The Newtown bee. (Newtown, Conn.) 1877-current, 1898-05-27

cially from war, few companies or |
towns may be helped In this way on &C.
count of the manufacturing Of certain |
implements of war, but the people have
to pay for them, and they are all imple- |
ments of destruction and not of con- |
struction. The ideal in the making OF
all warlike material is to manufacture |
that which will kill the most men and
destroy the most property in the short |
est possible time. From the financial
and business standpoint, then it is only
waste and desolatiOn, where one becomes
rich a hundred become poor. Another
argument is that war cannot decide the
right and the wrong, it can only decide
which is the stronger of the two nations.
War means that hundred of thousands
are killed, and millions of property are
destroyed, and untold suffering endured,
and in the end they are
NO NEARER THE RIGHT SOLUTION OF THE
PROBLEM
than at the beginning, that finally it is
force rather than justice which prevails.
And often in the days gone by, if not In
the present, this might be true. For ex-
ample, the Emperor Of Germany and the
Gear of Russia misunderstood each other,
they quarrel, they get very angry, they
must have satisfaction, they declare war.
They go to their palaces, they eat, drink,
and are merry, their honor will be
avenged but far away down on the
| border land, $4,000 Germans GO out to
battle with the same number of Russians.
They do not know which side is right,
many Of them do not even know what
| the quarrel is about, they feel no hatred
| toward those opposing them, they do not
wish to die, they have homes and friends
to love them; but they are ordered to
fight and so throughout the long day
they advance and retreat, they fire, they
| charge, they tayOnet and they thrust
and hack with the sword until 10000
Russians and 900 Germans lie stretch
ed out in the last sleep, yet the quarrel
! between the Gear and the Emperor is no
nearer settled than 1t was before, does
| force ever decide between the right and
the wrong? Let US look on both sides
of the question and try to look from the
| standpoint as we'll of those who are OPP
posed to us? The old war of 1776 was
glorious one in our eyes, it succeeded
and therefore it was q revolution, we are
| free and Washington was hero, but
suppose England had won, then would
we not be loyal followers Of the Queen
as Canada is, and could not Washington
be called a rebel? We come to our civil
war which was certainly righteous
one,-John Calhoun said that states had
right to secede,
HENRY CLAY AND ABRAHAM LINCOLN
said they had not, they could come to no
agreement and so it was decided by
force, the north was stronger and won,
but did the fact that the north was
| stronger than the south decide the Ques-
ton whether the states had right to
secede or not? There can be no doubt
that the war resulted in good, vet we
mast not forget that they thought they
were in the right just as we did, and that
the only justification of that war was
the desire on our part to benefit the
country, the master, and the slave, and
not hatred of the men who differed
from US. To the question of the right
and wrong of war then, it must be
answered that war Of Itself is only evil
and can be justified in no case except
when q greater evil is to be averted,
but this has often happened in the
course of history, and it has proved a
step in the onward march of civilization
and Christianity. Christ said that he
came not to bring peace on earth but a
sword, and his history has proved this,
and one cannot die q more glorious
death than when fighting Understandings
| ly for the cause of progress and Chris
tianity. Christ gaid-"Greater love
hath no man that this, that man lay
down bis life for his friends" and is it
not the same when men die in battle for
the spread of the kingdom of God? If
| God puts the sword in our hands let US
WELD it in the name Of Christ, and for
the spread Of liberty and humanity.
Let us not fight, in the hope OF revenge,
for this was never the spirit Of the
Lords work. We do not know who
blew up the battlesnip Maine, and no
number Of innocent lives will atone for
the punishment OF the miscreant who
committed the deed. Most Of those
whom we shall kill are poor, ignorant