The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1897-04-20
INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION.
The Danger and Brutality and and Cost
Of War.

Conquest is a gigantic robbery.
Warfare is wholesale murder. Weare
almost tempted to declare with Benja-
min Franklin, "There never has been
and there never will be a good war or
a bad peace" Warfare is the delirium
arising from national fever. OF neces-
sity it is bound to cease. 1t will burn
itself out of the world like a ship afire
on the sea. Although force, says Lord
Dufferin, still rules the world, although
Earl Russell declared at the presenta-
tation of our Alabama claim, II feel
that England would be disgraced for,
ever if such questions were left to the
arbitration Of a foreign government, "
nevertheless force was not invoked and
the question was arbitratt d. Gradu-
ally the prophecy of Isaiah shall be
fulfilled, "All the armo of the armed
man in the tumult and the garments
rolled in blood shall even be for burn
ing for fuel of fire." Or, as it has been
phrased in modern English, "All your
white equadrons and your harbor forti,
fications are only for a future bonfire"
What shall take their place3 Justice
and truth and the federation of man.
Arbitration shall replace war. speak
on this subject now because it is diplo.
macy, it is state smanship. it is ethics,
it is religion, it is the dream of the
poet, it is the vision of the prophet.
The cannon, cisatlantic and transat-
lantic, proclaims the tidipgs of war.
The Armenians still die that the Euro
pean concert may live. Cuba pours
out her blood as the price of deliver
ance. Greece, faithful to her august
traditions, stands like Leonidas against
overwhelming forces. We in America
have not been exempt. Our besoms,
too, have sw elled with jingo pride; we
have hurled defiance at the foreign foe,
and before our national senators there
has been a TIRE atty with England, open,
ing a new era between nations where
justice and reason may replace brute
force and violence. Warfare smelted
clans into nations; it made Greece a
unit and Italy a Roman state; it fused
our American states together rs moth
ing could but the hot flame of war.
Military o quest has been the mission,
airy of civilization. Greece diffused
culture with the edge of the sword,
the Roman phalanx planted law and
order, and England has multiplied new
Englands and little Englands ailaround
the globe.
But these benefits were incidental.
They were bought at a terrible price,
and they were not motives, but casual
consequences of selfish invasion. Mod,
ern conditions cannot square with war.
War means disruption; civilization
stands for union. We are joined by
steam and electricity in a netwark of
commerce. The nations can no longer
live seperate lives; their interests are
fast merging; they can hardly fight
without striking themselves. Yet they
persist in making a costly show OF
readiness for battle. And at what a
4 ShC44ASC. 4A4OO pei OCAg VI gAO JObAl
annual income of European nations is
spent on ornaments. One thousand
million dollars a year is wasted thus
and 4. 0C0. 900 men are under arms. In
this country the national government
costs S. for each citizen; in Germany,
80; in England, $13; in France, $40.
In Europe one out of every five capable
men is ready for active warfare.
Arbitration would promote c~iViliza
ton, would save countless treasure, in,
Vulnerable lives, enrich labor with
added millions of toilers, would make
religion more than a solemn mockery
and public wards more than a polite
fiction. The Greeks had their amphic
tyonic council with jurisdiction within
their own boarders. The Roman fetiales
had to pass on the equity of war before
the senate decreed 1t. The popes in
the middle ages we're arbiters in the
disputes Of kings. Even in 1885 Pope
Leo XIII arbitrated between Germany
and Spain regarding the Caroline is
lands. Henry " Of France was in.
spired by the great SulIy to attempt a
senate of the confederate European
Christian states. In this century 81
international grievances have been set
tied by arbitration, 50 being between
the United States and other countries,
Consider the Alabama claim, how per.
sistently demanded, how offensive to
British pride, cause of deep irrIta
ton, yet peacefully decided and paid
at last.