New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-02-08

BY this hour the managers Of the jamestown
Exposition are scratching their heads and sup
pressing smiles over the protest Of the Epis'
copal bishops who do not want the Exposition
made 1.-The greatest military spectacle the world
has ever, SEEN" 1t IS not merely the irenlo
spirit Of Tolstoy that moves The protestants TO
petitions; it Is more specifically the fact that
the triennial convention Of the Episcopal Church
is to be held this year at Jamestown.
Now, we should like to know why the con-
vention was turned Jamestownward. No bishop
has traitorously given us inside information
as to the motives that made the Church Mill
tant go into summer quarters alongside the ex
POSITIONS barrels OF pinwhees, skyrockets and
blank cartridges, but we suspect most unchar-
itably that those who voted yea" on the mo-
ton TO convene at jamestown saw visions and
dreamed dreams Of shining battleships gliding
over blue waters and believing salutes TO land
and main We Further suspect that the pro-
testing eccleslastics are chairmen Of the various
committees under obligation TO grind out good
deal Of stupid business at high temperature
These unhappy gentlemen foresee the hardshlps
they will endure in trying to keep their col
leagues in a stuffy room auditing bills and
revising bylaws while through the crack I'M
der the bolted door there filters in the heavy
rhythm Of marching men, Where is there a
rector who would not be a boy again when the
troops go by?
There IS more than this, though TO the pro-
test. The Exposition officials should take no
tice Of the complaint against excessive mill
tarsm. The time is not ripe for the total sup
preston of military displays, any more than
ii is for the abolition Of armies and navies
But civilization surely has reached tho point
where a great Exposition should find It good
business to subordinate parades and fireworks
Military displays have their place in any eX-
In Far brv
for they are useful in giving form and impress
siveness TO other special celebrations and they
also serve to instruct the public about the prog
ress made in national defence This second
function is, TO be sure, widely condemned now
adays War being generally deemed an abom-
nation, it is supposed to follow that warlike
displays are likewise abominabe, but we fail
TO follow the argument. At the moment of
writing war remains, we fear, necessary evil
due sometimes to economic malad tustments
and sometimes to human ambitions and stupid
ties though 1t IS being reduced toward an in
nocuous minimum. But this fact does not bear
in the least upon the propriety Of drills and
maneuvres at county fairs and international
expositions. Any display of the instruments
used in dealing with an unavoidable evil is not
itself evil II that were the case we should
have TO forbid public police drills, exhibits Of
the various anti-vice societies, and even dis
plays by the tuberculosis leagues Not even a
crew OF hremen could be consistently permit
ted 20 scurry up ladders and tumble FIVE sto-
ries into nets for the ediflcation of small boys.
Weighty objections TO military display arise
only when all sense Of proportion IS lost and
the exposition management makes uniforms
and torpedo boats the chief attractions. In an
age when the sword is beaten by the plough
share at the polls 1t is not even sound business
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