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Show WORLD PEACE AND WORLD CREDIT .- ' .! . - Time and manner of Lord Lans-downe's Lans-downe's presentation of peace Ideas are equally unfortunate. Lord Lansdowne Is a veteran Eng- Jti Tory. Under the old regime 7 Vnen Lloyd Oeorge was looked upon as an Impractical Radical, the peer who has just gotten back Into the limelight was in the seat of power. A typical representative of the old Tory party, Lansdowne has been the Governor General of Canada, Viceroy Vice-roy of India, Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Secretary of War. Regardless of his official position he has from the time of birth been a representative of the comfortable ruling class ideal of England before the war the God-of-Thlngs-as They Were. x Things will never again be as they were. I i This is the fallacy of Lord Lans-down,e. Lans-down,e. i - , i ' The world is too deeply in the mire. u The only hope Is a dVivo to such a decision as will bring about a degree de-gree of human understanding which will make it impossible at least for generations possibly forever, for any crowd to get together on the basis which brought the Prussian exploiters exploit-ers together with any expectations of getting away with the swag. Credit of the world was only slight y less Imperiled when Germany invaded in-vaded Belgium. If the credit of the world depends entirely on pounds sterling why did not Franco save her millions of dead. There was Just as much reason for stopping then as now, Similarly, after the Dattlo of the Marno when the Germans had been turned back from Paris; after Verdun; Ver-dun; after the Battle of the Som-xno; Som-xno; after the German retreat last eprlng; after the failure of the Russian Rus-sian Revolution at each of these stages there was just as must reason for considering the credit of the world as now. Credit Is simply the common dem- j'mlnator of understanding. . personal credit Is dependent upon this principle. Firm and corporation credit are even more dependent on the confidence confi-dence of the community as gauged by the bankers who represent the investment of the community's thrift. National credit and world credit are based on exactly the same principle. It is far too late to talk about the future Of the world in terms of banking statistics on pounds sterling, sterl-ing, francs, marks and dollars as (bey were reckoned beforo the war. "What will bo tho value of the blessings of peace to nations so exhausted ex-hausted that they can scarcely give a hand to grasp them?" aBks ord Lansdowne. This is not tho question. "What will be tho strength of any exhausted nation to reach out a I hand if the war ends with their feeling that the millions of men who have died might just as well be living?" liv-ing?" English peers of the typo of Lord Lansdowne could never understand such a question. For two hundred years before the war the whole British system was developed on a basis which made it possible for tho people at tho top of tho pyramid to feel that they were guaranteed a certain liberal lncomo and special privileges which the world yloldod to them as naturally natur-ally as It put forward air, grass and trees, Great prosperity and world trado leadership made It posslblo for England Eng-land to give these bounties to a certain cer-tain privileged class without making the pinch felt too hard on tho rest of the population. Many representatives representa-tives of this class gave to the British Empiro splendid servlco and accomplished accom-plished things which made H seem right that they should bo so privileged. privileg-ed. All representatives gave In oth-fvwars oth-fvwars as they havo given in this a ,0' f their bllod to tho causo of Brit- ' battles' A'U is an odd thing that men used Mtto certain privileges will glvo tholr Hblood and tho lives of their relatives without stint and still labor under who delusion that tho comfort of tho Hworld Is in ore Important than tho Bpeoplo Who llvo in it. H Tho question for this country to VBk ord Lansdowno or any govorn- piont of England which may rcpro- ent his idoas Is "If what you say pkiow Is truo, why did this country Hfntor tho war?" K Will history show that tho prin- BjP&l servlco which tho United JUitt-. porfprircd y drljr'ic v r B I on Germany April 7, 1917, was to bolster up and retrieve British banking" bank-ing" credit? We do not think that tho sentiment senti-ment of the people of the British Empire will endorse any such epitaph. epi-taph. It is for the United States to understand un-derstand clearly at this time that we cannot win the war with any such element entering into the major calculations cal-culations of all or any of the Allies. There Is no good reason for thinking think-ing that such an element does enter Into Allied calculations. In any event, America owes it to her .traditions and her future to make It clear to the world at this time that having entered the war we stand ready and believe that we are capablo with "whole hearted co-operation from the nations which have suffere dearller and so long, to carry car-ry this war to a successful conclusion. conclu-sion. It is this unanimous attitude which will Insure against the Germans who have hypnotised their own people and wreaked their bloody lust on humanity, human-ity, being in a position a few years hence to go clanking over the map again with a sneer and with confidence confi-dence that they can do the same thing over again and perhaps successfully. suc-cessfully. Paul Mick Whelan, In Odd Lot Review. |