Pages

Tuesday, December 3, 2019

13 Months After Armistice, U.S. Hasn't Signed Peace Treaty, Dec. 3, 1919

From the editorial page of The Hickory Daily Record, Wednesday, December 3, 1919

What Will America Do?

Dr. Paul S. Leinbach rings clear in an editorial in the Reformed Church Messenger which we think is of vital interest to us at this present moment. May we ponder it well:

The treaty of peace is in a state of coma. The United States Senate has run away from its job. Like a bunch of guilty school boys, the members of the two parties are pointing their fingers at each other and seeking to place the blame on the other side. Opponents like the New York Sun say the treaty is dead beyond all hope of resurrection; others say it can be revived, but lies maimed, bleeding, in a condition of suspended animation. It will be difficult to shake the conviction that a blind and stubborn partisanship has won the victory over broad-minded statesmanship, and that the prestige of our county has suffered immeasurably through a lack of noble leadership. The practically unanimous appeals of the Christina people of America have been treated with an almost unbelievable contempt (next words obscured) not easy to remain hopeful in the face of such evidences of parochialism, stubbornness, and materialism.

Readers of the Messenger doubtless notice the pathetic appeal of General Jan Smuts of South America, which, strange to say, arrived in this country an hour after the senate had rejected the treaty of peace. It was a plea that America should not disappoint the hopes of mankind and abandon the world it its fate. But such a possibility as that the heart of the world might easily be broken by the infidelity of America to her high opportunities and responsibilities, has become the butt for jests and sneers on the part of those who blatantly proclaim that genuine patriotism is synonymous with a selfish and exclusive nationalism. We are sure that the news of the defeat of the Treaty has bought great grief to many thousands of oppressed and imperiled people all over the world.

However, as the Messenger said last week, “The war is by no means lost.” We are not ready yet to believe that the treaty will be finally rejected, nor will we accept the claim that it will be accepted in a maimed and anemic condition, which would be disgrace to our country. There has been a lack of considerateness and conciliation on both sides, such as becomes Christian gentlemen and Americans.

Some sort of reservations may be advisable, but we believe that what is called a reservation is a bit of arrant hypocrisy when it undoes the thing which it dishonestly presumes to qualify. We have not believed that the American people are willing to enter into an agreement in which they absolve themselves in advance from moral obligations and self-sacrifices for the welfare of others. The very spirit which purposes such an attitude is detestable, and it cannot ultimately triumph because it is in opposition to the mind of Christ.

During the next few weeks the followers of the Master can render a great service by their prayers and their influence in helping to arouse a righteous public sentiment and to compel our recalcitrant leaders to do their duty, for after all the President and the senators alike are not lords, but servants of the people, and it is the duty of the hour to make those who “believe in peace and pursue it” an “articulate, imperative, unyielding solidarity.”

Those who are in a position to know tell us that every religious journal in America is in favor of the treaty of peace. We merely make this statement for the serious consideration: Why are they?


No comments:

Post a Comment