The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-12-25
CHRISTMAS THOUGHTS.

its annroach is being signalized py IN
raferance of the Venezuelan trouble t
a court of arbitration. There were tn
elements of bloody and prolonged wa
in the assault of two great powers upol
a disordered a bankrupt and heiples
American republic. One has but L
road the dispatches from Washington
embodying the comment of Senator
and Representatives, to see how easily
a war spirit might have arisen there
and the earlier advices from Venezuela
showed a growing and more reckless
policy of aggression which might, a
any moment, call for the Intervention
of this power Fire was burning dan
gerously near an international powder
magazine At any moment an explosion
might come But calm word from
washington, sober second thought al
London. a rise of Christian spirit at
Berlin. and the fire was put out and
the whole question, upon which hung
the issues of peace and war, was re-
s ferred to the judgment of an Impartial
e court.
1t was a triumph for enlightenment;
{ it was the neblest tribute in our day to
the memory of Him whose birth we
celebrate. But the pity OF 1t is that
human nature has taken nineteen hun
dred years to reach, in international
dealings, the philosophy which Christ
taught on the plains and from the
mountain tops of Judea and enshrined
in the immortality of Scripture. Stlli
thousand years are but day in HIS
sight and centuries count for little in
the cycle of the ages. In that cycle
An increasing purpose runs,
And the thoughts of men are broadened
With the process of the suns.
But it is not alone the process of
the suns" Time does not necessarily
impart a wider view nor mildeF char
acter. Some of the most ancient races
are now in the abysmal depths, as is
the Ethiop who wears the FURNISHED
livery of suns that rose before history
began. For the good in the world there
is a more fruitful source, more def |
mite and convincing cause than human
experience. What we see of increas-
ing purposes for good, of broadening
charity and fellowship, of diminishing /,
war and misery, of brighter hopes of
millennial concord, harks back to one
stately and clement figure, bearing the
worlds sorrows and the worlds hopes,
standing in majesty alone upon the
Mount.
Arbitration is the doctrine of Chris
tianity supplanting the instinct of force.
It carries into the frictions of world
politics the principles of justice.
Now wakes the power that in the age of
iron burst forths
To save the weak and curb the strong.
Where men We're wont to STAY each
other and lay homes in ashes, and dev-
astate pleasant fields and deseerate
the sanctuarfes, there is near at hand
the spectacle of calm and wise adjudi-
cature. Rising high above all other |
monuments left by the closing years
of the nineteenth century, is the court |
of arbitration at The Hague. AS time
goes on it will acquire a dignity greater
than any throne of earth and let us
hope more power and authority than
all the thrones save that from which |
the whiteness of its purposes reflects.
The Secretary of War, in his annual
report, has come out squarely as fol- |
lows for the post canteen. He says:
Referring to the operation of Section
3S of the act of FEB. 2, 1901, which |
prohibits the sale of beer and light
Wines in post exchanges, said in my
last report that great body of re-
ports had been received which indicated
that the effect of the law was unfortu-
nate, but that thought sufficient
time had not elapsed to give the law a
fair trial, and that the observation and
report OF it's working would be con-
tiiiued during the coming year. A great
number of additional reports have now
been received. and they confirm the inn
am convinced that the general effect
of prohibiting the use of beer and light
wines within the limited area of the
Army post is to lead the enlisted men
to go out of the post, to frequent vile
resorts which cluster in the neighbor-
hood. to drink bad whiskey to excess,
and to associate intimately with aban
doned men and more abandoned wo-
men,; and that the operation of the law
is to increase drunkenness, disease of
the most loathsome kind. insubordina-
ton and desertion, and moral and
physical degeneration. These reports
are ready to send to Congress when
ever that body desires to consider the
subject"
General Miles, who opposed the can
teen a year ago. has nothing about it
in his present report and is said, on
the authority of the Army and Navy
Journal, to have been so impressed by
the volume of evidence in its favor as
to have changed his mind
-$--
The Sunday Advertiser will begin
with the new year. The manner in