Let Us Continue Our Great Work in Peacetime, Franklin Lane Tells Graduating Class, June 18 1919

From the Wilson Daily Times, Wednesday, June 18, 1919

Unity of Men and Nations Is Accomplishment of War, Secretary Lane Told the Folks at Chapel Hill Today

By the Associated Press

Chapel Hill, June 18—Wars great accomplishments are possible, Secretary Franklin K. Lane told the graduating class of the University of North Carolina at the annual commencement exercises today, because war forces unity of purpose on men and nations.

Its aftermath of revolutionary discontent, he said, comes because war’s cessation leaves mankind without a common definitive purpose for which to strive, and he suggested as a remedy the possibility of building out of the war spirit a renewed unity again, with the purpose this time of creating a better society.

“This is war’s superior claim,” he said. “Not its blood letting but its definiteness. Men would know where they are going, whether in this life or beyond. And strangely enough a fine calm comes over men when they are told by an authority what road to take. A conscious objective, this is the pull of war. Buoyancy comes from common sacrifice. Men do as they have never done; they accept leadership gladly. Power comes to them that is abnormal. The force of the world is multiplied.

“A conscious objective—is there no way to gain this energy and enthusiasm and devotion in time of peace? It is in us. We know it now—an efficiency and a joy in the doing that is so many real horsepower greater than in the maundering days of peace. Cannot we find purpose in government, purpose in social life, purpose in work, without resort to war?

“Ours in America is not a work of re-construction. The morale of this nature is stronger, not weaker, for our adventure. We were walking in the right way before, and now we shall go faster. War has been an accelerator to an impulse that was expressing itself in business and politics in our literature and all our life, an impulse to serve men.

Reviewing the failures of present day society to bring comfort and happiness to all, he asked for a spirit to “fight ignorance, injustice, and disease as well as you fight men.”

“Problems?—There will always be these,” he said in conclusion. “The war has shocked the world. Two hundred million people are idle in Europe. For them, as for us, salvation lies in work and faith—faith in the possibility of a happier society, work with an end in view.”