The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1896-03-21

of destroying his fellows i'll war belongs
to the dark and bloody world which he
leaves behind him. Certain as man is
man, certain as he has a soul and carries
a light, the reign of warfare IN this
world must end. 1t must end some me-
somewhere and somehow All ins!itu-
tons that are maintained by warfare
must perish and pass away All plans
| and ambitions Of men and nations that
are begotten i'll the womb Of violence
must sooner or later issue in abortion
and death-either that, or else all that
pertains to a higher life among mankind
must be branded as fatuous invention
of dreamers and priests.
Ostensibly the world was never so
warllke as at the present day. To the
casual observer itwouId appear that war
and the preparation for it are the only
thoughts of nations. They are all in one
mood. Even the political life, which is
the life most in evidence, is only sub
ordinate play in the real drama of war.
Never before in human history were
there so many and so great standing
| armies. Never before were there such
fleets and navies. Never before were the
ports and assailable shores of all oceans
guarded with such impregnable defenses.
Never before were the seabeds so strewn
with torpedoes The nations seem to be
engaged in the one great business Of
preparing to cut each others Christian
throats. They are draining their re-
sources to the last drop, i'll order to wash
each other S meadows and orchards with
a rain of blood.
There is, however, in all this an un-
mistakable symptom of the end The
war fete grows big and boisterous in the
last scene. 1t is the melee before the
collapse-the final pageant before the
dawn of new era. There is something
profoundly hollow, specious and hypo-
critical in the present display of force
throughout the world. 1t is seen to he
theatrical and spectacular. 1t is the last
great show given by Shylock to his mil
lions of peasants at their own expense.
For centuries he has been using the gov
ernments of the world as the rocks and
knights Of his chessboard, and the peo-
pie as his pawns. He has produced the
present situation with view to keeping
his boarded treasures. He has compelled
the rulers of the world to organize
armies, to equip and support them in
his interest. At this very hour he is dig
ging pit i'll his garden to hide what he
fears cannot be much longer defended
But this horrid horse play, extending
from Poictiers to Yellow river, involv-
ing mankind in slavery and despair has
now come to its last act, and the Su-
preme Manager already has his finger on
the call bell for the curtain
The highest men have always dreaded
war and always tried to stop it. Hither-
to they have tried in vain. Many have
been the pleas against the reign of vio-
4 lence. Philosophers have cried out and
poets have walled their appeals. The
priests have always opposed it-except
when it was in the interest of their kind.
Statesmen have denounced it-except
when the military contingent was nee
essary for their success. Thinkers have
reasoned it out of existence. Orators. like
Sumner, have proved that the urue
grandeur of nations les in the pursuits
of peace. All to no avail!
But another hand has now been lifted
against human warfare. 1t is the hand
Of science What the humanities have
not been able to accomplish, in that they
are weak, science is about to effect, in
that it is strong. AT the very time when
all nations have prepared for universal
war, as if mutual destruction were the
natural end Of all races at the very