St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1896-01-31


that four years indulgence in civil
strife.
What the wars of foreign coun.
tries have cost | cannot tell. can
only tell the expense Of their armies
on a peace footing, and this is sug.
gestive. Italy is not great nation,
but she expends annually at least
$8,000,000 on her army. Austria
and Hungary paw betw $10,000,-
900 and $12 100000, and it costs
Russia $21 100000 to keep its army
of 100000 in lighting trim, and
this Tor little else than a prop to the
throne. The German empire spends
between SIS 100000 and $2O,0O0,-
900 on it's army, and France is try
ing to be republic and keep the
peace with an army that costs her
annually nearly $20,000,OO0. But
England in this as in everything else
outstrips all her neighbors. This
Christian nation is trying to evangel.
ize the world with an armed force,
which in times of peace costs her
G23, 100000 or $115,00O,000. do
not give you the exact figures, but
my statements are well within the
bounds of truth.
Such think might be called fair
statement of military expenditure of
Europe. But you must add to these
figures the fact that through all these
centuries the brightest intellects have
been absorbed in planning wars and
drilling armies. Many of the best
brains of earth have spent the whole
of life studying nothing but the
science of bloodshed, devising i'm
proved arms and munitions of war,
building factories, and employing
the best mechanical skill in making
the instruments of death. And then
very largely the kindly sympathy
and charitable work of the race with
it's benevolent contributions of
money has been absorbed in caring
for the sick and wounded in hospital
and field.
o the wasting evils of war! Who
can enumerate them? The flower OF
these eighteen Christian centuries in
manhood, in womanhood, in intel
lect and morals has been blasted and
withered by it, and the wealth and
productive energies of the people
have been consumed in it's ravaging
flames. No wonder many Of the
nations are poor, and all of them
grooming. under crushing burdens of
debt. No wonder the people are
complaining and almost rebelling
against human government and
human society. They have reason
for their complaining. But it might
easily have been otherwise. Had
the millions OF men who have marched
across the field OF human history,
disappearing amid the smoke and
carnage otthe battlefield, been pressed
into the service of production in
stead of destruction, each strong
hand bearing hoe or a spade,
plane or pen, instead of musket.
plying the arts OF peace instead Of
war, and had the billions, yea and
trlllions of dollars that have been
wasted in war been expended for the
direct improvement and uplifting of
the masses, the waste places of this
world, as in the prophets dream,
would have been blossoming; the
bowling discord between labor
and capitol would have long ago
been displaced by the hum of happy
industry, and the people would have
been coutented and at peace. If the
crowned heads and those high in
political power had studied the
wants of the masses instead Of their
own advancement, the peculiar
troubles of this day would never
have been born. There would have
been no nihilists in Russia, no inter-
nationals in Germany, no commun-
lists in France, no trades-unions with
their strikes and terrorism in Ame,i-
ca. Peace and plenty would have
been the lot of the people and the
angel of the millennium might al
most have been standing in our
midst.
But had no thought when | be-
gan, of saying so much about human
ambition as manifested in war. The
subject demands more personal APP
plea ton. Nations are but men in
the aggregate. You will find the
same spirit to the very bottom of
human society. We are all more or
less under its sway. We buy, we
sell, we speculate, we toll, just as
kings fight, to see who shall be
greatest; struggling for position and
power is what we see daily on the
street. The jargou Of the market
place, the failures and delalcations in
business, the bitternesses OF politics,
the wranglings of the church, the
unkindness of the home, are all born
OF it. To be richer than others, to
stand. higher, and live better; this is
largely the spirit of the age. And it
was in direct rebuke of this that
Christ said, Except We be converted
and become as little children We can
not enter into the kingdom of
heaven"
What does he mean by conversion?
Well, not merely development,
think, as some would have us feel.
Development is only the enlargement
of the old. 1t increases the quantity,
does not necessarily improve the
quality, and this last is just what we
need Man is a S;nnar "a tha nora OF