The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-03-19

keeping any other candidate for the repub-
lican nomination out Of the field.
Shall It Be Armageddon?
AS might be expected, the armed
conflict which Is on between Japan
and Russia in the far east is engaging
the attention Of persons who are in
ly prophetic texts Of the Bible in
sensational manner, as well as people
who take delight in the reading of
manifold cataclysms brought about
either by the commissions Of natural
forces or by the savage instincts of
man, so long as they themselves are
unframed.
The mystics insist that this OUT
break in the region Of the earliest
dawn will inevitably lead up to and
terminate in the gathering Of the
kings Of power of the whole world to
fight the, final battle Of the world s his
tory, called in the book of Revelation
|Armageddon, which means the plain
of Megiddo, a portion of the plain of
Esdraelon, near Megiddo, where the
Israelites gained decisive victory
over the Canaanites when they were
taking possession. Of Canaan, after
coming from Egypt. Altho many
writer's on the second coming Of
! Christ have declared that the "war
Of the great day Of the Lord referred
to -. in Revelation, -foreshadows an
actual warfare Of the nations with a
decisive battle in favor Of the right,
the name; as is generally the case in
this prophetic book, is doubtless to be
taken automatically for place of
slaughter and mourning, a moral
rather than a titantic physical conflict.
! It is a: somewhat gratuitous assunap-
ton, moreover, to predict that all the
into the present conflict. Sensational
writer's have drawn upon their
imaginations and announce, various
combinations, the most improbable OF
which is a coalition between Russia,
France and Germany against Great
Britain, which, of course, might en-
broil all Europe.
! Il
recently entered into treaty relations
!. to refer all their own differences tC
arbitrationo Of a peace prolonging char
|acter, the sword eliminated, while
Germany. is not: ready to lombard the
tight little isle'''. and land an army fol-
hostile exploitation. She prefers te
wait. for the disintegration Of Turkey
- TO
Anatolia and perfect her railway .sys'
tenn down the .Euphrates valley te
Bagdad7 on: the lower Tigris: ~. ~.
/ Russia would have an interesting
time getting assistance from France
alone in her fight with Japan. The
English navy could control the situa
! ton between the Baltic and thu
t French eoas tss 6 ermany would not per
( nit the passage Of a French army Owe
her territory; the. forcing, of tn
Dardanelles would be- opposed by Ger
! many, Austria-Hungary and italy, ant
France would have to aid her ally at I
very long range. Moreover; Franc
has about reached the limitation of he
! assets and taxing power to keep up he
: burdensome military and naval estab
lishments,~ and, altho: the chauvinist
/ still abound, there are, more. thought
Z full statesmen in France than ther
J used to be. The practical is masteF1n
the frothy theoretical :. .5''5 .,. - :
. Altogether the prospect of a.
{ Armageddon battlefield as the outcom
!, of the Russo Japanese war is rathe
doubtful. ., During the thirty years
. war in the seventeenth century, it wa
: thought that Armageddon was neal
;. but the ferocious fighting of those dis
l tressful days of. religious warfare re
: suited in detaching northern Europ
from the control and dictation of ali
! solutis1n. The quarter century c
: Napoleohic wars, which devastated a
: Europe, brought no Armageddon, bu
e brought about the >resistless propa
: ganda of liberalism and constitutions
e government which, during the nine
t tenth century, struck a deadly blow 8
: the absolutist principle of governmer
e by the sole will of the sovereign: s
Z | +o -, fo1l<ino qhO1