New-York tribune., 1904-10-31
TIMELY PE4CEM4KTNG.


son. II is not eliminated from the popular sys-
TEN with the passing OF the incident which
generated It. but It remains there. ranking and
cankering. Another incident adds TO 1t. and
another. and another, until finally the gathered
store amounts TO a fatal dcse-fatal to national
self control and 10 international peace. We all
remember the forebOdings with which the
French policy Of pinpricks'' was regarded not
many years ago. Incident after incident oc-
Cured TO irritate Great Britain. No one Of
them in itself amounted to anything like a
casus belli, yet serious statesmen realized
that If they were continued long enough and
were numerous enough their cumulative ef-
feet might be uncomfortable and disastrous \
sharp counter-irritant was opportunely applied.
the danger passed. and the two countries are
now better friends than before for fifty years.
II was largely the cumulative effect Of re-
peated acts Of Russian aggression that led to
the present war. Not for any one OF half
dozen Of Russias acts would Japan have gone
to war. But she remembered them all. and
treasured them up. adding each new one to
the sum Of It's predecessors. until the grand
total strained her forbearance to the breaking
point. So there is danger from the cumulative
effects Of belligerent infringement upon ueu-
tral rights. The British people especially have
been irritated again and again by the arbi-
trary treatment of their merchant ships by
Russian cruisers. Any one of the various In
cidepts taken alone. would be irritating. and
nothing more The sum total Of them ali to
date, capped with the unprecedented action In
the North Sea. came ominously near to being
a fatal dose. brave and tactful King and
firm. wise Ministers, have done all in their
power TO save the situation. and have proba bly,
succeeded: but the margin Of safety has been
painfully narrow. Just one more dose OF the
%ha dor
ger line.
II is Just because these things are so It is
just because the tendency Of affairs is so much
toward war, that the peace proposal Of Presi-
dent Roosevelt, embodied in the formal invita-
tion of the State Department made public this
morning, is most Opportune. II Is offered as
an active antidote 10 the poison OF hatred
and suspicion that is accommodating in more
than one national system. To some it seems
startling e. suggest peace congress at such
q time. So much the better. Some people
need 10 be startled now and then. just as some
patients need 10 he violently shocked to coun-
teract tho effects Of poison or OF disease. A
few years ago. when they met at The Hague
the nations did not realize how much they
needed the machinery Of peace making and
peace preserving. because they were then all at
peace and II was easy for them to come to-
gether. But now the very fact that they are
cherishing such animosities and the fact that
summons TO a peace congress is SO little in
harmony with prevailing sentiments and cond
tons emphasize In the strongest manner the
need Of just such a summons and Just such a
congress al this time.
The incident Is unique and Will become his
tOric. There have been other calls for peace
congresses. but none such ms this at such n
time as this. Horace made II proverbiaI, ages
ago. that In time OF peace wise men prepare
for war. Now strcng. brave voice exhorts
the world In the midst OF great war to estab.
Iish the foundations OF enduring peace There
Is no other In the world that conld have done
II. for any lesser voice would have lacked a,l-
fhority: while there is not one comparably
great power that is not so involved with at
least supposed sympathies and anImosities that
Its voice would have been at least suspected of
ringing false with Interior design IL Is the
happy distinction of the American President
that. as the spokesman of this nation, he stands
apart from "entangllng alliances" and from In
trigues and jeaIousies. and can address the
world with voice as free from suspIcion as
y Is from fear. IL viii be well Tor the world II
thsr voice is promptly and favorably haeded.