The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-05-20
A MELANCHOLY PROPHET
DIR. DAVID STARR JORDAN TALKS or
THE EVIL EFFECTS OF WAR.
Points to Nations which Have Degen-
Grated Because of Many Wars
Says England VIII Follow.

tial TO the life Of a nation. The corrupting
| and wasting influences OF war are seen in
the degeneracy OF those nations that have
| been most warlike. The warlike nation OF
to-day is the decadent nation OF to-mor-
row. There is no need TO go back IN his
tory's pages and point TO the story OF the
| fall of Rome and Greece. We have suf-
fcient evidence of the truth OF my state
ment in the degeneration OF France, that
nation which is having its decadence shown
up in the broad light Of day by poet and
writer Millet's MAN with the Hoe" is.
in large degree, typical OF the French
peasantry I'm spite of all that has been
written and said in criticism of that crea-
ton of the poet. Dull. lack-luster-eyed.
with low forehead and brutal jaw, and yet
not the product OF oppression, for his quail
tiles are ancient and aboriginal. War is
responsible for his existence and for the
fact of his increasing numbers. The SUI
perior beings who would have changed this
brutal creature have been destroyed. 1t
is a case of the survival of the unfttest.
a reversal Of natures method OF race puri-
fcation and Of race advance.
1t is only necessary TO read the history
of France to find out the cause. The revo-
luton swept out OF existence the best
blood Of the nation. The strongest, wisest,
fairest OF France were the noblemen whose
heads the public executioner claimed dur
ing the reign OF terror. What has been the
result in France? The blood Of the people
has been poorer, the men less manly and
the women less fair, since the terrible days
of the revolution and the succeeding days
of carnage. Prior to those days the two
strains Of noble and common blood had
been kept scrupulously separated. The
events that brought the clown to the po-
sition once occupied by the noble merely
increased the brood without improving the
breed. What the revolution had begun the
wars that followed completed for France.
The plows OF the farmers in Italy turn
up frequently the skulls OF the young
Frenchmen who fell in the Napoleonic
wars. They can be seen piled up in the
wheat field in pyramids fifteen feet high.
The owners of these skulls were the finest
men that France could produce. 1t doesn't
matter much for what cause they died.
Their bodies were buried In the fields that
they REDEEMED with their blood at the call
of Napoleon. Similar piles Of skulls OF
Frenchmen can be seen all over the CONT
nent-on the line OF the disastrous retreat
from Moscow, at Waterloo and in Egypt.
Napoleon's incessant cry, as the men went
down before the bullets OF the enemy. was:
"Give me more men. II no more men are
available, then let me have boys. They
can stop a bullet as well as a man." So
they sent him more men and more boys.
The best blood of the nation. and they
died as the others had died before them,
leaving the sickly. the infirm and the Grip
pies to become the future fathers OF
Frenchmen. You must look at this part
OF the history OF Frenchmen TO find out
why the countrymen of France are not like
the embattled farmers OF Lexington, who
set their stern faces against the murderers
Of the common man and fired the shot that
the whole world had to hear.
THE CASE OF SPAIN.
If the decadence of France is not enough
to convince everybody OF the folly OF the
statement that war is essential TO the life
of a nation, turn to the history of our late
enemy, Spain. What nation was at one
time more warlike. and where is Spain to-
day? This remarkable prediction can be
found in the writings Of an Augustinian
friar, who in 1850 discussed the Philippine
question that was at that time agitating
the minds of the Spanish statesmen:
Against the credit for redeemed souls I
set the cost of armadas and the sacrifice OF
soldiers and friars sent TO the Philippines.
And this I found the chief loss. for mines
give silver and forests give timber. but
only Spain can give Spaniards, and she
may give so many that she may be left
desolate and constrained TO bring I'D
strangers children instead of her own
Could there have been a more accurate
forecast OF the history Of any nation.
SPANS best blood was shed in the wars
and her decadence naturally followed when
none but the weakest were left 10 defend
the possessions that the strong had died 10
win.
1t has always been so with each war for
empire and will be to the end of the chap
ter. The Greek OF to-day is not the Greek
of Thermopolae. He Is the descendant OF
the stay-at-homes, the common and Grip
pied, who were Of no use TO Greece In her
wars of conquest. But one real cause OF
the downfall OF ancient Rome can be found.
The pages of history show how Marius and
CHINA slew the aristocrat while SuIla MUIR
dered the common man. The new genera
Romans OF the old republic were exter-
minated. Had they rot been Rome would
never have fallen.
England's day must come. Hers viii be
the inevitable end Of all dominion OF man
over man by the force Of arms. Her poets
foresee IL, as there Is abundant evidence In
the verse OF Kipling TO show: 'We have
fed our sea for thousand years, and she
calls US still unfed." sings Kipling. Byron's
THE Niobe OF nations-there she stands:
Crownless and childless in her voiceless
Woe" seems to suggest a prediction re-
garding his native land. although the
verses referred TO Rome. In her present
war in South Africa some Of the best blood
of the nation is being split. Can any one
maintain that this is source OF strength
for England?
A NON SEQDTTUR.
Consider that IL war is good then civil
war must be best OF all, for the nation that
wars upon itself keeps the virtues OF VIC
tory and the lessons OF defeat within ITSELF
II the statement that war strengthens a
nation is made in good faith then what