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Show H AMERICAN SPIRIT GROWING H The old American spirit is growing H more intense every day and' it is taking H --- the form of opposition to the League of HjH Nations. Many Americans seem to be H waking from an idealistic dream to a true H understanding of what Americanism re- H quires of the patriotic. They see clearly H now; that which was partly or wholly oh- H scure to their drugged vision they sec H that the European system is just about H what' it used to be and that is is as esson- H tially other than if not hostile to Aro- H cricanism that the two cannot be welded H without loss to Americanism and to the H United States of America. H Our forefathers separated us from H that system by a revolution which created H the freest and most powerful nation of H all tfme. Today that nation has the one H reservoir of wealth left in the world, the H one reservoir of white manpower left m H the world. Great Britain, France and H Italy have lost their manpower and their H fortunes and they turn to us and ask us H to guarantee their security. H Before the European war Great Brl- M tain ruled oyer about 400,000,000 people H and yet was able to raise an army of only H 6,000,000 or, at most, -7,000,000. Tne Unit- H ed States, out of a population of 110,000.- M 000 raised an army of 7,000,000 and could WM have called 20,000,000 into the field. The H British empire, the greatest, the most im- H prcssive in the world's history, today is H shaken by revolution in Egypt, India, lrc- H land and, one is almost tempted to say, in H England itself. H At for the war with Napoleon the Brit- H ish debt was $250 per capita; today it is H $800 per capita, whereas the debt of: the H United States is only $225 per capita. In B other words the richest nation, richest ir. H present wealth and resources, has, com H naratively insignificant national debt H Great Britain owes us $10,000,000,000 H which we have loaned her and she want-; B us to be on her side in peace and in war, H not merely as'a fi'iend. but as an ally H bound by a compact to defend her eivi''o. H And what has here been said of the H British empire is true of the French and H Italian empires. They need our guaran- fl tec so that they mav continue to be going H concerns not only in a governmental but H in ' financial and commercial sense. M T'insist on Americanism is not to 1 abandon our friends; in the long run it m may be their salvation. It may force them H to get thair houses in order; to free sub m ject peoples, to eliminate the old poisons m . of secret diplomacy and statesmanship. B and to usher in the reign of that larger H . -justice which the League of Nations con- m templates, but for which it fails to pro- H vide-r-the larger iustice .that gives liberty H to the whole world, to all nations, grec H and small. The Citizen. |