LETTER XIX
THE FEDERATION OF NATIONS
August 9, 1917.
The
time has come now for America to get out into the world and take her place
in the federation of nations. Let her unite with England in a strong bond,
and thereby she can keep the peace of the world.
The isolation of America in the past has been in line with her
destiny; it was necessary for her to develop to her present state of power
without interruptions, or the influence of international complications upon
her statesmen. Free and alone, she has not had to become a part of the great
and creaking machine of international diplomacy and intrigue. But now she is
independent, and, politically speaking, her character is formed. You may say
that America has attained her majority, and is entitled to vote in the
councils and elections of the world.
She has much to do for both France and
England, as they have both done so much for her in the past. They have
formed her culture and influenced her spirit; now she will influence their
spirit.
When you read the other day of the work which our soldiers are
doing in France, helping in many little ways in the villages and on the
farms, your heart glowed with pleasure; you remembered what I said to you
before America came into the war, that our men were to go to France and to
work, work, work for the upbuilding of France.
That is only the beginning. More and more
will our men work over there, during and after war.
Soon there will come a call for a new kind of work—new for us.
There is deep meaning in this bringing together of the nations
for a common cause. From that, there is only a step to the bringing together
of all nations for one cause.
The force of revolt in the world must spend itself, as the force
of race hatred has spent itself—for it is already spent. The continuation of
the war will be practically without the rage of the beginning. We go on
because it is our job, and even in New York now there is no longer the
fierceness of two years ago. And in England it has lessened, and in France
it is lessened, and in Germany it is lessened. War has now become a task
like any other, to be gone through with. When it no longer seems worth
while, it will stop.
The question of America’s part in the
federation of states interests me now.
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