Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1901-01-07


very old practices and is = polite name
for robbery on q large scale.
King Achab and Queen Jesabel
two of the most infamous tyrants that
ever reigned. rectifed their boundar-
les by seizing the vineyard of Naboth
and by putting to a cruel death that
innocent man.
The old Roman Empire two thou
sand years ago was constantly engag-
ed in r~ectifying its boundaries. 1t did
+: not stop till it had annexed all of Eu-
rope and a good slice of Asia and At
RIGA. But the days of ~retribution
came at last. The warlike tribes of
the north swooped down like aveng-
ing eagles on that decaying and cor
rupt body-the Roman Empire, and
| rectifed her boundaries over again.
The empire was dismembered and the
map of Europe was changed.
Cicero tells us that when a pirate
was once brought before Alexander
the Great, the General ~reproached
him for his crimes on the high seas.
You are a greater robber and murder
er than T. replied the pirate for while
l have p~lundered and slain a few. you
are the slayer and robber of nations
He went on adjusting his boundaries
/ till he had overrun a large portion Of
J Asia. But very soon after his death,
these boundaries were re-adjusted by
his generals.
1T is a subject of great concern to
the friends of the Gospel of peace that
! Christian Europe presents to-day the
spectacle of a huge military camp. All
the nations of the continent, as well
as England, are
Armed to the Teeth,
and are living in mutual dread and
| distrust of each other. They are de-
voured by an Unsuitable ambition Of
conquest and dominion or by a fear of
invasion. When you see heavy clouds
surcharged with the electricity of war
hanging over these nations, you may
expect the thunder-clap of battle to
resound at any moment. Armed ma
tions liked armed individuals are a
constant menace to n another and
are easily provoked to fight.
And these military forces instead of
diminishing are ~unhappily increasing
every year. AS soon as one nation
augments it's armament, it's neighbor
fellS impelled to do likewise in self
protection. According to a report
compiled and published in 1887, from
official sources, the army list of Eu-
rope on a war footing comprised
nearly fourteen millions of men, and
the annual cost of maintaining the
military establishments even in time
of peace, exceeded six hundred mil
lions of dollars. At the present time
the cost would probably amount to
one thousand millions.
when we consider the immense
number of men that are torn from the
bosom of their families in the prime
Of life, that are withdrawn from &C
tive industrial pursuits, when we see
these young men negotiating in idle
ness in time of peace, and luxuriating
in license and dissipation in time of
war, we may form some idea of the
moral, material and social evils re-
| sulting from such a system. In con-
templating these standing armies, the
calm observer might be forced to con-
| clude that European governments were
primarily established to destroy, rath-
er than to save life, to foster happiness
and develop the of a coun-
try.
May God so guide our legislators
and statesmen that they may never be
betrayed into initiating European gov
| ernments by the establishment Of for
midable standing armies. God forbid
| that we ourselves flushed with recent
victories should ever become intoxi-
Gated with the wine of imperialism or
militarism, but may we always follow
the traditions of the Fathers of the
Republic.
Hitherto we have presented to the
world a beautiful spectacle. Euro
peans accustomed at home to meet a
\ soldier or gendarme at every street cor
ner, on arriving in this country have
been filled with surprise and adRira-
ton that d nation of SO vast an ex-
tent, and with such an immense popu-
lation contained an army of only TWEEN
ty-fve thousand men. They have been
forcibly impressed with the fact that
they can travel from Maine to Califor-
mia
without Meeting n Single Soldier.
They see that every citizen of the Uni
ted States is a soldier without uniform,
engaged in the active pursuits of life,
and ready at a moments notice to de-
fend his country. They would feel
that we are a strong nation because we