Atwood Hammond High School - Post Yearbook (Atwood, IL)

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War and Its Equivalent. WlNIFRKI) W'lI.SON, M2. W'liat are some of the causes of war? What are some of the forces which are working against it? These we must first know before we can sug gest an equivalent of war which will remedy its defects and preserve its virtues. War in the beginning was a normal condition, for among tribes living upon food produced without etfort upon their part a large amount of land was required for each tribe. The lack of food due to tribal growth soon forced them into hostile territory and they were compelled to fight to keep from starving. Then as the tribes grew into states and advanced in the scale of civilization, the desire for religious unity caused innumerable wars of the most horrible and disastrous kind. The series of wars, a conspicuous example of which is the Thirty Years War, char-cterizing the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, illustrate this typ' of warfare. Still another cause for war was the elfish desires of kings and rulers to obtain new lands and riches, or to avenge personal grudges. In truth, we may almost say that tlie greatest part of the bloody wars of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries weie the direct result of royal ambitions and nar row sectarian controversies. Then, too, misunderstandings have been a fruitful cause of war. The Spanish-American War, which wa finally assured by the unexplained Maine destruction, is a case in point Now against all these causes of war are working many strong forces for peace. One of these is the feeling of international dependence due to commerce. Another is the better knowledge and understanding which all nations have of one another as the result of the increased facilities of communication. Furthermore, modern inventions in warships and guns have made warfare so costly that it has become well nigh prohibitive. It is a sad hut illuminating fact that a modern warship whose life of usefulness is only thirteen years, costs more than all the grounds and buildings o1' Harvard ITiiversity. But these forces, which are working toward permanent peace, are not so strong as one which owes its development to the general expansion of civilization into all parts of the world. In the earliest times the tiibes occupied a veiy small portion of the country. As their numbers increase i and they came in closer conta-1 with each other, they fought, and the conquered tribe was gradually absorbed by the stronger. This eliminated war to a great extent within the confines of the1 territories consolidated. ith the fusion of new tribal territories, this constant augmenting of i!.e peace area went on unti from tribe to city state, from city state to small independent principalities, we ha e now come to great nations whose millions ol people are under the same government. At the present time with (he whole world composed of a tew vast peace areas of indep ndont countries we may look forward to the end of war. provided, of course, this evolution of peace goes on to its log! cal (onclusion. .’aide, the brillian! Fren h sociologist, has said, “What char ' terhes especially our own epoch is this: that now for the first time in history the international policy of the great state of civilization embraces within its purview not merelv a singl continent (or two, at most)’, but the whole globe, so that the last stage of the evolution of war is at length discovering itself in a vista so dazzling that we can scarcely believe our own eyes. ’ ’ .Vow we have yet one great obstacle

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ley and Mr. Lorimer would have us believe. If Mr. Lorimer worked his way up from a bootblack to I niter! States Senator; if, as a young man, by many acts of kindness, he made a host of friends, we are glad. '-Ve are proud that there are many things about his career that serve to prove the possibilities of American citizenship, hut we should not allow these things to obscure the fact that cor ruption was used in his cation, as Mr. Beveridsre, in answer to the somewhat foolish argument that Mr. Lori mer possessed no had habits, that his private character was unblemished, said: “The flowers that bloom in the spring, tra la. have nothing to do with tin case.” While we take no stock in the wholesa’e denunciation and muckraking language which have been hurled at the United States Sen ate, nevertheless we believe that the Senate has overlooked the vital question in this case and has assumed a position fraught with fatal consequence for the republic. The lessons of history are plain. They sneak with thundering elo-ouence of the fate of that nation which permits corruption to miter into its life. Because the sons of Samuel took bribes, ancient ■ Israel was hurried into monarchy. The Praetorian guards of Rome, seduced by gold, raised a usurper to the ini penal throne and at once the glory of the greatest empire the world had seen began to wane. We have reached a high stage of national development. Success and prosperity in a full measure have been our lot. Shall we, flushed with the splendor of a brilliant success, fail to read the lessons of time? Shall we cease to strive onward and upward? Shall we allow the subtle and insidious forces of iniquity to find their way into the life blood of the nation. The place of the United States is at the forefront of the nations as a moral and spiritual power. We are a liberty loving people but there can be no permanent liberty without honesty and righteous ness. “You may build your eapitol of granite,” said Wendell Phillips, “and pile it as high as the Hockv mountains; if it is founded in or mixed up with corruption, the pulse of a girl will in time beat it down.” Democracy is on trial in America, and if it is to come forth victorious and free from the blighting effects of corruption we must do our part. Let us quicken our consciences and bestir ourselves from the moral apathy into which we have fallen. We are just now flushed with an unparalleled commercial and industrial success. We have carried the flag to sunny Hawaii, the Philippines and the bleak shores of the north, and for that very reason, if for no other, it behooves us to keep in mind those stirring lines of Kipling: “Hod of our fathers known of old — Lord of our far-flung battle line, Beneatli whose awful hand we hold Dominion over palm and pine— Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet Lest we forget! Lest we forget!”

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to overcome, namely, the objection of the military party, inspired in many cases by the sincerest motives, that permanent peace would result in effeminacy and the gradual disintegration of our national moral fiber. Some of the most profound thinkers of our time believe that permanent peace is undesirable for the reason that without militarism we should lose the old elements of army disc pline, of heroism, self-sacrifice, hardihood, valor, courage, manliness and devotion to duty. We must admit t at there is a vast deal of truth in th i argument. In fact, this is t':e one argument for war which the pea e party seems not fully to have gras ed Certainly they have not answered it Now if we admit the soundness of their argument—and we are (on-straine 1 to do so—then it behooves us who sincerely desire the universal reign of peace, to cast a' out for some system of retaining and develo. ing tiie hardy virtues of warfare which may serve in this respect as a su’ st -tute for war. Suppose we should take the youth of our country at a certain age and organize them into bands, just a we now organize them into compane •• end regiments, which are to battle with nature. Give them a chance to make good on fishing and ife-saving vessels, in coal mines on the pubic ro ds, in the forests, in digging tunu ds, or any honorable labor. Here they m ght have the ideas of order, discinl no, courage, hardihood and manliness; in other words, the military viit”es. in corpo rated in their minds. Tlvy would come out of such service with higher ideals, with deeper sympathy for all mankind and with a hardier moral fiber. The late Prof. W iliam James has said: “If there were in- stead of a military conscription a on-scription of the whole youthful population to form for a few years a art of the army enlisted against nature, i would preserve in the midst of a pacific civilization the manly virtues which the military party is so afraid of seeing disappear in peace.” Even without such a plan it is not likely that the virtues of war will become totally extinct, for the work of the world rest • and ever will rest on courage, devotion to duty and self-sacrifice. It is the vices of militarism that will pass with the passing of war. Nevertheless, some such plan as we have proposed as a substitute for war may not be entirely without merit, an I though revolutionary, would require no greater change in public opinion than has often taken place in the past. Consider the revolution in popular thought which made possible the transition from the old handicraft stage of industry to the modern age o ' machinery, or the change from religious intolerance to religious tolerance, or the change from benevolent despotism to popular sovereignty. And. even though “the march of the human mind is slow,” we can afford to wait patiently for such a change, which when finally effected, will usher in a new day of peace on earth, good will toward men. In the meantime let u- do all in our [lower in every practical wav to bridge over this interval between the darkness and turmoil of the waring night and the glory and splendor of the peaceful day. Let us see to it that the I’nited States at least takes her place where she properly belongs, at the head of the nations in their march to universal peace. If we. as individuals •nd as a nation, do our part, then perhaps it will not be quite necessary to “Dio into the future as far as human eye can see,” to construct for us a vision of peaceful days to come, and of conditions not yet existent. Then ma the '’hion of the poet be realized in its fnl'est and final sense, “In the parliament of man, the Federation of the world.”