The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1890-06-13

4 brave and patriotic officers. always ready
to do their full duty. Such swords are
not bathed in impetuosity, or bathe1 IN
cruelty, or bathed in oppression, or
bathed in outrage, but bathed in Heaven.
Before 1 speak of the doom of the
sword, let me also say that it has also
developed the grandest natures that the
world ever saw. 1t has developed cour-
age-that sublime energy of the soul
which defies the universe when 1t feels
itself to be in the right It has devel-
oped self-sacrifice which repudiates
the idea, that our life Is worth morethan
any thing else, when for a principle IL
throws that life away. as much as to say,
it is not necessary that live, but it 10
necessary that righteousness triumph.
There are tens of thousands among the
I Northern and Southern veterans of our
civil war who are 95 per cent. larger and
mightier inssoul than they would have
been had they not during the four years
of National agony turned their back on
home and fortune and at the front sacri-
nee all for a principle. It was the
sword which on the Northern side de-
veloped Grant, a Mcclellan. Hooker,
a Hancock. a Sherman, a Sheridan, and
Admirals Farragut and Pertsr. and on
the Southern side q Lee, ! Jackson,
Hill, Gordon, and the Johnstons, Al
bert Sydney and Joseph E., and Admiral
Semmes and many Federals and Confed-
crates whose graves in National ceme-
teries are marked unknown" yet who
were just as self-sacrificing and brave as
any of their Major Generals. and whose
resting places all up and down the An
droscoggin, the Hudson. the Potomac,
| the Mississippi and the Alabama, have
recently been showed under with white
flowers, typical of resurrection, and
strewn with red flowers, commemorative
Of the carnage through which they
passed, and the blue flowers illustrative
of the skies through which they
assembled.
But the sword is doomed. There is
one word that needs to be written in
every throne room. in every war Office,
in every navy yard, in every National
council. That word is Disarmament
But no Government can afford to throw
its sword away until all the great Gov
| ernments have agreed to do the same.
But until Disarmament and consequent
arbitration shall be agreed to by all
| the great Governments. any single Gov
eminent that dismantles its fortresses
and spikes its guns and breaks it's
sword. would simply invite its own
destruction. Suppose before such gen.
eral agreement England, should throw
away her sword; think you France
has forgotten Waterloo? Suppose be-
fore such general agreement Germany
should throw away her sword how long
would Alsace and Lorraine stay as they
are? Suppose the Gar of Russia before
any such general agreement should
throw away his sword all the eagles and
vultures and lions of European power
would gather for piece of the Russian
bear. Suppose the United States with
out any general agreement of disarma-
ment should throw away her sword il
would not be long before the narrows Of
our harbor would. be ablaze with the
bunting of foreign naFies coming here
to show the folly of the Monroe Doc
trine." 81 FH
Side by side the two movements must
go. Complete armament until all agree
to disarmament. At the same com
mand of "HaltT all nations hating.
At, the same command of 'Ground
arms!'' all muskets humping. At the
same command of ''Break ranks" all
armies disbanding. That may be nearer
than you think. The standing army Is
the nightmare of nations. England
wants to get rid of it, Germany is being
eaten up by It, Russia is almost taxed
to death with it. Suppose that the mill
lions of men belonging to the standing
armies of the world and in absolute
idleness, for the most part of their
lives, shosid become producers instead
of consumers. Would not the worlds
morals be better?
But it is those who have forty or fifty
years to live who step into the jaws Of
battle. In our war Colonel Ellsworth
fell while yet mere lad. Renowned
MCPHERSON was only So. Magnifcent
Reynolds was only g. Hundreds Of
thousands fell between 20 and so years
of age. i looked into the faces of the
French and German troops as they went
out to fight at Sedan and they were for
the most part armies OF splendid boys-
So in all ages war has preferred to sseri-
flee the young. Alexander the Great
died at 80. When war Stays the young it
not only takes down that which they are,
but that which they might have BEEN
So we are glad at the fsaiahic prophe-
cy that the time is coming when nation
shall not lift up sword against nation.
Indeed, both swords shall go back into
the scabbard-the sword bathed in
Heaven and the sword bathed in hell
In war in Spain a soldier went On
diminishing expedition1 and, seelndsd
in bush, he had the opportunity Of
shooting soldier of the other army,
who had strolled away from his tent
He took aim and dropped him. Run
ming up to the fallen man, he took his
knapsack for spoil and letter dropped
out of il, and il turned out to be let
ter signed by his own father; in other
words, he had shot his brother. II tho
brotherhood Of man be true doctrine,
then he who shoots another man always
shoots his own brother.
Tonight against the sky Of tho
glorious future see a great blaze. Il
is a foundry, in full blast !, The work
men have stirred the fires Until the fur
naces are seven times heated. The last
wagon load Of the worlds swords has
been hauled into the foundry, and they
are tumbled into the furnace and they
begin to glow and redden and melt, and
in Kissing and sparkling liquid they roll
on down through the crevice of rock IN