Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-07-10
Bessie Bramble Criticises the Fourth
Of July Celebration.
WAR THE BURDEN OF THE TALK,
But Not Word About tho Work Of the
Foremothers Of the Land.
TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION.
lwRrrrKN FOR THE prsPAfoH.i

vice of the most exalted characters, is a
remark made by Gibbon, that came to mind
when the magnates and educators of the
city lauded and glorified tho heroes of wal
as the greatest among men at the celebra-
tion on the Fourth of July. The history of
the world is war, war, wal. Blood, and sud-
den death, poverty, misery, murder,
desolation, devastation and ruin are its &C.
compartments
Millions of mon, insauswer to the demand
for the glory Of wal, have died upon tho
battle field. Millions have died amid the
privations and eruelties of prison life.
Millions have suffered untold tortures from
wounds, from sickness, far from friends and
home, and subjected to every brutality that
the enemy could inAict. To all this misery
is to be added the suffering of women and
children-mothers bereft of their sons,
wives left widows to struggle with the
world, children left fatherless and subject
to charity and pauperism, broken hearts,
blasted homes. the privations of poverty.
tBesides there Is the burning Of cities, the
devastation of farms, the destruction of
wealth, the ruin that everywhere follows
An army.
| Where tho Benefits Always Go.
| Does war ever pay? Are people who
claim to be committed to the gospel Of
! peace justified in promoting war? Are not
the followers of the Prince of Peace wrong
when they teach their children to glory in
war, to find their heroes and ideals among
the wielders of the sword and the shedders
of blood. and to take greater pride in a
warrior than in an inventor, philosopher
or the hero whose works have bestowed
| good rather than ruin upon mankind?
| Who benefits by the horrors of war? Not
the millions who suffer and pay the taxes
for it, but rather the commissares, the con-
tractors, THE makers of shoddy, the manu-
facturers of munitions of murder. These
wax fat and grow rich, live in palaces and
fare sumptuously and are arrayed in purple
and fine linen every day, paid tor by blood
and tears
| At the old-fashioned celebration Of "the
Fourth" Mayor Gourley, whose efforts were
80 largely appreciated, gave indication of
desire to have all classes represented. In
his own speech he remembered "the dead
patriots and heroes and martyrs who bled
and died for their country. He had words
for 'the men of Italy, the men of Austria,
the men OF England, the men of France, the
hiCu Va SSotiouuS tuC WCu Va uuudppy IiC-
! land, the men of Asia, the men of the isles
| OF the sea" to whom are to be held up the
| sublime achievements of American soldiers,
but mark you, good sisters, he made no
| mention of the women of America with
either big w or little one.
Tho Mayor Forgot the Women.
This was not a sin of commission, but
rather of omission. He forgot all about
them, unless he included them under the
term of ''the martyrs" However, they can
hardly lay even that little bit of fattering
unction to their souls, since he afterward
affirmed that the men who uDsheathed their
swords were 'the undying examples of pa
triotism." Mayor Gourley is a fine speaker
and WAKES mighty eloquent sometimes
Hear this:
there appeared with her feet upon the
cloud, with her forehead among the stars,
with her flaming sword in her han d, and
with her great wings stretched in to the
open azure, Liberty, archangel of nations"
This is very pretty sentiment as to
sound. But what does it mean? If-as
Brother Gourley seemed to imply-it meant
that Washington on the earth in cahoot
with Liberty and her claiming sword'' in
the clouds bestowed freedom upon the citi-
zens of the American Republic, he will ad
NIT, upon reflection, that Washington and
Liberty, with her head among the stars,
only carved out the full and fair thing for
one-half of the people of>this great country.
Alter whole century, in only one State
Wyomins-would Brother Gourley's re-
mark apply, for only there has real liberty
been established. Brother Gourley knows
this and would be swift to admit it, but he
forgot it
A Little Mistake About Sovereisns.
Looking over the speeches, it will be seen
that the church was represented by two
clergymen. The law was represented by
w. D. Moore and Tom Marshall who forgot
all about both the foremothers and the pres
ent mothers as well, as did also Judge
White. Then came to the front Brother
Over who said 1--WE are all sovereigns,
everyone of us. Are we? The beloved
sisters will know where they stand, when
he added: eve exercise our sovereignty
the greatest privilege we enjoy" Let itbe
here noted that this greatest pri, ilege" is
denied to the most moral citizens of this
Republic, and freely granted to the rabble
and ignorance of foreign lands. Oh. myl
Dear Judge Over, how you did give yourself |
and the brethren s'dead away" in that little |
speech.
Brother McKenna represented both the
bar and "green old Ireland" He told the |
naked, shabby truth when he said ''all men
in this country, whether white or black,
are born free and equal" This means. it
would appear, that all women are born the
other way.
Superintendent Luckey, who represented
the cause of education and the public
Bchools, is well known as a man of peace.
War is one of the worst of evils and
Brother Luckey would be one of the last to
inculcate the doctrine Of the sword, yet he
exalted Spartan mothers whose spirit he
thinks should be inspired in every girl in
school
Women Do Not Train Murderers Now.
Now these warlike mothers were all very
we'll in their day when all education and
training were to the making OF race Of
stern, cruel and rapacious warriors. But
nowadays with the advancement of benevo-
lence and the spirit that tends toward peace,
mothers do not feel called upon to train
men to murder and to fight the battles of
rapine and revenge. A French statesman
deploring the decay OF population. in
noted French women when she told him
that his countrywomen were becoming alive
to the folly of wasting their lives IN train
ing targets for German guns.
The heroism ot American women cannot
be questioned although it is not OF the
brutal Spartan pattern. Moral courage is
more to be encouraged and cultivated in
school and out of it than that of the bull
dog variety that finds its highest satisfac-
tion in the thought that this country can
click" kill creation and wipe up the earth
with every little Chile and chump of a
country under the sun.
The men of Allegheny were represented
by Mr.. McMullen, who spoke glowing
" vords an tn the nuhIic schoola sNiue-