Brilliant High School - Blue Devil Yearbook (Brilliant, OH)

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new people 'had on Spain can be readily seen, for that nation rapidly rose from almost obscurity to the most powerful kingdom of Europe. lint when, in 1492, King Ferdinand drove them from his domains that country began rapidly to decline. Even our own glorious United States of America, though yet a young nation, has risen to a place among the Hrst of the powers of the world, simply because she has given attention to the agricultural problems that confronted her people. And today the government is doing all in its'power. through the public school, to encourage the agricultural movement, and to check the rush to the city. XX-'hy this movement? lt is simply because the nation sees what has taken place when other nations have neglected this phase of their advancement, and, fearing that history might repeat itself, she is trying to guard against any calam- ity of this nature. Thus we see that agriculture has developed nations because it has devel- oped the physical and moral side ofits citizens. The citizen of the rural com- munity is less apt to become a victim to the contamination of vile associates: and the youth raised in such an atmosphere is preparing himself for a patriotic serv- ice. for upon him the future of our country depends. s Mar aah lgnhlir tlbpininnv E NEED cast but a casual glance at the literature of today to know that this is an age of war, and not of peace. All Europe is eugagezl in one of the greatest conflicts that ever faced mankind. Peace ad- vocates had come with their cries of peace: men of wisdom had proclaimed that the world was too far advanced in civilization to ever aeain engage in su'h a deadly conflict. c be be B Q llut why such prophecies? They have come to naught, and the spirit of patriotism and loyalty burns brighter in the hearts of the people of these warring countries than does their desire for peace. XV e claim for ourselves a civilization far' in advance of that of any previous timeg we claim for ourselves an age of progressiveness, and yet we wonder if we are progressive. XVhen we look about us and see all the achievements of a past civilization shattered at their very base. we cannot but stop and think that we are receding into an age of barbarism. XVho has decried war? X-V ho has invoked this calamity upon the innocent and freedom-loving people? Is it the desire of the people themselves, or is itthe desire of some higher official in his eagerness for power? Ask the progressive business man, the mother, and the little ones their opinion of war and all will undoubtedly tell you that it is not their choice. but the choice of their country. There are times when war is justitiableg there are times when it is not. , - ' VVhen some nation tries to impose upon the libertyvand freedom of an- other, why should not the citizens rise in arms? Or when the ruling authority

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Z-Xgrirnlinrv anh Elia 1 ffvrta iipnn Gliuiliz-Minn GRICULTURE is one of the oldest sciences in the world. Long before history was written, in wl1at is known as the Old Stone Age, people raised crops, as their rude implements and pictures carved in stone in- dicate. Egypt, we are told in Bible history, raised not only enough corn for its own people, but supplied the surrounding country with grain. liecause of this pursuit Egypt became the first in rank of the civilized nations of antiquity. And because of the decline of this profession, due to the fact that the agricultural class was held inferior to the other classes, Egypt, under the reign of Necho, fell under the power of llabylon. another nation which owed its prowess to the fact that she too was an agricultural country. Egypt had greater fertility, but it was restricted to narrow boundaries: liabylon had wider domains and a larger ann more warlike population, and consequently waxed great while the declining ener- gies of the Egyptians wasted to feeblencss and extinction. The Romans at first were farmers. No other ancient people were so strongly attached to the rural life. Throughout the whole history of the King- dom, Republic and Empire the old rustic disposition asserted itself among the Roman people. The most dissolute of the emperors retained the ancient instinc- tive preferencc for country residences. Citizens, poets. statesmen-all looked forward with pleasure to an escape from the broils and heat of the city to a cooler, quieter life in some remote spot by the Alban or Sabine Hills. As the Republic of Rome assumed imperial proportions, there was esti- mated to be within the city half a million of idlers. These represented all classes of society-from the Patrician fop to the ragged loafer, from the granddaughter and nieces of the Emperor to the courtesians of poverty This vast throng hur-- ried from end to end of the city, seeking for something that should amuse or per- haps satisfy the unappeasable hunger of the idle. Perhaps no other city of the world has ever presented so vast a throng of protitless humanity-such a sea with its tides and storms. In the old 'hardy Rome of the early Republic the slaves were not numer- ous. The ancient Roman, even of the highest rank. was himself a laborer. Wfar, however, brought in its captives, and servile labor was substituted for free. Wfith this extra force in the field, our former freemen increased the rush to the city, and there both by day and by night wickedness and crime brought forth their progeny. The moral standard of ancient Rome began to recede and with it comes the physical degeneracy: so that when Attila and his band of barbarous invaders came in from the North. Rome fell a victim to her agricultural neigh- bor: her crops were ravaged and her villages burned, and in a very short time this once most powerful nation faded into a mere shadow of her former strength. Again let us cite the overtiowing of Spain by the iilohammedans in the eighth century., These newcomers were respectable, law-abiding citizens, who built homes and took up farming. Agriculture was their fort. The effect these

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of some nation tries to suppress its inferior classes, certainly a revolt would be justifiable. There may be a few other instances that we might cite, but what do they all signify? These are only instances of barbarous attacks, and with the civiliza- tion that we claim to possess we would never be justified in making an attack upon some other nation. But it would be our duty to defend ourselves should any such barbarous nation attack us. Certainly the present European war is not justifiable. For what will vic- tory mean to either? Wife no longer live in the age when it is believed that victory is accorded to the right, for we know that it is brute force that conquers. It is true that the victor may gain some material advantage, or -wealth, such as the acquisition of new territory, or some indemnity. But their loss is considerably- greater. Once they may have needed territory, but now their 'citizens are gone, and the territory they might have used will be of no use, and money can never fill the place they occupied. Modern warfare means the extermination of one or both contestants. VVhat must be the agony of these contestants has they go nobly to their grave no one can tell. Do not mothers rear their sons for some nobler and more useful purpose than to be slain on the battlefield, or to be killed by the atrocities of war? s On a beautiful, sunshiny afternoon just a short time ago, the news Hashed across the water that the giant steamer, Lusitania, had been sunk, and fourteen hundred people went to a watery grave. Think of what must have been the suf- fering of those men, women and children! And we have such conditions as these in the light of the twentieth century. On every Sabbath, the world over, temples are thrown open, and men and women assemble to worship Him who is the Prince of Peacef' Yea, just in our own United States, this land of liberty and freedom, far more than 50,000 temples are thrown open. Is this a reality? Or is our Christianity a romance, our profession a lie? And so public opinion is crying against this slaughtering of the human race. Wle do not urge a sudden disarmament of the powers of the world, but we do ask that peace be upheld before the coming generations as the one goal toward which we should strive. As cities and states might be controlled by law, so might nations be controlled by international law. Enthusiasm for the hero placed Europe at Napoleoifs feet, enthusiasm for peace can organize the world. So that, instead of the clank of arms, the tramp of the war horse, and the pitiless scenes of death, decay and famine, we may behold the nations of the world of every religion, race, and color bound to- gether by the ties of the Universal Brotherhood of Man. Then let us pray, that come it may, As come it will, for a' that, That sense and worth o'er a' the earth, May bear the gree and a' that, For a' that and a' that, lt's coming yet, for a' that, That man to man, the world o'er, VV ill brothers be, for a' that.