ARMISTICE
DAY
WHAT
IT
MEANS.
By Edward E. Spafford,
National Commander, The American Legion.
Armistice Day is celebrated now as it was November 11, 1918, by the
A llies and the United States because further butchering of their fellow men,
and being butchered, for the time being was unnecessary and it ceased,
We came out of the World war not to celebrate an enduring peace, al­
though we were told when we entered the gigantic struggle that it was a con­
flic t to end all war.
We came out of it to celebrate simply a victory at
arms, a cessation of hostilities, nothing more.
There were a few persons at home who thought the Allied forces should
have continued the fighting to the gates of B erlin.
The soldiers in battle
knew it meant many thousands more dead on both sides.
the gunfire and stay
and the treaty signed.
might.
the bayonet.
They were happy to cease
The peace terms were still to be debated
They felt peace terms could work themselves out as they
For them and their loved ones at home, bloodshed had ceased.
Who now remembers the date of the Peace Treaty?
It is forgotten.
Armistice, the cessation of hostilities, was vivid to everyone, easily
understood and joyously approved.
It meant quit butchering.
was something to be studied and not so easily understood.
The Peace Treaty
I t was something to
be mistrusted.
Today the same parallel stands.
An adequate army and navy means an
Armistice Day BEFORE hostilities begin. But a peace treaty, without adequate
force to protect it, is uncertain and something to be mistrusted.
With the World war was born the hope for permanent peace.
faint and uncertain hope, and that is all it is today.
it to be nothing more.
It was a
History and facts show
The treaty that was signed following the Armistice
was a gesture toward permanent peace, and our own national desire is advancing
the world toward such an objective, yet we must not be fooled by it, nor lulled
into false security because of i t .
The World war was the worst blow to humanity
since the flood or the glacial period, but when Armistice Day arrived, it was
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only another war out of the way for the start all over again of peace making.
Since those days ' 18 and ' 19 the people of this country have had an
opportunity to look at the method of obtaining peace from various and sundry
joints of view.
We have accepted the Heralds of Peace from other nations and
have slowly learned that each nation has its own problem and that it desires us
to determine our problem to its advantage.
The last war has not been fought.
All men do not honor the same ideals—
those of the Turk, the Riffian and the Malay are essentially different from those
of our western civilization.
Each nation is willing to fight— to the death— for
those ideals which are peculiar to its e lf.
We of The American Legion who fought
the Great war realize the horrors of conflict as no one else can do.
Yet we
would again face those horrors rather than see the ideals and principles of
America submerged by foreign hordes or propaganda.
The American Legion is often called a military organization, but it is
far from that.
It is a militant peace organization.
We believe by keeping
ever before the people of this country the sacrifice of life and treasure in
the past that we may in the future lessen the chances of similar needless loss
of l if e .
Every
person who has seen war desires peace, and it is because of this
desire that The American Legion has a comprehensive and simple program to that
end.
In a few words, our program is to prevent, as far as
possible,
the utter­
ance of cruel and unkind words against other nations or peoples, or attributing
to them thoughts that never entered their minds; to further in every possible way
understanding between peoples of different nations; to keep our nation prepared
to maintain peace;
and to inform the whole world that this nation does not
want war, but if war comes that we will enter it united, without slackers
and without profiteers.
There are many prominent persons who believe that this country should
take the leadership in everything pertaining to the peace of the world, and they
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would have us give all and let the other nations give nothing.
In 1922 America had the most powerful navy in the world.
As a
gesture toward peace and as an example for other nations to follow, this power­
ful navy was scrapped, and the people of this country believed that we had re­
duced our armament to such a position that, jointly with England, we had the
greatest navy in the world.
We sacrificed this great tonnage of capital snips
without receiving any protection from any other nation.
Between the date of
that Washington Disarmament Conference and 1927 other nations built cruisers
and submarines within the treaty limits, and another disarmament conference
was called.
The conference of 1927 met in Geneva, and there was no reduction
of armament because America had nothing with which to trade.
In 1928 America led in the preparation and signing of a multilateral
treaty renouncing war as an agency of national policy.
This is of real worth to the peace of the world only in so
far as it
has brought the respective peoples into a little closer understanding of each
other.
Some people believe that this treaty outlaws war, but by far the best
thinkers of the world believe that it means only what it says in express terms,
and that in itself it accomplishes nothing for America.
The treaty provides that all disputes or conflicts of whatever nature
or of whatever origin they may be, which may arise among the contracting parties
shall only be settled or sought to be settled by pacific means.
Each nation in
signing made enough reservations to nullify the compace.
The people of this country declare war.
The constitution states that
this is a prerogative of Congress, but no Congress has ever declared war ex­
cept that the people have demanded that it so do.
bitrate any questions that could be arbitrated.
We have never failed to ar­
Our policy is known.
But there
are questions which the people of these United States would never permit to be
settled by arbitration,
such as immigration, the Monroe Doctrine, and the "open
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door" to China.
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Will the treaty which we have just signed, i f ratified, bind
us to arbitrate questions which are, in the opinion of the citizens of America,
local?
I do not believe that this nation "of the people, by the people and for
the people" would consider that any other nation had a right to question the
handling of our own immigration problems.
If my premises are true, then the treaty as signed is only of value in
so far as it is the progenitor of other treaties.
Many statesmen of the world
believe that the United States should call a disarmament conference.
not call the conference, who will?
to offer?
If we do call the conference, what have we
We have given away our great fleet, destroyed it in 1922.
no army, and our navy cannot be ranked better than third.
nation in the world.
sacrifices.
If we do
We have
We are the richest
We have gained our position at the expense of blood
We have nothing to trade toward disarmament of other nations, and
they will not disarm except for a quid pro quo.
As late as 150 years ago, in what is now the United States, human sacri­
fices were offered to propitiate the anger of the gods.
The race does not like
to have that mentioned, and the burning of witches is not a bright spot in our
hi story.
America has sacrificed her sons to appease the anger of the gods.
sacrifices have been needless because of our lack of preparedness.
prepared we would not have been drawn into these wars.
The
Had we been
We have been in a war on
an average of once every thirty years, and we have never been in a war when we
were prepared.
Those who constitute the membership of The American Legion today have an
average age of thirty-five years,
so when they appeal for preparedness they are
not looking for the protection of themselves.
Rather, they are seeking for the
protection of those innocent children who today have never known anything but the
loving kindness of their parents.
If those children are not given an opportunity
to prepare in time of peace then they w ill, as we were, be called upon to take
their turn upon the battlefield where the god of War, Mars, will give them
their instruction and additional sacrifices will be placed upon the altar.
We of The American Legion are urging and hoping for peace.
We urge
a greater freedom of intercourse between nations, a civil tongue in the mouths
of o fficials and prominent citizens, and a preparedness, not for war, but a
preparedness to maintain peace.
We urge a universal draft act which will place
the burden of war as evenly as possible upon the shoulders of a ll; a b ill which
will stabilize the value of the dollar;
a bill which will prevent people be­
coming millionaires at the expense of the blood of patriotic citizens; a b ill
which will prevent slackers and which will provide military service for all
able-bodied men between the ages of twenty-one and thirty.
With such a law firmly anchored to our Ship of State, Armistice Day
will become a celebration of permanent peace, a cessation of hostilities before
they begin, and not to be repeated as the ending of another conflict,
attempt at peace-making might start anew once more.
that an