The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1905-01-12

point? This thoroughly equipped and
perfectly organized military force is
the product of all the ages up to the
present time. | am not denying the
actual service OF a proper army and
navy in the preservation OF peace. We
have not yet advanced to the period
when it would be safe to dispense with
1t altogether. But do we need a force
like the present? would not an exceed
ingly small regular army, with a nit
itia for cases of emergency, and few
vessels of war, be ample for any nation
II maintain for its protection in all ci-
Any change in the existing order OF
things must be effected by education.
In many countries the whole order OF
society needs TO be changed. In Ger
many and many other countries those
connected with the army and navy
stand socially at the very head, place
of honor to which the youth look for
ward with reverence and ambition.
From the cradle they are taught that
the highest aim i'm life is to prepare
themselves for the army. In many
schools in our own country the boys
are drilled like soldiers and parade
through the streets to the strains OF
martial music before admiring
throngs.
We need body of educators whose
sole duty should be to go among
teachers, awakening and developing
an intelligent and adequate interest in
this great subject. This work OF edu-
cation should commence with the
school children; it is with them that
our greatest hope lies. We should
remove from the books which are plac-
ed in their hands what ever stimulates
unduly the military spirit. Tell them
OF the heroes of everyday life, who are
sacrificing their lives in the investiga-
ton Of the germs OF disease and the
ing malarial swamps; in saving the
shipwrecked; in missionary work
among the heathen in our own land;
of brave firemen. who, at the risk OF
their lives, are saying the lives and pro-
perty of others; OF men and women
working in the slums of our great cit
les and picturing the misery they find
there in order to awaken public con-
science; of the trained and tireless
nurses watching by the sick beds night
and day; OF teachers in overcrowded
schoolrooms, whose burden of respons-
ibility and care knows almost no limit.
Surely no man on the battlefield de-
serves higher encomiums than these
unseliish workers. would not detract
in the slightest degree from the honors
paid to the noble men who have sacri-
| feed their lives for their country; but |
do object to the system which calls for
the sacrifie of so many noble men.
| There are as many noblemeD sacrificed
upon the wrong side as upon the right
1t is A system that | deprecate. These
men are not noble because OF war but
in spite of its demoralizing influences
1t is the work that one engages in
which exerts constant influence upon
the life; and the nobler the work, The
nobler the life. Littetinspiration car
come to any human being whose life il
spent in preparation for the destruc.
ton OF his fellows.
We need also corps OF workers wht
should devote their time to the press
The press is perhaps the greatest influ
ence in the State to-day; and it is oi
the utmost importance that its ton,
upon this momentous question be rails
ed to the highest level. At one time
it seemed to me that a special journal
ofthe highest class with a sufficient fund
at its disposal, devoted exclusively to
peace and arbitration, would perhaps
be most effective instrument in our cru
sade; but the more | study the matter,
the stronger is my conviction that a
! special journal of this kind would not
be so potent for good as bureau OF in
formation, properly organized, which
should furnish important, wisely chos-
en- ticies to the leading papers, to all
that will use them, as so many are
glad to do. Comparatively few people
would be interestd in any journal de-
voted entirely to this subject; but the
millions will read a well written article
in the daily press. People desire in
formations; and | am satisfied that the
most important service to our cause
could be rendered, not through any one
organ, even were it the best in the
world, but through the great body OF
kindly disposed newspapers. There
should be in every community an able
editor, with suitable assistants, whose
duty it should be to gather and dis
tribute the right material--one in
touch with the leading papers and
writer's of the day.
Again, the clergy need to be awak-
ened in much fuller measure to their
duties and responsibilities for existing
conditions. Some OF the ablest repre-
sentatives of the pulpit should be se-
cured and enabled to devote their lives