The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1898-06-02
ALL ARE SORRY,
BUT THE WAR MUST BE
PUSHED.
Presant-Day Thoughts.
BY "NEMO."
Presant-D Day Thoughts.
BY "NEMo.
Copyrighted by Dave & Tabor.)

! There is a tendency among som.
thinkers to regard the present war a
a terrible reversion to barbarism
They think of it as turning of tht
back upon civilization. / will agree
! with them if they are speaking O
Spain, but l will not agree with then
IT they are speaking Of the United
States The arguments they advance
are familiar enough and well under
stood that war arouses the worst pas
sion OF men; that civilization gains
more during the quiet times of peace
than in the bustling hours of war that
the advancing thought of the world ia.
vors bloodless arbitration. We should be
unprogressive indeed if we did not agree
In general way with all these state
ments for they are all true. They are
untrue in relation to ourselves. This
we can dare to say though fully aware
that here and there in our forces are
men of violent feeling who rejoice in
killing but these no more color the
general character of our hosts than one
blot of ink colors the great, rolling,
health-giving sea.
! *+*
First then why are we fighting ?
Because the best impulses of nations
heart have been stirred Even in the
eNcitment of actual warfare those same
good impulses impel us. Like David's 5
men of old we take our swords in our
hands and we reckon our lives as little.
it we may but be able to place cup Of
cold water at parched lips. 1t is an
heroic war las we have nothing to gain
except the doing of good, and every
thing to lose if the fortunes of war
should turn against us. We did not
seek the fight. Peace is attractive to
our great commercial nation. But be-
cause we have feelings and because we
ourselves have suffered from oppression,
we from the highest motives stoop
from our lofty estate to throttle the
| dogged blOOd-thirstiness of dying ma
ton. Right under the shadow of our
noble land, this creation of the ff-
teenth century in agony of its own ap-
preaching dissolution was seeking to
drag down to slpailar distress and des-
truction of thousands of harm less ones.
What could we do? Speak against it :?
We did and failed to stop it. Then
what? Argue with a man deaf to mer-
cy, and make signs to man blind
with bloody hatred? No! we smote
and shall smite, be the cost
what it may, until this remnant
of the dark ages learns that the policy
of pirates does not pay at the end OF
the 10Th century.
~
So far from it being true that we are
hot to kill; I dare to affirm that
there is in this country's great heart a
feeling of real sympathy for rank and
file of the Spanish navy. 1t is against
the Spanish official system that we war,
and we sorrow over the poor, conscript-
ed boys who are made mere imple-
ments of murder IN the hands of their
superior officers. These poor fellows
are utterly unlike our boys-who real
ize that they are "the people," that
'sthe people" are the country and that
when the country is at war "the peo-
p1e"' are at war. But our ill-clad op-
ponents, having no quarrel with Cuba
and no reason to hate us, are forced
into combat ill-fed, and heartlessly.
What did the victory at Manila 1ndi-
cate, or the prompt dlsmatlement OF
San Juan, or Cardenas, or Matanzas?
That Spain was so unprogressive and SO
altogether unfit for rule that 1t became
simply murderer OF its own people,
by placing them in dangerous positions
and vet leaving them absolute unpre-
pared for successful combat. Badly Of
ficered, and absolutely bereft of the
feeling that makes the American sol
der conscious of his oneness with his
officer, they have been led out like
sheep to the slaughter. They have
been sacrificed by official neglect and
Official greed for it is we'll understood
that the money set aside by the Span
ish government for food, for equip
ment, and Tor target practice has gone
to line official pockets. If the brutal
ity OF Spain toward the reconcentra-
dos were not sufficient to have filled
up the vial of its doom, the criminal
neglect of most ordinary training for
ITS own defenders is enough to bring
Mr.. John Bevins, editor of.the Press,
Anthon, Iowa, says: Il have used
lf1h.chor1oin,s Collie Cholera and Dl-