The Washington herald., 1907-05-01
A PEACEFUL WAR EXHIBIT.
Thoughts Inspired by the array of
Fighters in Hampton Roads.

Thoughts Inspired by the array OF
Fighters in Hampton Roads.
From the Kansas City Journal
Coincident with the renewed activity
among International disarmament adVo-
Gates. there will be gathered In the his
t0ric waters OF Hampton Roads the great.
est aggregation of fighting craft Of mod
ern times. Already the North Atlantic
fleet under the command Of Rear Ad-
miral Robley D. Evans, numbering TWEEN
ty-five battle ships and cruisers, is drawn
up IN reception array. and from now OF
the thunders Of salutes for visiting wal
ships Of all nations viii echo and re-
echo along the shores of the "Old
Dominion"
When IL was announced that the marine
feature of the jamestown Tri-Centennial
Exposition was 10 be given greatest prom
ineHce, many protests against such q
programme were made. 1t was considered
inimleal 10 the propagation OF the peace
idea to instiil in the minds OF the people
Of America. and especially of the Amer
lean youth. the spirit of martial conflict
as represented by a great display OF wal
craft
AS long as the peoples of the world are
not ready to beat their swords into
ptowshares and their spears into prun-
irS hooks they are not ready to trans
form their battle ships into cattle boats
Recently Mr.. W. T. Stead referred the
American people 10 the prophecy in
Isaiah g. where it Is written that people
-se1 -
the Lord and nation shall not lift up
sword against nation: neither shall they
learn war any more" But If the peace
makers can quote Scripture to their pur-
pose so also can the warlike. The latter
point out that the Lord did not say there
shall be no more war" but that many
people" just as the peacemakers Of to-
day" shall say there viii BE no more
war"
Our Warlike brethren do not stop with
this Biblical refutati0n Of Dir. Stead and
his associates. jeremiah, another in
spired writer, said the people shall cry
Peace, peace. when there Is no peace. %
II Mr.. Stead wants 20 know how things
are going TO be IN the near future. one
warrior points out. let him read Joel iii.
9-l3. In Isaiah the Lord tells what the
people viii be saying" but in Joel, he
tells what the people VIII be doing" The
passage from Joel follows. Proclaim ye
among the Gsnules: Prepare war, wake
up the mighty men, let all the men OF
war draw near; let them come up. Beat
your plowshares into swords and your
pruning hooks into spears, let the weak
say / am strong.
In the meantime the smoke from great
fleets In Hampton Roads trails out upon
the waters OF unrest and 308,e)9 tons Of
floating steel bids defiance 10 the advo-
Gates Of disarmament. While the nations
Of the earth continue 10 build gigantic
floating fortresses and keep great armies.
We should give recognition TO the fact
that America IS not being dlstanced in
this regard Our war ships assembled in
Hampton Roads represent our national
pride and spirit OF patriotism and as long
as II is necessary for Us 10 maintain a
navy that navy should be splendid and
glorious. II IS our best guarantee OF
peace. Nevertheless peace IS the condi-
ton toward which the world is tending
and the time will really come when war
viii be an abandoned il not a forgotten
art.