Mount Vernon High School - Forum Yearbook (Mount Vernon, OH)

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10 THE FORUM broadened by peace. Merchant houses, both great and small, thrive and progress in a peaceful atmosphere. Great steam- ship lines are developed, whose vessels pen-etrate into every corner of the seas, car- rying back and forth, without fear of mo- lestation, those products which are neces- sary for each particular community. Un- der these conditions which are possible only when nations are in harmony with each other, prosperity, and from prosper- ity, world-wide happiness is developed. Hand in hand with this military peace goes arbitration, which is rendered pos- sible by the fact that it is backed by power. Several years ago the Hague con- ference was established at which each na- tion is represented. It has become the ac- knowledged custom that all international controversies shall be referred to this tribunal, which tries in every possible way to meet and settle each case with justice to all concerned, thus making war the last resort instead of the first as here-to- fore has been the case. Carrying out this same plan, a few months ago Andrew Carnegie gave ten millions of dollars toward the establish- ment of an international peace fund and many men of high financial standing are contemplating the addition of great sums to this already large fund. But what does all this signify? Simply, that the nations, together with the leading men who com- pose them, both in and out of political life, have come to the realization of the fact that the time for bloody controversies is past, that prosperity and happiness can only reach their height during an era of neighborly feeling and good will on the part of all nations, This sentiment has been adequately ex- pressed in a little poem, written by George Huntington in the same meter as our nat- ional hymn, America, and presented by him to Mr. Carnegie upon his establish- ment of the international peace fund. Two empires by the sea, Two nations great and free, One anthem raise. One race of ancient fame, One tongue, one faith, we claim, One God, whose glorious name We love and praise. What deeds our fathers wrought, What battles we have fought, Let fame record. Now, vengeful passions, cease. Come, victories of peace, Nor hate, nor pride 's caprice Unsheath the sword. Though deep the sea, and wide, 'Twixt realm and realm, its tide Binds strand to strand. So be the gulf between Gray coasts and islands green With bonds of pe-ace serene, And friendship spanned. Now, may the God above Guard the dear land we love, Both east and west. Let love more fervent glow, As peaceful ages go, And strength yet stronger grow, Blessing and blessed. John S. Gotshall.

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THE FORUM 9 Armed F 'H' ' INCE the period of the Napol- eonic wars, which for a quar- ter of a century converted the whole of Europe into one vast battlefield, the acknowl- edged desire of nations has been for peace, and many theories have been advanced toward that end. Of these only two seem to get at the foundation of the problem. The first of these is, that in order to ob- tain a lasting peace all the armies, navies and machines of war must be abolished and destroyed, and as a matter of course when this is accomplished, universal peace will inevitably follow. This plan on the surface seems a very simple and easy way of remedying the matter, but on sec ond thought it proves, under existing con- ditions, to be highly impracticable, since, in case all but one or two nations should disarm, it would have the whole World at the mercy of th-e one or two who still main- tained their armies and navies. The second plan is that the nations en courage the invention and manufacture of annihilating ordnances of war and the re- cruiting and maintaining of formidable armies and navies, thus making even the idea of conflict so terrifying that none of the nations would even think of entering into war, save as a last resort. Such in short is the innovation which has been tacitly adopted by the civilized world. As a result of this policy we have been sub- jected to only five international wars in the last half century, all of which have been of short duration. The cost of war is appalling, both in the loss of human life and from a pecuni- ary standpoint. Our own Civil war of 1861 is a fiagrant example of this. One half a million lives were lost in that great 22 N 517 . uf - .1 -. ' - .T 12-S?-zwl Q 5 , 1 I Peace confiict. In the one battle of Gettysburg forty-three thousand men were either killed or Wounded, while the approximate expenditure of the whole was eight billions of dollars. Such an account was presented to our nation and we, lovers of peace, were in honor forced to pay it. However, in this day of public economy, one may easily find himself asking whether, even in the face of these awe-inspiring figures, war is not in the end cheaper than peace. This question can be easily and emphatically answered in the negative by referring to the yearly military expense report of the nations. The net cost of the British army and navy and their operations for the year 1908 was three hundred million dol- lars, for Germany, two hundred eighty- nine millions and for the United States, two hundred and seven millions. It is easily seen that the drain on the treasuries caused by the nations keeping well armed is almost nothing in comparison to what it would be during war, while in these ex- pense reports we see no glaring death col- umn, save that in which a few deaths are recorded each year, caused by some acci- dent. In putting war and peace upon the scales, we find that under no circum- stances can war be made so light as peace, even though that peace be armed. When a nation is at perfect harmony with its neighbors, then does that nation begin to live, for during peace is the only time a nation can turn its attention to the internal developments it is in duty bound to give its citizens, such as the perfecting of educational systems, the maintaining of good roads, the reclaiming of arid lands and, in short, all those things which we should have as civilized people. The commercial possibilities are greatly

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THE FORUM 11 A Favorite Book VER since the time we have been able to read for our- selves, there have been those books that stand out before all others as those we most enjoyed. Even in our child- hood some of the Mother Goose rhymes seemed to awaken our imaginations more than others. At first it was the incidents that made books enjoyable to us, but as we grow older, we begin to look more into the character of the actors, though not losing sight of the action altogether. We read one book depicting one phase of life and we are thoroughly delighted by it, we read another describing another phase and we lose sight of the first, for the time be- ing, in our enjoyment of the second, and so on until before we realize it, we have a long list of our favorite books. It would be impossible for me to tell you about all of my favorites and at first I thought it equally impossible to pick out just one. But perhaps one of the most fascinating books you can read is Dieken's Tale of Two Cities. Few books retain their fascination so long after they are finished. The sorrow and Wretehedness of some of the scenes are indelibly stamped in our minds. Who could keep from shuddering at the sight of those old women sitting be- side that instrument of death, calmly knit- ting away the life of many an innocent person? And then the utter pathos of the scene where the poor, half-starved men, women and children are lapping from the street like dogs the wine that had be-en spilled from a cask in front of the De Farge wine shop. Who could forget the crouching figure of the girl, gazing for the first time upon the form of her father who from her babyhood, had been No. 105 North Tower Bastile, now a mental 22 and physical wreck as a result of the many years spent in prison. The book has many interesting charac- teristics: for instance, Doctor Mannetle and his daughter Lucy, the vicious Madam DeFarge and her more human husband, and the one for whom the reader has the most sympathy and who furnishes the crowning interest of the story, Sidney Carton. All through the book one can easily see he is a self thrown away, poor, drunken creature, conscious every hour of the shame of his existence, fast sinking lower, but not having the courage and out of the mire power to lift himself up into which he has fallen. Compelled by his wretched, wicked life of sin, he when yet a young man left his home in France and came to England. Instead of begin- ning his life over again in his new hom-e, he continued in the same old way, caring for no man and no man caring for him. He did however, after some years form the acquaintance of this Dr. Mannette, and in frequenting his home, won the friendship of his daughter Lucy. In his degradation he was not so degraded, but that the friendship of this lovely girl stir- red old feelings long since dead. Since knowing her he had been troubled with a remorse that he thot would never re proach him again, and heard voices im- pelling him upward that he supposed for- ever silent. He had vague ideas of start- ing anew, shaking oif sloth and sensuality and fighting out the abandoned iight, but it was all a dream that ended in nothing. He felt he would give his life gladly to keep her from sorrow. A few years had passed, the French Revolution had broken out. The people were like those who had undergone a ter- rible grinding and regrinding in a mill