The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1886-02-03
OUR PUNDTT IN PRAISE OF WAR.

OUR PUNDIT IN PRAISE OF WAR.
eff the governments of the civilized world
could be assured OF peace forever, what a
change would come upon the earth, and how
the waste places OF wild continents would
blossom as the rose!" Thus read the Senti-
nel's "pundit," the other day, in cynical
humor, and at once broke out in a pessi-
mistic snarl, ooh, yes, the change would
be particularly gratifying to the
workingmen, who can't get enough
now to live on decently, and with
the competition of all the soldiers OF all ma
tons to encounter they'd starve by inches.
The German mechanic and farmer makes s.
to s. week and feeds, clothes and houses
family of half.dozen with it. Turn out on
the farms and in the shops and mills the
thousands who are more or less fully occu-
pied with military duty, and the effect
would be like the importation of 900 900 or
100000 laborers. The loss of wages
would equal the taxes that go to pay and
feed the soldiers. I tell you, Pope was
right, away down in the very depths of
the most profound philosophy, when he
said Whatever is is right The condition
that an Omniscient Providence creates for
us or lets us create for ourselves is the best
attainable, and we are as silly as babies cry
| ing for the moon when we deplOre the evils
! of war, of standing armies, and extremi-
ties of wealth and poverty, and sigh for the
communistic paradise of equal wealth and
luxury that could not live a day in any
/ planet peOPled by the sons of Adam"
why he continued, 'here are the mar
kets of the earth filled so full that the mills
and factories have had to stop. Business is
( buried under load of smothering overpro-
/ duction urged by competition and greed.
/ Instead of many hands to make more at less
wages for all we want more consumers to
make room for the work that must keep
many from starving. War makes in
/ creased consumption of itself, regardless
! of the forces it withdraws from production,
and makes consumers. 1t wastes provisions.
/ clothing, ammunition, arms and these must
/ be replaced. So much on the helping side
/ of the loborers account War kills Off thous-
] ands and takes others in their place. The
change from producers to consumers, and
/
ness becomes impossible 1t is all humbug,
this lamentation over the evils of war.
There are evils enough, to be sure, but the
final result is good and beneficial. So
! Wordsworth was not so far wrong when he
sang to Byrons infinite disgust that
| Slaughter is Gods daughter
Timidly the interviewer suggested that
"the taxes with which the waste of armies
/ was made good and the cost of wars borne
came off the products of labor, more or less
directly, and that probably more was lost in
that way than in the loss of wages in hard
times brought on by oyer-production. Our
national debt was made by war. 1t costs us
many millions every year in interest, and a
great deal more in pensions. Suppose that
burthen was taken Off labor and capital at
once, wouldn't the relief and the reduction
! of expenses make sales at prices that
would set the market going again
Let us see what sort of a fix the nation
would be left in by full indulgence of the
military caprices and needs of the country,
as displayed by the various statesmen, dema-
gogueS and cranks who make it their business
to keep holes in the Treasury. The Board OF
Coast Defense wants S126, 600 900, divided up
through half-dozen years. The rivers and
harbors want slOe, OO0, 900, it is reported from
Washington. The soldiers all want pensions,
whether they are rich poor, sick or well,
strong or feeble; they all want 800 a year,
which will add at least $50 OO0, 900 more. The
revived and reconstructed navy wants $15,-
100000 or so every year till it is able to take
care of the country and its
business on the high seas. Fully
| $1O0,000,0O0 year would be added
to the taxes to meet all these demands, and
with the burthens already saddled upon the
business and labor of the land, 1t would
crush them as no panic or ''hard times
ever did or ever could. Now, if we could
beat spears into pruning hooks and study
war no more we could avoid all army and
navy expenses, all coast defense, all future
pensions, and labor would have chance
that it has never yet had in any other
years IN this country.
Tlse frosty-bearded old cynic had gone to
sleep, and our anti-biliouS dose was wasted.
We have some hope, however, that the big
outgush of bile in his eulogy on the bene6-
cence of war has relieved his system, and
that he will be less sour and cynical for a
while.
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