is no accasion for hysterical alarm. Without desiring to minimize the power of radicalism in this country we must not lose sight of the fact that the genius of the people is against Socialism, communism and anarchy. Ordered liberty and ccpial opportunity are still our guiding stars. But the task of meeting and overthrowing the new radicalism will not be light. failed to crook the pregnant kings of the knee before the crudest and most powerful autocracy of all time. On the eve of his trip the cardinal told a story which illustrated the power of his example, although he related it as a compliment to the Associated Press. The German government had ordered fri's arrest and the policemen were already at his palace doors ready to take him into custody, when the German chancellor intercepted a dispatch from the Associated Press asking him whether it was true that the Berlin government had ordered his arrest on account of his public utterances. THE FIRST ROUND. Presidents refusal to debate the treaty takes much of the THE out of the trip, but it saves him from pitfalls. By confining himself to exposition he can ignore questions difficult to answer and can, as it were, look only on the bright side of- the treaty. The dark side he will leave to pigmy minds, to those who are resolved to break the heart of the world in spite of his well known love of humanity, excluding the 36,000,000 inhabitants of Shantung. To have everything his own way the President was careful to explain that he was making a report to the people. This also was a move in self defense. He is out not to be questioned or heckled, not to debate or to shed light on mooted points ; he is out to tell the people just as much as he wishes to tell them. He declared with a at the Senate, that he owed a report flourish, which was a side-sla- p only to the people, but apparently he does not believe, that he owes them much more of a report than that which he made to the Senate. The Presidents warily assumes that the treaty and its intertwined covenant do not need defense. Those who have criticised what he did in Paris do not know what is in the treaty ; therefore he will expound what is in it. He made the treaty he ought to know what is in it. And by the same token those who attack the treaty dont know what is in it because they did not make it. Fantastic reasoning this, and yet the President seems to take the position that he ip the only one who really understands the compact. If the treaty is understood by only one man in the country it ought to be rejected altogether. - That telegram, said Cardinal Mercier, made the commander hesitate long enough for Berlin to reflect and think better of it. It was one of the few acts of wise caution that marked Germanys conduct of the war. The influence of the cardinal, coupled with world-wid- e publicity, was a combination which made even the arrogant Hun autocr.y capitulate. The cardinal gained his influence by a display of moral courage which was the one element needed to steel the resolution of his people and he maintained his unyielding attitude of loyalty to his king and country throughout the Avar. NICE COMPANY thousand workmen have been throAvn out of employment in FIFTY because the Rumanian invaders carried aAvay all the machinery of the railway shops and of a number of private factories. Our noble associate in the proposed League of Nations is robbing the vanquished Hungarian people despite the repeated protests of the interallied commission. Nice company we are getting into. If the League of Nations is formed we can permit banditry, after the manner of the Rumanians, or Ave can prevent it. If we allow depredations Ave shall have the high satisfaction of knowing that avc belong to a league of bandits. Of course Ave can prevent it; avc can furnish soldiers to help fight the banditti. We are becoming rather accustomed to that as a result of our forays into Mexico. After Ave have suppressed the Rumanian bandits with an American army, our soldiers will probably be called upon to suppress other bandits in and out of the league. And Avhile Ave are battling bandits INFLUENCE OF MERCIER we may also be battling to maintain a boundary here and there. There is reason to believe that before the league can be estabAmerican people are awaiting with keen relish the THE visit of kings, princes, potentates and prelates who became lished the American people Avill become sick with disgust at the very world characters as a result of the struggle of nations. They flashed thought to leaguing ourselves Avith nations Avhich cannot get aAvay from their old sins of spoliation and robbery. upon our vision like portentious comets amid lesser planets and some are more brilliantly luminous now than they were in the baleful The actors are idling Avhen they should be playing. splendors of war. Already Cardinal Mercier of Belgium is on his way to the United Whenever Knox knocks somebody kliocks Knox. States, his kindly purpose being to attest the enduring gratitude of his people for the aid given them by Americans in the days of their We knew that if President Wilson went to France he couldnt tragic distress. . sec America first. The messenger is as noble as the message. In all the annals of Jfy consuffering patriotism the name of no prelate stands out more Pickets charge against the lady avIio slapped him Avas a failure his. recalls the of He than some spicuously great cardinals of the just like the famous charge of that name. church who were patriots and able statesmen, but who, immersed in statecraft, failed to preserve the purity and elevation of their charIf the President, on his tour, doesnt tell us any more than lie tells acters. He will rank with Wolsey of England and Richelieu of the Senate, he Avill not burden us Avith knoAvlcdgc. France, but the savor of his fame will be finer because, unlike them, he enacted the role of hero and almost of martyr. His was the Somehow our aviators arc acquiring the habit of getting lost in of not and but of secret statesmanship, diplomacy dealing, perseverMexico. Isnt the United States a large enough landing field? leadership of the people. .It may be said truly that had not Belgium possessed a head of the state such as King Albert and a head of the church such as Mercier the people would have lost hope long before the clash of empires ended. It was the example of these two leaders, each in his own realm, that kept the fires of patriotism and perseverance burning in the hearts of their countrymen and thereby gave to the world the inspiring spectacle of a people, wedded to liberty and justice, who ing, all-sufferi- ng that Thanksgiving approaches manditary for a large part of turkey. Noav avc put in our bid to be made If you have the price of a house you can imitate the old lady and live in a shoe. Let us all Avclcomc the President to the Avcstcrn front. |