The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1905-10-21
A Constant Reminder of the Most Remarkable
Treaty of Peace Ever Entered Into
BY Two Peoples.
The Image Of Christ Now Stands on the Crest
of the Andes as Symbol Of Love u
and Peace Among Men.


to read the story Of the extraordinary
monument to eternal peace erected on
the summit of the Andes, and on the
border line between Chile and Argen-
tina, says the Independent. This col
ossa1 statue of Christ, lifted nearly
three miles above the level of the sea,
commentaries the conclusion of the
most remarkable treaty Of peace and
arbitrat ton ever made between two
spirited nations, one which is accepted
as the example to the world. The
statue is cast from bronze of old can
non which the Spaniards left at the
time of Argentine independence. The
sculptor is young native Of Argen-
tina, Mateo Alfonso. On the monu-
ment is the inscriptions: Sooner shall
these mountains crumble into dust
than Chileans and Argentines shall
break the peace which, at the feet of
Christ, the Redeemer, they have sworn
to maintain" The conception Of such
monument came from the hearts of
Bishop Benavente and Sonora de Costa,
and it was she who, as president of
the Christian Mothers association of
Buenos Ayres, undertook the work of
securing funds and having the statue
created. This was accomplished, and
it was set up March 13, 1904.
The erection of a monument COM
memorative of the international peace
between Argentines and Chileans was
a logical outcome of the events which
were being unfolded on one side and
the other of the Andes.
War seemed inevitable; diplomatic
methods having proved insufficient,
there seemed no other way for the So
luton of the question of boundaries
In order that the national frontiers
should be defined, it was necessary to
stain with human blood that strip of
disputed territory upon the crest of
the Andes. The armies were ready
to begin the campaign; the navies
equipped to put out to sea.
At the supreme moment of giving
the signal to advance, the oppressive
sense of the tremendous responsible
ties which war imposes obliged the
public men of that side and this Of the
Andes to mediate upon the disastrous
consequences of the solution by arms.
The question having been lifted to
this plane Of calculations and proba-
bilities, reason must needs triumph
+. over the impulses Of passion. Chileans
and Argentines rising above the vain
.g1Ory of national self-love, renounced
the solution by force, and instead Of
asking the decision of the dispute from
the unconscious and brutal mouths Of
cannons agreed to receive it from the
lips of an international tribunal.
The ultimate end of war-but one
which war does not always realize-is
the triumph Of reason and justice.
And here reason and justice triumphed
without tears, or blood, or barbarous
,horrors. What victory more worthy to
be frnmortalized in marble and bronze?
The penetrating idea of the COM
memorative monument was in the ma
zional atmosphere. and I had but to
condense it in my spirit to give it
tangible form. If the idea is mine, it
Il In the same way as belongs to the
sculptor the statue which he brings
forth from the block Of marble where
# was sleeping invisible; and even
dare te think that the idea had to is
sue from the brain of a woman, be-
cause it is an idea Of sentiment, and
in all time men have reproached US
for thinking with the heart.
Moreover, everything which tends to
perpetuate peace by It's prestige and
glorif1cation specially interests and af-
-Eeets us women-that is to say, the
mothers, wives, daughters, the be-
trothed of those who must fall sacri-
feed on the battlefields. War may
dazzle men with its lightning flashes
of military glory. For us women it