Due West Female College - Arrow Yearbook (Due West, SC)

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It will be a tragedy if the British people and the people of the United States stop thinking about this war and allow their attention to be switched onto domestic politics or industrial problems without first making a concerted effort to get a good peace. One of the greatest ditliculties to be met in the establishing of this peace is that of dealing with those countries that have been subjected to Turkish misrule. By the Covenant of the League of Nations accepted by the Allied Conference on April 28, l9l9, the Allied Powers laid downjin no indefinite terms the method by which they proposed to deal with these peoples. Realizing that Armenia and the other downtrodden countries are in no condition at present to help themselves, these nations which were, by reason of their advanced positions in the political world, judged capable to aid these people, to act as manda- tories. The Allied nations of Europe cannot undertake the task alone. It is one that requires vast expenditures of money, time and man power. Great Britain and France will undertake the trusteeship of Syria and llesso- potamia. The future of Constantinople and Armenia are now of supreme importance. The condition of Armenia especially calls for aid. Her people have asked the United States for help. NVi1l humanity be permitted to suffer longer? Ain I my brothers' keeper? A second of the Great Powers, Italy, presents her plea to America through a rather peculiar channel-that of Italian emigration to the United States. This phe- nomenon of emigration has long been a familiar one and has developed with such a regularity of character that it has come to be regarded as a normal manifestation of the economic life of the two countries. This movement has been momentarily dis- turbed by the Great VVar. But now the war is over. Italian immigrants have be- gun to come over in increasing numbers. Lvp until this time both Italy and the Unit- ed States have reserved the right of disciplining this movement in an independent way -Italy with her services upon emigration and America with hers upon immigration. Italy seems to think that the hour has arrived for studying form of relations between the two countries. She hints at a treaty, similar to one she has recently signed with France concerning emigration. this very important Italy and America who have found themselves associated in the war, says Giu- seppe de 1Iichelis, Italian Commissioner for Emigration. are destined to an ever closer relationship. Let us take steps so as to give to this social reality the greatest possible weight in the system of the relations between our two governments. It is in the common interest of our two nationsfl America, what is the answer? The next message comes from the Land of the Furthest East. Japan tells us that c'Peace in the Far East has been, and is, the most urgent wish of all her thinking people. In 191-I when she entered the Great VVar with her VVestern Allies, she did so because of loyalty to her obligations and because an enemy tGermanyQ had a strong- hold in the East. In doing so she cast her lot with them to stand or fall. -Iapan joined with the victors in making peace, and will stand with them in maintaining this peace whenever it is menaced in violation of the terms of the treaty which she has signed and ratified. Japan sends a message of protest against the way in which that clause in the Peace Treaty concerning the Shantung award was received by the other nations. She pro- tests against the fact that the Japanese Government was said to be a treacherous con- spirator against the world at the moment she signed the treaty. She says that Japan, as one of the Eve main powers signatory, will keep the faith and abide by the treaty, Page Eighty .fefven

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+ ' 'I cur Brother,s Keeper Ki 3 h'IERICA'S history has been one of challenges. Conquer mel cried the il, strange new land to both somber Puritan and gay Cavalier, Subdue me! lem invited the vast wilderness. Chain mel taunted each swift-flowing river as it rushed to the sea. Beware, Paleface, the land is mine! muttered the sullen and suspicious Indian. Then, just when the land was beginning to come into its own-just when the colonies were feeling the first faint stirrings of the national spirit, England, the mother country, stirred the young nation to bitter and purposeful revolt. The soul of America, through the lips of Patrick Henry, sent this ultimatum ringing across the Atlantic: Give me liberty or give me death! And on down through the ensuing years, our land has ever met the challenge, To arms, Americalu fearlessly and courageously. She has ever been secure in the belief that victory is given to those who battle on the side of right. In the year 1914, the flower of American manhood set sail for foreign shores. VVhy? The challenge had been given,-America was answering. In 1918 the boys began to return, not in defeat, but as conquering heroes. The war was over. Our land had done her bit, as the many graves in Flander's field testify. But with the close of the Great XVar did our part in world-wide interests cease? Can America now fold her hands and enjoy her marvelous civilization and prosperity? No! Her greatest duty lies before her. ig 215 Ji ? ' .L .... Q! in ce' 'Qs.,1s.l L' ' -J At the close of the war our nation found herself occupying a unique position. As the greatest of the Five Big Powers, she holds the place of counselor and guide to the remaining four: Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan. The period of recon- struction is a dangerous one.The future of the world is at stake. Shall the principles of Liberty, Equality, Fraternityu prevail, or shall humanity sink deeper into the quagmire ot despair? America will be the principal determining factor. The great question before her is: Am I my brothers' keeper ? To her belongs the power to answer as she desires. From Great Britain comes a clarion call for aid in establishing. hrst and fore- most, a just, lasting. and an all-embracing peace. The end of the war saw the mili- tarism and autocracies of central Europe destroyed beyond our greatest hopes. The whole continent was littered with the debris of disrupted empires. But it still re- mains to be seen whether the faith in which untold numbers of gallant youths died- the faith in a war that was to redeem and elevate mankind-a war that was, possibly, to free the whole world from the terrors of devastation and bloodshed, had an actual foundation upon which to build or whether it was anything more than a beautiful illusion. The Peace Conference sounded the death knell of Prussian KIilitarism and it tried to make a new map of Europe, based upon the principles of nationality and democracy. The Conference also gave to the world the hrst working plan for a League of Nations. But when this much was done, the delegates turned their faces homeward, and gave their attention to domestic affairs. VVhat of the infant democracies born during the travail of Europe? VVhat of Russia? Is she safe for Democracy? VVhat of the men who fought for the new world and of the hundreds of thousands who died to establish it? Are we keeping faith with them if we fail to honor the promises made them. These are some of the questions addressed to America by Great Britain. Says Charles KIcCurdy, a prom- inent Englishman: J i 1 i nu l i Page Eighty-.fix

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just as she has always kept the faith with other nations. So the challenge from Japan is: We have stated the facts, America, concerning our position. XVill you accept them as true and believe in our honesty and sincerity? From the other side of the Atlantic there comes a last call to the American na- tion. This comes from France, as from friend to friend. France and America are the two countries in which. for the first time in modern history, democracy has reached its highest development under the form of a well organized and efficient republican government. They have fought together-they are bound by strong historical ties that have never been broken. During the past war the eonomic ties between the two coun- tries were much strengthened by the enormous amount of business transacted between them. Now that peace has been restored, commerce must be restored on a normal basis. Bcause the equilibrium of trade has been broken by the war, the value of French money has declined in American markets and unless conditions are improved it will be necessary for France to buy from other countries. According to France, there is only one sound solution to the problem of overcoming the difficulty of exchange-that of extending credits to France. How will America respond to this? YVill she answer as she has previously done: Lafayette, we are here ? Thus from the misty gray moors and fens of Great Britain: from the sunny slopes and fragrant vineyards of Italy: from devastated France: from the Land of the Cherry Blossoms comes the call to duty. Each breeze that sweeps the ocean- each incoming tide brings the message. just how America will answer remains to be seen. That she will answer, and, that led by a Higher Power, she will do the right, is the belief of every true patriot. lNIany are the dangers besetting her pathway. All the difficulties and the prob- lems cannot be settled in a day. No! Nor in many days. Our brothers' keeper? Yes, for such is America's place among the nations. And as the sun of peace ascends higher and ever higher, the prayer that rises from every heart and from every fireside may be expressed in those words so aptly and beautifully uttered by Longfellow: Thou, too, sail on, U Ship of State! Sail on, America, strong and great. Humanity with all its fears W'ith all its hopes of future years, Is hanging breathless on thy fate! 1 M. C. D., '20. Page Ezghty-eiglzl