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About The Chemawa American (Chemawa, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (June 1, 1915)
THE CHEMAWA AMERICAN 15 It is quite obvious that the original cohesive force was that of common weal. But always has the progress and prosperity of one family or band or state or nation been at the expense of others. In other words, the socializing process wrhich has been going on since Adam left the Garden has never grown beyond the national organization. Can it go no further? That is the question with which we are con fronted. If not, if it can go no further, if patriotism is the final word, then the hope of a universal and a lasting peace is but a dreamer's vision. But it can go further. Contradictory and startling as it may seem, I believe that never have the forces drawing all men together been so powerfully operative as now while the battle rages the hottest. I am not predicting an immediate disarmament, or a world league. Indeed, I am not concerned with ways and means. First must come a change in the hearts of men; the method will easily follow. That Day, that Great Day, is coming. We may not live to see it; nor our children's children. But come it must; when, as men have formed themselves in to tribes for their common good, and the tribes into states and the states into nations, so the nations of the world shall recognize a universal brotherhood and unite for the welfare of all mankind. In the achievement, the realization of that wonderful ideal, America, our nation, your nation and mine, will play a leading part. Even to day she is giving an example of reserve, of calm poise, of self-control, that is cause for our greatest gratification. Our honored President, with a breadth of vision and an inflexibility of purpose that must evoke our unstinted respect and pride, has told us that America is to be the peace maker; that she must resist all the powerful forces that are im pelling her to enter the conflict, in order that, when the last great battle is fought, the smoke has cleared away, and the awful clamor is hushed, America, with clear eyes and steady hands, but with, a heart that is big enough to love all mankind, may be ready to serve as the arbiter, the saviour. The President's words, "America asks nothing for herself ex cept what she has a right to ask for humanity," are expressive of the noblest ideal ever conceived by the leader of a great people. It may well be the first proposition in the Magna Charta of the World Peace. If America is drawn into this war, the cause of humanity is all but lost. If America can remain neutral, then we may have a great hope for the cause of peace for all the earth. National Altruism the nation for the service of humanity. It is a wonderful watchword. It is a high, a holy calling. It is the destiny, the mission of our country America. And there is a lesson there for you, young men and women. You many of you will be cast among those not so strong as you are not so well educated, so efficient. You will be tempted to use your ad-