Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1894-12-28
QUE srATE NJ tL1TIA.

The Georgia legislature has refused to
continue Its military operations. The
North Dakota legislature should do like
wise.-North Dakota Independent.
When Adam and Eve we're placed in
the Garden of Eden there was no need
for a knowledge of warfare or military
skill. Then all was peace, but when,
through sin, they we're driven from the
garden and went out to battle with the
wild beasts and the world, they soon
learned the meaning of power and force.
The first battle of which we have any
record in history was when Cain slew
Abel, and while it is not recorded that
Abel made any resistance to the attack
of his brother, certain it is that since
that time the hand of man has been con-
stantly raised against his brother, and
the instinct of self-preservation has be-
come the first law of nature. Man is by
nature obstinate, elf-wllled and deter
mined, opposing restraint Of every kind,
and, as the species began to multiply
and replenish the earth," the desire to
govern became one of his predominant
characteristics. That, and his desire or
greed for gain, has caused q constant
warning. First among the clans, then the
tribes, and later among the nations of
the earth. Civilization became a neces-
sary concomitant in the worlds progress,
and lit was better that men should be
forced together with blood and iron than
that civilization should not be attained"
A resort to arms became n of the forces
which made possible that higher civili-
cation in the struggle for existence, and
marks every form of animal and vege-
table life. War simply means a resist
ance OF the dictates or mandates of some
force, or opposition, to what is believed
to be detrimental, and the natural tend
ency of opposition is to destroy the weak
and develop the strong and healthy. "In
unity there is strength" 1t was then
early learned that by natural unity of in
terest came power, and with power came
success and prosperity. "Civilization
pre-supposes CO operation" Co-opera-
ton naturally results in a%ntagonism un-
less the interests of all are equally cared
for, and antagonism results in force, or a
| resort to force. Force means a state of
war, and, while the cry in this day of the
| world is for "Peace! Peace!' man is con-
stantly preparing for war.
The history of the world previous to
the time Christ came upon earth, is a
| series of alternations between wal and
peace. History teaches us that previous
to the Christian era the nations of the
world that have been greatest in peace
have also been greatest in war. The elo-
quence and erudition of Greece and
Rome we're made possible by the valor of
their soldiers and the military under
standing of their generals. The renown
of Lycurgus, the law-giver, has not done
more for the worlds civilization than the
military fame of the little band of Spar
tans who sacrificed their lives in the in
terest of liberty at Thermopylae. Cicero
rendered no greater service to the world
as a Roman senator than did Julius
Caesar, the warrior, by his invasion of
Britanny, and while it is true that the
Arts and Sciences cry out for peace, yet
| it is through a resort to arms that that
peace necessarily has III all time been es-
tablished. When a military chieftain,
because of his success at arms, becomes
a usurper and tyrant in the worlds his
tory, a Brutus or a Cromwell has come
from the people to restore that natural
and necessary equilibrium between war
and peace, which allowed the world to
continue in progress, and while in war
life has vanished and wealth perished,
and even nations been wiped from the
face of the earth, yet intelligence and
learning have remained and become ex-
tended by every new invasion. "Natione
are an%tagonistic, having divergent inter.
ests, which constantly tend to war. Pru-
dentiallsm watches the balance of forces
in other nations, and keeps standing
armies at home, powerful enough tc
make an attack improbable" When
Christ came upon earth, and when warn.
ing bis disciples against the evils Of con-
servatism, he said: II came not to sen6
peace, but the sword" England hat
been acknowledged to have been The
greatest of nations in enforcing the de
crees of peace, and progress has been tn
result. Her DEGREES of peace have beer
enforced by the English sword, and a
the mouth of the English cannon, ant
there was great force in the remark Q
Napoleon when he said "God is on tn
side of the heaviest artillery" and ye
nations which have been the most pro
gressive in the worlds history, hav
fallen, as did Greece and Rome, fror
military usurpation, and we have seen
constant alienation from too much wa
to too much peace and vice versa, AM
the great problem in the worlds progress
has been to strike that happy medium 0
Io;-- oo-,kc~x ~vo~oro1 fov nj MI III