Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1899-12-15
ON WAR
Famous Speech Of the Man Who
Succeeded Tom Reed.
DELIVERED IN chicago

To a Gathering of Soldiers in 1893.
Declared War to be Dem0raIizing
and DesoIating--C0st Of the
Battles Fought, Etc.
...s.... ........-...ss'ss.s's s'ssssss &
Gen. D. 3. Henderson. of Iowa,
who was be elected Speaker Of the
House of Representatives, made
speech at a soldiers gathering in
Chicago September 10. 1898. Its fervid
rhetoric and forceful facts, says the
New York World, are timely in view
of the official record that our losses in
the Philippine war, which was never
proclaimed or authorized by Congress,
have been in killed. wound ed and
missing fully 5000, while the Fllipinos
have sacrificed at least 10000 in their
struggle for freedom. General Hend-
erson said:
"Mr. President: My theme today is
war, and 1 am against it. l wish L
had all the gifts to speak my abhor-
renee of war.
"Art, poetry, romance and history
have magnified and glorified the soldier,
but the time is coming when these great
Instruments of power will desert their
fayorite theme and lead the great
forces of thought away from the
slaughter house up to the higher fields
of human action.
1.-The bull fight, the cock pit. the
prize ring and the battlefield must all
go down together.
sit takes courage, grant, to face
death. The sufferings and the trials
of the soldier have not been exaggerat-
ed. But the courage needed to face
danger and death ranks far below the
courage that faces the superstitions,
the prejudices, the wealth and the es-
tablished customs of the world.
1.-The great man reasons; the small
man fights.
"Grant's words of peace will survive
his mightiest war cry.
'The cost of war alone should make
us stop and think.
'The public debts of the world are
$40, 900, ,OOO, 600, and it is safe to say
that every dollar of this is the fruit OF
war. What a strain upon earth, shops
and fields
I'm 100 years Great Britain has paid
81, 799, 2O6, ,O10 for war.
During these 100 years so of them
were devoted to human slaughter.
1.-THE cost of our own Civil War was
Sc, sos, ,429, 500.
"Young as we are as a nation, we
have spent 1S long years in battle
four of them in deadly fratricidal
strife. Today the genius of our coun-
try, indeed of the world, is bending all
it's powers to increase the capacity for
destruction Of all the terrible engines
of death. Is it not high time that each
citizen became NaZarine to proclaim
peace among the people? Let every
martyrs grave be sermon and every
widows wall a hymn for peace. Let
us cut down our army bill and save our
earnings for the schoolhouse, the
library and the home.
Europe is expending on her armies
SS14, 600, coo annually.
mo wonder the children OF the Old
World have been seeking a new home!
'Should humanity weep in order
that tyrants may laugh?
s'Should the homes of the people be
loaded down with billions OF debt IN
order that some heartless murderer
may wear a diadem?
"The wretches that have wrought
this desolation are the panthers, the
hyenas and the ghouls of humanity.
81 appeal to you, brave men OF many
battles, who have seen and felt ano
comprehended / cry out to you tt
throw your influence into the scale'
and urge the world to seek,som forum
where the arbitrator shall not be thu
dripping sword.
! "War is demoralizing.
"War is desolating.
"War consumes the toll and comfor
of our people.
ssWar is the worlds terrible, relent
less, remorseless inquisition.
"NVar is the weapon of tyrants, tn
prop of thrones.
"War, the black pathway to bell, ha
been the pretended passage to HEAVIER
"War has been justifable perhaps
and may be again, as sometimes is tn
isurgeon's knife, but only to save life
something better and dearer than llft
"Let the time soon come prayed TO
| by the poet:
Till the war drum throbbed no longer.
And the battle flags were furled
In the Parliament of man, the Federatlon
There the common sense of most
L Shall hold fretful realm in awe,
And the kindly earth shall slumber, lapt
universal law.
Thara are some Simple Remedies il