The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-12-05

republics have now, for the first time. been invited to join in the proposed coll ference.
 The close connection between the sub jects to be taken up by the Red Cross conference held at Geneva last summer. and the subjects which naturally would come before The Hague conference, made 1t apparent that it was desirable to have the work of the Red Cross conference completed and considered by the different powers before the meeting at The Hague. The Red Cross conference ended it's la bors on the 9th day of July, and the re- vised and amended convention, which was signed by the American delegates, will be promptly laid before the Senate.
 By the special and highly appreciated courtesy of the governments of Russia and the Netherlands, a proposal to call The Hague conference together at a time which would conflict with the conference of the American republics at Rio de Jan eiro in August was laid aside. No other date has yet been suggested. A tenta- tive programme for the conference has been proposed by the government of Rus sia, and the subjects which it enumerates are undergoing careful examination and consideration in preparation for the con- ference.
 Peace nd Righteousness.
 It must ever be kept in mind that war is not merely iustifiable but imperative upon honorable men, upon an honorable nation, where peace can only be obtained by the sacrifice of conscientious convic- ton or of national welfare. Peace is normally a great good, and normally it coincides with righteousness; but it is righteousness and not peace which should bind the conscience of a nation as it should bind the conscience of an in dividual; and neither a nation nor an individual can surrender conscience , to anothers keeping. Neither can nation, which is an entity, and which does not die as individuals die, refrain from talk ing thought for the interest of the gener- ations of today; and no public men have a right whether from shortsightedness, from selfish indifference, or from senti- mentality, to sacrifice national interests which are vital in character A just war is in the long run far better for na- tions soul than the most prosperous peace obtained by acquiescence in wrong CT injustice Moreover, though it is crim- inal for nation not to prepare for war, vet it must always be remembered that even to be defeated in war may be far better than not to have fought at all. As has been we'll and finely said, a beaten nation is not necessarily a disgraced na- ton; but the nation or man is disgraced if the obligation to defend right is shirxed.
 We should as a nation do everything in our power for the cause of honorable peace It is morally as indefensible for a nation to commit a wrong upon another nation, strong or weak, as for an indivld- ual thus to wrong his fellows. We should do all In our power to hasten the day when there shall be peace among the nations-a peace based upon justice and not upon cowardly submission to wrong. We can accomplish a good deal in this direction, but we can not accomplish eN- erything, and the penalty of attempting to do too much would almost inevitably be to do worse than nothing; for it must be remembered that fantastic extremists are not in reality leaders of the causes which they espouse, but are ordinarily those who do most to hamper the real leaders of the cause and to damage the cause itself As yet there is no likelihood of establishing any kind of international power of whatsoever sort, which can effectively check wrongdoing, and in these circumstances it would be both a foolish and an evil thing for a great and free nation to deprive itself of the power to protect it's own rights and even in eX- ceptional cases to stand up for the rights of others. Nothing would more promote iniquity, nothing would further defer the reign upon earth of peace and righteous ness, than for the free and enlightened peoples WHICH, lllOuBu Wltn bling and many shortcomings, neverthe- less strive toward justice, deliberately to render themselves powerless while leav- ing every despotism and barbarism armed and able to work their wicked will. The chance for the settlements of disputes peacefully. by arbitration, now depends mainly upon the possession by the na- tions that mean to do right of sufficient armed strength to make their purpose ef- fective.
 The Navy and Army.
 The United States navy is the surest guarantor of peace which this country possesses. It is earnestly to be wished that we would profit by the teachings of history in this matter. A strong and wise people will study it's own failures no less than its triumphs, for there is wisdom to be learned from the study of both, of the mistake as well as of the success For this purpose nothing could be more instructive than rational study of the war of 1872 as it is told, for instance, by Captain Mahan. There was only one way in which that war could have been avoid ed If during the preceding twelve years a navy relatively as strong as that which this country now has had been built up. and an army provided relatively as good as that which the country now has. there never would have been the slightest necessity of fighting the war; and if the necessity had arisen the war would under such circumstances, have ended with our speedy and overwhelming triumph. But our people during those twelve years refused to make any prepa- rations whatever, regarding either the army or the navy. They saved a million or two of dollars by so doing; and in mere money paid hundredfold for each million they thus saved during the three years of war which folowed-a war which brought untold suffering upon our people, which at one time threatened the gravest national disaster, and which, in spite of the necessity of waging it, re- suited merely in what was in effect q drawn battle while the balance of de- feat and triumph was almost even.
 do not ask that we continue to in crease our navy. I ask merely that it be maintained at its present strength; and this can be done only if we replace the obsolete and outworn ships by new and good ones, the equals of any afioat in any navy. To stop building ships for one year means that for that year the navy goes hack instead of forward. The old battleship Texas. for instance, would now be of little service in stand-up fight with a powerful adversary. The old double-turret monitors have outworn their usefulness. while 1t was waste of money to build the modern single-turret monitors All these ships should be re- placed by others; and this can be done by well settled programme of provd- ing for the building each year of at least one frst-class battleship equal in size and speed to any that any nation is at the same time building; the armament pre- suuably to consist of as large number as possible of very heavy guns of one caliber. together with smaller guns 10 repol torpedo attack; while there should