St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-09-14
THE WAR CLOUD.

Amid the stories of crop failures and
the distress of the Door which every OBJ
server brings from Europe, comes also
the dull rumbling of the war cloud, as
though storm were at hand. Russian
aggressiveness and English pride. Ger
man ambition and frances memory of
wrongs unavenged, all long shoulder
ing and repressed, now threaten to burst
into living fame. Fearful would be
the impact of opposing powers if Ger
many, Italy and Austria, joined perhaps
with England, should take up arms
against the Slav and the Cet. Let us
be thankful that, with all cur troubles.
we have no heritage of hate, and that no
Jealous neighbors are at our door nurs-
ing plans Of violence and suffering.
1t IS great mistake to believe that
trouble abroad means prosperity for us.
The McKinleyite who smiles when
reading of factories closed in Wales be-
cause the tin trade is in trouble is a
fool. The merchant who calmly con-
templates great European war in the
hope that it Will increase his trade is in
serious error. No destruction of capt.
tai can be made the world over without
carrying in its wake unhappy conse-
quenceS to the whole body of mankind.
Every financial crash, every wrecked
industry, every man thrown out of EN-
ployment, every instance of CONNER
cial disaster and national confusion,
means setback to tollerS and invest
ors, no matter how remote they may be
from the scene. The earth has not been
constructed so that we can profit by
other peoples sorrows. We are not
made to prey on each other. III the
hour of general prosperity everybody is
prosperous. In the night of calamity
the angel of death passes by no house.
even though its doOr-posts be marked
with the symbols OF exemption.
new country like the Northwest has
most of all to gain by quiet and peace
abroad. Our progress necessarily rests
on confidence and plenty in foreign
lands. The development of our re-
sources requires the existence of the
speculative spirit in the world. Invest
ments in untried ventures are made
only when men have a surplus and feel
willing to risk it because its loss will
not distress them. We attract capital
by Offering large returns in case of sue
cess. New mines are opened, virgin
fields are plowed, railroads are built
through painless woods, factory wheels
are set running to make commodities
never yet put on a market, public works
are constructed which may never pay
interest on their cOst-all these things
are done when the world is sanguine
and the outlook is for prosperity.
But when great losses have been in
CURED, when the war cloud lowers dark,
when there is doubt and uncertainty,
when taxation is heavy to maintain huge
ornaments, when wOrkmen are drawn
from their benches to risk their lives
III line of battle, when the accumula-
tlonS Of years are wasted in gunpoWder
and rifles, when there are dead in every
home, and great tributes to be paid or
received as the price of peace at its
final coming-in such a time the arts of
peace languish, and the sure harvest is
universal distress and Indebtedness.
War is sin, and no fair flowers spring
from such soil. Ii we want prosper
ity and plenty, we mist play for peace.