The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1896-03-21
NEIHART, MONTANA. MARCH p. 1886.

ress of the two has been commensurate.
Now the burglar has had it and now
the safemaker. For awhile offensive
weapons have been most improved, and
then for awhile the means of defense
have been perfected. We have had also
the offensive defensive paradox, as IL
lustrated in our existing marvellous
navy, that cost the American people last
year more than ,$3S, 200, 600 and is not
worth cent. This is hard saying,
but worthy Of all acceptation The
writer would fain withhold it, He
would not utter such a Judgment if he
had a fear for his country or his coun-
try's honor. But he regards war as the
remaining goblin of the dark ages and
all preparation for war as mere dis
play Of that ignorance which refuses to
recognize moyal force and justice as the
only invulnerable panoply and shield of
a nation.
At the present time science makes the
greatest advances in projectiles-tha is,
in improving the means Of destruction.
Science, Ill this age, is in her destruc-
tive, not her protective, mood. The dis
covery of irresistible explosives has been
correlated with the invention of en-
ginery which would have paralyzed the
imagination only 50years ago The i'm
provemenJ of the means Of attack and
destruction has been so overwhelming
that war mas reached the verge of alb
surdity. Thought has so combined wi th
the physical animosities Of the world
that those who WELD the agents of de-
structlon are obliged to pause before
pulling the lanyard and laugh at the
criminal climax!
He who is able to destroy the enemy
necd ;loi do it. Having the power to an
nlhllate, 1T becomes a crime to exercise
it. The only rational struggle, whether
individual, social or national, is that
which leaves to each of the combatants
the opportunity to survive. There must
be chance of winning and chance of
exit War has come to the complexion
that one army gets into the power of an
other by strategy. That done, nothing
remains but for the army in advantage
to see the signal and fire. But there ia
no need of firing when the enemy is
beaten ere the blast come. Warfare has
thus risen through the agency of science
to the level of thought The battle is
won on the plane of life and not on the
plane of death. 1t looks as though bru-
tality and violence We're about to vanish
in the wind of genius. The reign of
force is about to cease by its own limi
totinnc God is tirp1 Of wan
rejoice that it is so. rejoice that
war has reached the reductio ad absurd
um. l am glad with great gladness
that the era has dawned in which justice
and truth and righteousness must at
least begin to sway the actions and poll.
cies Of men and nations. Fighting is
well enough among the forces of nature.
The sea may lash the shore The winds
may jostle the pines and mountain oaks
till their proud heads break and crash
down the precipices. The volcano. with
its lava floods and ash clouds, is well
enough, and the earthquake is not only
permissible, but commendable.
Animal life, mere brute life, may-ii
it will-expend itself in violence. That
is natural and good, but man is of an.
other mold. He is either creature OF
moral forces and purposes or else he is
nothing. If he possesses thought and nc
ethics, he is desl, and ought not tc
be. Possessing thought and conscience,
be has struggled up from mere savagery
toward the high level of the civilized
life. He is just now with difficulty
climbing over the edges and planting
himself Oh the higher plane. His habit