The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-04-20
MILITARISM AND DEMOCRACY

Extract From the Address ol Sail Schurz Before the American Aca-
 denny at Philadelphia.
 In his address the other evening be- fore the American Academy of Polltl- cal and Social Science, MT. Schurz said, among other things
 The subject of "Militarism and Democracy" is at the present moment of peculiar interest. We are apt to speak boastfully of the progressive civilization characterizing this age. While the very foundation or all civilization consists in the dispen- sation of justice by peaceable methods between nations as well as individuals, instead of the rule of brute force, it IS singular fact that at the close of. this much -vaunted nineteenth century we l behold the nations of the world Vieing | with each other in increasing their armaments on land and sea, exhaust | ing all the resources of inventive genius and spending the treasure produced by human labor with unprecedented lav- ishness to develop means of destruction for the defence of their possessions, or the satisfaction of national ambitions, or the settlement of international diff i OH d SCstlt never DNLpi iNiA' " 'i'
 Nothing could in this respect be more instructive and pathetic than the ap- peal in behalf of peace and dlsarnla- ment addressed last year by the Czar of | Russia to all the powers represented at | his court. Whatever results the peace conference meeting in response to the Czar's appeal may immediately bring forth, the most important point is that the statements of facts contained in the Czar's manifesto are true, They are in deed not new. The same things have often been said before. But those who said them were promptly and derisive- ly cried down as visionary dreamers who had no conception of the responsi- bilties involved in the management of | the great business of the world. Now | those things are authoritatiVely pro- claimed by the most absolute monarch commanding the largest army on earth 1 and holding in his hand the destinies of one of the greatest empires--the man whose immediate responsibilities in the management of the great business of the world are not exceeded by those of any other human being.
 While the so-called practical men of the age never cease to tell us that the greatest possible security of peace depends upon the greatest pos sihle preparation for war, that lions of soldiers tells them that the na tions which are draining their own vi- 1 tality to preserve peace by their prep aratons for war are doing thing which, if prolonged, will inevitably
 lead to the very cataclysm which 1t is desired to avert, and the horrors of which make every thinking man shud- der in advance"
 For present purposes the workings of militarsm in France are of special in- | terest, on account of the political inSti- tutions of that country.
 In monarchy a standing armed force is thing congruous with the na- ture of the government and it is the more so the more the monarchy is Of the absolute type. The standing army in such a monarchy may be said to be the enlarged bodyguard of the mon arch. The monarch represents an au- thority not springing from the periodi- cally expressed consent of the people, and relying for the maintenance of that | the employment of force, even against the popular will An army is an or ganization of men subject to the com mand of superior will, the origin or the purpose of which it is assumed to have no right to question. The stand
 ing army is, in this sense. therefore, ac- cording to it's nature and spirit, an es- sentially monarchical institution.
 But France is a republic. She calls herself democratic republic. A dem ocratic republic is, or should be, gov ernment of public opinion as expressed in legal form-public opinion, as it is- sues from discussion in which all the people are free to participate, and the outcome of which they are to determine | by their freely given suffrages. The army, inasmuch as it is in all things subject to the will of superior authori- ty without discussion or question, must therefore be regarded as an inCongru- ous element in democracy. The au- thority to which it is subject, may in deed be a government creat- ed by public opinion and sup ported by it. But as such q government may happen to become
 
 cord with the public opinion of the time the army, as an organized force subject | to it's will, may be used by it for ends | and purposes adverse to the interests or the will of the people. It is for reasons | like this that the true democratic spirit has always been jealously opposed to the maintenance of large standing ar mics.
 France furnishes the example of re- public maintaining large standing army, and the history of that country is peculiarly instructive as to the relations between standing armies and democra- cies The first French republic sprang from the great revolution of 17S9 The 1 most famous of French armies were or ganized under the inspiration of the rev | olutionary enthuSiasms of that period. l They were then to a large extent com- | posed of volunteers, who had rushed to arms to defend the territory of the re- public, and then went forth to bring | liberty" to the world outside. Thus they won victory and glory, and con- quest And then, having gone forth to l fight for liberty, they proceeded intox- 1 icated With glory and conquest to turn their victories for liberty to the advan- | tage of personal government animated with unsuitable despotic ambitions. l am far from saving that the spirit of