The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1904-07-08
WAR IS NEVER WORTH ALL THAT 1T
COSTS.
RY DIR. BENJAMAN F. rRuEsLoop.

J. NJ DR. BENJAMAS F. TRUEBLooD.
J Is war worth what it costs is big
. question and not capable of answer
!, by simple yes or no.
/. Who can estimate all the cost Of
= any war? The bill practically new
er ends. The civil war closed near
~ Az years ago. What gigantic
sums we have paid during that time
III pensions and interest In mon
ey alone we are still paying out on
that war nearly half a million dol
lars day.
But that is not the worst. The
men who were killed or otherwise
perIshed in that struggle-a great
army OF nearly 900, 900 north and
south-were lost to the country
economically. At an earning power
OF only 5000 year per man. their
lives would have been worth to the
country s6OO,000,0O0 per year for
almost forty years. So that we
must set down to this item of cost
alone not less than $40, 0,OOO, 600. 900.
Besides this, these men have left
no offspring. They were nearly all
native born Americans and their de-
scendants would have been among
the best and most profitable citizens.
There would have been ample room
In our undeveloped areas for all of
them, III addition to all the immi-
grants-on the whole much less ec-
onomicslly vsluable-who have
come to US from foreign shores.
how much we ought to set down TO
this Item OF cost to the nation il is
impossible to say. But is an almost
Incredible sum.
Furthermore! the war left the
south prostrated in its industries.
md that prostration has continued
almost to the present day. All this
must be reckoned in the cost OF the
|reat struggle-the evil fruit of the
.orrupt and deadly tree OF slavery.
The nation could have paid for
very slave five times his market
'alue, and have set up all the famil
es OF the blacks TO housekeeping on
GOD farms, and then have saved un-
old millions from what the war has
ost and will cost before we are
trough with it.
A wrong method Of doing a right
hing never pays, aud war is always
wrong and bad method, as Frank
q bluntly taught. Our nation
hight as easily have bought the
aves outright, as did the British
overnment the slaves in the colon
), II the men OF ge neration and
ali ago had only the economic in
ght and the spiritual generosity to
ave carried on the agitation on
at line, as Wilberforce and Buxton
d.
French economists and sociolo-
sts today are openly condemning
g wars Of Napoleon and the others
their country as the greatest of
onomic and moral blunders. DR..
chet, OF the medical faculty of
ris, says that it will take France
Y years to get over the ruinous ef-
Us OF these wars upon the growth
population and the material
osperity of the nation.
Ii will be said that the worth of
is It's moral value, and that here
at sums of money are of trifling
'ount. That is specious plea.
equation can be drawn between
nomic and moral values. Butt
set over against the lauded NOR
'alue OF war, the moral evils and
radations which always attend
and follow it indefinitely, we
II find less than nothing left to
y to the credit of anything.
he sum OF the matter is that war
never worth what it costs. IL
le worst OF all investments that
alton can make. There is no
to its exhaustive and degrading
It's, and the sooner it is driven
yer out OF human society, the
er II will be for every great in
AZ of humanitv Wa 10 h.; :;