The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1902-11-13
II False Prophet.

portion-can man achieve progress.
Since man has made progress, and is
making progress, it follows his nature
is changeabie. "We can produce
abundant evidence to show that hui
man nature is not always the same,
while we also recognize that it cannot
be suddenly or violently modified by
any governmental might or cunning"
(Fiske in Evolution and the Present
Age.) But the student of warfare,
who tells us he is "slOw to approach
great problems with that boldness that
generally characterizes the young and
inexperienced" who, in sudden burst
of confidence informs us that HIS
opinions are supported by some Of the
greatest and wisest statesmen" would
have us believe "NapoIeon was gen.
ius. He had nothing to gain by lying
about this. l am willing to take his
word for it." Which clearly proves
that the student of warfare is a deep
and independent thinker.
After indulging in hysterical shrek
against arbitrationists and peacemak-
ers, the inspired prophet tells us Rus
sia has 100000, France 100000, Ger
many 4,OOO, 900, Austria 5000, 900, and the
other countries of Europe anywhere
from 100000 down to 100000 men
under arms. That's mistake. Russia
perhaps has 100000 men who have had
military training, but they are not un-
der arms. Neither are the millions
allotted to the other countries.
To the student war seems as much q
part of nature as gravitation, and he
digs up that old fossil, Nautilus, to prove
that "there must come a time when
the earth's surface will be insufficient
to support the population" Now, Mr..
Student, how many modern sociologists
can you name who support Nautilus?
Did Nautilus ever dream that the
British IsIeslwould be peopled by 40OOO,-
600 inhabitants? Has not the earth
more inhabitants now than Mr.. Nautilus
in his wisdom thought. it would be
able to support? Yet it seems there
is room for few more.
We are told that ''during the last
fifty years Europe, and possibly Amer
lea, too, has been advancing slowly
towards a gigantic revolution" Mark
ham, Tennyson, Ingersoll, Spencer,
Huxley, Schopenhauer, Nordau, Toll
stoi, Wells, Hugo, Bellamy, etc., are
put on the witness stand to corroborate
the students statement. One may
readily grant there will be wars in the
future; it needs no prophet to show
that the Golden Age Is still q long way
off; any man who takes the trouble to
think at all can see there is room for
many improvements on this wabbly
old globe of ours; but does it follow
that universal peace is an. impossible
ity? Herbert Spencer at least does
not think SO. Listen: ''Social organ
ization is to be considered high In pro-
portion as it subserves individual vel
fare, because in a society the units are
sentient, and the aggregate insentient;
and the Industrial type is higher be-
cause IN that state Of permanent peace
to so1sich cicilisotion Is tendinS, it sub
serves individual welfare better than
the militant type" tSpencer's Sociol-
ogy; Postscript to Part II.) That state
of permanent peace may not be reached
in a hundred, or even thousand years;
but,
"It's comm yet for a, that,
That man to man, the world o'er
Shall brothers be for a. that"
Again, we are TOLD by the prophet
"that during the last ten years thou
sands of revolutionary papers have
come into existence. (WhewD One that
started only two years ago already has
half million readers. Many of these
papers advocate peaceful, industrial
revolution, without bloodshed, by
means of legislation. This country
and Europe are inundated (?) by these
papers. They are like the falling leaves
of autumn-innumerable.J Others cry
for Anarchy, brute force, anything.
They assume names that denote their