The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-05-30

that war is the normal condition Of man
kind; others hold that all war is muir
der. War is neither the one nor the other
1t is the last resort; it is the elimination
of all controversy; it is supreme trial. It
may be as cruel and as diabolical as the
genius of evil; and it may be as sacred
as the most exalted thought of man. It
may be necessary. inevitable, just; and
while at the best It is an affection, yet 1t
calls forth some Of the highest qualities
Of human nature. Education in the art of
arms, like war itself, is justified by ne
cesslty. It does not follow, however, that
those who learn the art of war shall ever
draw their swords in any but righteous
causes nor that their military training
should diminish their civic virtue but
rather that it should enhance it.
There is a school of political philosophy
which has long taught and stilI teaches
that war is in itself a good thing. That
it is the great civilizer and promoter of
peace, progress and prosperity among the
nations and peoples of the earth This
extraordinary and unqualified endorse
terment of human conditions has refer
ence to wars of conquest and aggression.
DeLeuSlNe warfare, the only KIM ti1l
unds It's sanction IN reason or IN morals,
strange to say, is not included within the
view of those who advocate war
means or the adNancement OF man. The
teachers of this false school confOund
cOmmOtiOn, cOnvulsiOn, destruction and
change with civilization and progress
Look at the great debts which rest like
an incubus upon the civilized nations of
the world They amount in the aggre-
gate to thirty billions of dollars Europe
on her armaTnenfs During the LAST cen
fury England has been one-half of the
time engaged in war. We ourselves in the
Civil war expended about six billions of
dollars and have been during the century
past one-IlIth OF the tlnle engaged IN war
Is it necessary to progress and civiliza-
ton that the nations should be burdened
and that the human race should suffer
appalling slaughter and be bowed down
under the bitter and hopeless bondage of
debt? Look back over the pages of his
tory and you will find that they repre-
sent wars which in almost every in
stance was upon the part of one of the
combatants a war Of conquest or agrees
sion. And what do these wars represent?
Ignorance, fnhumanity. race prejudice
and hatred national and local animositv
and false pride and religious bigotry and
frenzy These are the unworthy impulses,
sprung most of the awful butcheries
which we have dignifed with the name
of wars.
There never was a defender Of wars of
conquest or an apOlog1st for war in gen
eral VINO was not at the same time the
champion or and the defender OF every
abuse in government which avarice could
devise, which rapacity could invent. false
hood excuse or cruelty condone. There
never was an advocate of peace who was
not at the same time the champion of
civic justice equal rights for all, equity
and Righteousness. There viii never be JUS
tice in this world until the masses learn
to judge the several types of men and to
discern their qualities in the light of their
teachings as well as IN their practices.
The advocates of aggression. with one &C
cord deny that social and political rights
are held subject to any rule of conscience
They will admit that individuals in dealing
with each other are bound by the moral
law. but they deny that it binds commu-
mites and nations, and while they will not
make their denialS open and explicit. all of
their arguments and actions proceed upon
the assumption that in the exercise of SOW
ereign political powers, might makes
right. They tell US the strong must rule;
that the law of the survival of the fittest
is the law of public affairs that govern
ment must come from above and not from
below that whatever IS, is right, and that
wrongs must be left to right themselves.
Benjamin Harrison was a great and good
man. with whose partisan contentious we
could not all agree. He was also soldier
Nothing in his career as soldier. senator or
president SO exalted and hOnOred him
and lasting service to mankind as his last
words Nations as well as individuals
must be bound by moral law Such words
drive away the Clouds they heal our
wounded hearts, they restore our lost con-
hdenee in man and give US courage to
fight on to the end They renew our hope;
our souls; they lift US up in spirit to those
calm heights unseen by SOrdid eyes where
dwell the immortals-
The moral law IS as in1iexible as the
physical. If the restorative forces fail to
renew the broken bough dissolution and
death must ensue- So also it is in the
the penalty IS sure The moral law has
provided no bankrupt court where the
delinquent may compound his obligations
and secure release It's judgments are as
certain as the law of gravitatiOn. From
them there is no escape and no appeal
They decree penance and Improvement
through pain
In the fierce aIembec which you call
fate, the fittest. the highest, the purest,
the most just. the best. must survive or
the race must perish from the earth BY
moves onward and upward. When that