The Portland daily press., 1899-06-21

A general diamament could but make for
peace and could but rsduce the burdens
upon the people, for 1t Is well known and
generally admitted that II Is ths military
and naval expenses Of tho nations Of
Europe that chiefly oppressl the people.
The tronble with the Czer's scheme was
that 1t required the adherence Of q laras
number of independent and adjacent
states each suspicious OF the sincerity of
the other, 10 put It into practice. This.
IL appeared early, could not be secured.
and so the Czar's original plan was
tacitly abandoned bsforei the conference
met, and the best preventive OF war,
namely, lack Of machinery to
carry II on, sacrificed. An at
tempt Was made TO substitute
paIiiatives like arbitration and mediation
So far as can be judged BY pre- sent ap-
pearances the failure Of these is as certain
as that Of the Cars original plan; and II
anything OF value proceeds from the con-
ference 10 win be in the direction simply
of making war more humane, especially
upon the sea.
Ons cause. and we are inclined to think
the chief one, of the failure is that the
masses of the people Of the various
nations are yet long way from fully
comprehending the superiority Of peace
to promote national interests.
The martial spirit is still wide
spread and glory such as is won on bat
tlsfields stiil holds great place in the
popular imagination. Tho military or
naval hero easily takes precedence in the
estimation Of the people even in the most
enlightened nations over all others. Two
or three reckless dsshes in the
Philippines promoted Gen. Funston
to a place in the popular
mind that he could not have attained by
years of painstaking and successful labor
in any Of the arts of peace. A pretty
large per cent of the people, even of
nations as far advanced as our own, are
apt to estimate the greatness OF their
country by It's ability to slick" somebody
and an occasional war which furnishes
the wished for demonstration Is by no
means disagreeable to them. The spirit
of ths masses has got to be greatly
changed before wars win cease. They
have got to come to look upon war as
they do now upon pestiIences, as unmixed
evil. While they regard 1t as stepping
stone to individual or national greatness
they will never be very averse to IL. II
back OF each one of the representatives
of the various nations at the Hague con-
| ference had been public sentiment th ut
abhorred war. and regarded 1t as unjusti-
naple except in self defence there would
have been no great difficulty in coming
to some understanding that would have
diminished the frequenoe of conflicts. But
there was no such sentiment, or 1t was
not of suoh strength and unanimity az
to make itself respected and feared. The
first essential for the abolition Of war is
to instil into the public mind hatred oi
war. When the victories Of peace are
more renowned in the public estimation
| than those of war, when the her oes OF
peace are set upon as high pedestal as
those Of war the people will cease to per-
NIT themselves to be burdened to support
great military establishments, and ther
the age of peace will have been fairly
ushered in. Today the monarchs perceive
the disadvantages of war -lore clearly
| than the people. and the clamor of ths
masses much more frequently precipitatei
a conflict than the secret plottings of ths
few. War must be far less popular thar
now before it will stop.