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Show 9 THE CITIZEN Teutonic ideas, such ideas as wjp today regard with repulsion. But inasmuch as the whole system of Teutonic culture was shot through with the idea of war it is difficult to conceive a Teutonic world without war. In the retrospect we see that war was inevitable. It was simply the conclusion of the German syllogism. When we attempt, therefore, to imagine what the world would be had not the war supervened we are constantly haunted by the conviction that we are simply weavin ga dream. In the first place it is necessary to imagine that the world could have gone on without war and that is the same as imagining that the world could have gone on without the explosion of the German bomb called Kultur. We must shut our mind to the realities and try to think of Germany's reaching out as simply peaceful penetration. We must picture all the great powers as working together in peace for the development of resources everywhere on the globe. In a sense it is' like trying to imagine what would have happened in the new world had the colonies remained a part of the British empire. If there had been no war the great powers would have retained their riches and, therefore, their power for development, but they would have lacked some spiritual qualities which the war has given them. Without analyzing these qualities it is sufficient to say that they have awakened the repressed energies of Europe. Instead of being numbed by despair the Europeans, with the possible exception of the Teutons and their allies, have a new will to work. Hope and patriotism and a wider outlook have combined to inspire them with desire for achievement even in the presence of appalling debts. Perhaps we can get a better idea of the material setback of the world if we strive to think what a rich civilization might have done to develop a continent. Africa is destined to be as important in the scheme of earthly things as are Europe, Asia or America. The great powers chiefly Great Britain and France have become sponsors for Africa, but they are in no condition to develop the continent as intensively and extensively as they would have been had they not The contracted war debts totalling more than $50,000,000,000. task is before them, but they have not the means to accomplish it. The war has given them the will and the energy, but the work must lag for lack of credit. If there had been no war there would not have been the determined, aye even desperate resolve to rebuild quickly and to expand. The Europeans, in their thrift, are like ants whose nests and hills have been destroyed. Instead of stopping to reason why, instead of succumbing to discouragement, they have bravely determined to rebuild the shattered fabric without repining or delay. One day Africa will be a continent of great powers. No doubt it will be a white man's country ready to take up the white mans obligations. It will be richer than any continent today as all the other continent will be richer than they are now. But the goal will be arrived at slowly perhaps a century or more later than it would have been reached had Europes wealth remained untouched by the war. The peace conference founded a system of mandatories designed to assist in the growth of backward peoples. This gives the powers a definite purpose to accomplish the task, a purpose that would have been more or less desultory had there been no war. But the wher-withto do the work is lacking. The backward peoples, we fear, will be forced to wait until the needs of the forward people are satisfied. The leading peoples must first put themselves in a prosperous condition. They have been left cripples, as it were, by the war and must recuperate before they can do as much work as formerly. The one country which could accomplish most is the one country which seems disinclined to take up the work. It is true that the business men of the United States are setting their affairs in order feverishly so that they can compete for .the worlds commerce and this in itself will help other nations to develop their commerce, but we have shown an aversion for mandatory work. Europe has been trying to win us over so that we shall look with more favor on the white mans burden, but so far has met little encouragement. Our wealth and our credit has not been hard hit, comparatively speaking. We are even rated as richer now than we were before the war, but the rating is much like the stock market valuations. It is inflated. If we measure our wealth by the prices that wealth must al 5 pay for everything it needs or wants our mountains of riches will seem to shrink. A ship costs twice or thrice as much now as before the war, and is exactly the same kind of a ship, capable of hauling no greater load. Nevertheless .the United States is better fitted than any other nation to assist in the recuperation of Europe and the development of backward countries. Its wealth, no doubt, will become active in many lands even though the sovereignty of those lands are held by others. It will look forward to an era of peace and, therefore, of security for investments. Whether this expectation is justified is open to not af little doubt, but evidently it must be a guiding principle unless American capital is to shut itself up at home. While the impairment of capital has been great the impairment of labor has been greater. It is impossible to calculate the loss in labor, but without much reasoning on the subject we can realize that the death or permanent disability of millions of workmen has cut off many years of advancement. The work to do is greater; the workmen to do it are fewer. There are many other elements of loss and some of compensation which need not be considered here. We must abide the losses and be content to achieve with what'has been left. After all, our chief gain has been the destruction of a system which threatened to enslave mankind. WILSON CULPABLE was unfortunate that the League of Nations should have taken IT the form of a League to enforce peace because, in the opinion of many thoughtful men, such a league becomes an alliance for war. It will not do to say that the form of the League is the best that the combined intellects of the peace delegates could devise. Certainly that form cannot be the best which provides so many outlets for war. Had the delegates confined the functions of the League to a few fundamental operations they probably would have done more to preThe very serve peace than they have done by creating a super-statfact that a majority of the United States senators were fearful lest the super-stat- e deprive the United States of its liberty and independence was in itself an objection that should have had a controlling influence over the negotiations of President Wilson. Inasmuch as the United States senate must ratify treaties its views should have been a constant factor in the negotiations at Paris. Whether the majority in the senate was right or wrong in its opinions was immaterial. Right or wrong, the senates opinion should have been deferred to. The senate should have been given a chance to guide the formulation of the League covenant. But was the majority wrong in its opinion that the League, both which curtailed in its original and final forms, created a super-stat- e the sovereignty of the United States? A glance at the Declaration of Independence, so timely at this season of the year, reveals to us the nature of the American state founded by our forefathers : (Declaration of Independence) : We hold these truths to be ,that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights governments are instituted among men, deriving their just of powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any form government becomes destructive of these ends it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it. As free and independent states they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, etc. It was important that President Wilson should have taken into consideration what the majority in the senate believed. The majority believed that under the League of Nations our libof erty, proclaimed in the declaration, was surrendered to a council foreign nations and that the United States could not withdraw from the League until the council should decide unanimously whether we, as a nation, had fulfilled our obligations. Is it probable, they asked, that such unanimity could ever be obtained and, if not, would not the United States be bound to remain in the Leagnue indefinitely ? That majority believed that our government was required to e. self-evide- nt -- |