The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-07-19
GOOD WORK AT GENEVA.

4ae GeneVa congress appears to
have done good work in it's revision
OF the convention Of 1864, concerning
the care of the wounded and the pro-
lection of the hospital STATS in war.
There are no striking changes. None
were called for. But there has been
q logical extension of the original
humane principles to meet whatever
new conditions may have been de-
veloped In warfare and to cover such
points of need as may have been
developed in actual experience. It is
to be assumed that some valuable ad-
ditions to the code were suggested by
the conduct of the Japanese in the
late war with Russia. In that con-
fiict the Japanese carried not only
sanitation, but also hospital service.
to far higher pitch of efficiency than
mad ever been known before, and set
an example to all the world in the
KIND and generous treatment of the
enemy's wounded. Adoption of the
example of that once-called "heathen"
nation will be creditable to Christian
civilization.
We have only to recall the perfectly
we'll authenticated stories of ancient
wars, and, indeed, of wars within the
scope OF modern history, to see how
vast mas been the progress of human
ity in this respect Imagine a Dro-
posal in the English civil war, or in
the Thirty Years. War on the Con-
tinent, for the care of the sick and
wounded OF the enemy's army, or an
order against any pillaging in some
OF the Napoleonic campaigns! Or in
even more recent wars, even in orr
own, imagine the assumption of an
oDhgatlon by the victor carefully and
reverently' to examine the bodies Of
the enemy's slain and to gather and
transmit to the other side all letters
and pieces of personal property found
upon them! Time was when it would
nave been deemed madness to suggest
the doing OF such things. Time now
1s when every nation voluntarily
pledges itself to do them, and when
any nation not doing them would
thereby put itself outside the pale of
international comfy.
Ihls record at Geneva rebukes those
incorporate prOpagandists of instant
disarmament and indiscriminate peace
at any price who have lately been de-
claring In formal resolutions that all
wars are equally savage and wicked.
Granted that war is one of the most
dreadful evils which can befall the
world, it is still irrational to a fana-
tical degree to deny the possibility of
circumscribing its evil effects and of
mitigating its miseries. To DENY that
and to decry such conventions as that
OF Geneva are equivalent to refusing
an anaesthetic to the subject of a
painful surgical operation. The
chloroform does not lessen the horror
of an amputation, or the loss, but it
does enormously lessen the anguish
of the patient. War is still war. for
all the Red Cross treaties, but the suf-
ferings which it inflicts are greatly
minimize. In the hall in which this
Geneva congress met there stands a
little plough, made of finely tempered
steel taken from the blades of swords
once used in battle in our Civil War.
The universal peace of which It is
emblemaic still belongs to the future,
but we cannot doubt that what has
been done in the presence Of that in
teresting memorial will contribute
materially to sue ha consmmation.