The silver state news. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1907-1909, 1907-12-19
A Plea for Higher Civilization

The great teaching of Christmas is that of ''Peace OF earth, good will
toward men," These were the first words uttered when w that the
Christ had come, WAS scattered to the world, that had waited enture fr
His coming And this being the celebration of the adcent of the Christ,
into HI world in which we live, a plea for more of peace and lsso of strife
among the races of men particularly suitable.
Vast is the gulf between peace and strife. On this side the one, with
ealmness OF mind, and the joy of living; on that side the other ineongruty
of conditions, carnage, bloodshed How greatly to be desired the one, how
greatly to be despsed the other. Peace is a trait of the reasoning powers,
and strife is a condition of savagery. Witness the dumb brutes, or the
savages OF any land, engaged in needless strife, IN thenturn to civilization
whore disputes are settled in peaceable ways We turf in horror from the
scene of W bulldogs, for instance. in the thoes of a fight to the death,
for 10 other cause than that they hap pened to meet, or were thrown to
gether by me- with brutal instincts. Contrast this scene with the actions
of a reasoning and peaeeable nan ashe accidentally ioshes OF steps . the
toe of his fellow man turning to hin, ana with a smile begging his pardon.
How awful is he on how beauhfulis the other
If human beings resorted to reason always, there would be n o strife
Every dispute which it is possible to conceive, all conditions where the
opinion If one nan dfes from hat of his fellow la could be amcaby
adjusted, if all men used the reasoning powers that they have been endowed
with. The time is coming when peace will be supreme. The fulflment of
such conditions is yet centuries am ages in the future, nevertheless it is
approaching.
The beginning was with the birth Of the Christ child. Previous to that
time the lay Of self and the potency of might over right we're the dominat-
ing factors of the earth. Such a law surrounded all life. The survival of
the ftt@t vas the fundamental pnnv le upon which life existed. The
savage warrior powerful in his " arms, and the support which he was
able to gather unto himself, vas the sovereign dictator of right and wrong
In the struggle for existence, h weak and the innocent were conquered.
A dispute meant a battea and a battle meant death. In times If scarcity of
food, the strong fed and the weak hungered and died. There was n rea
son, no equity, or justice. Such condition was the same ast that which as
been IL fundamental environment of all living things sprung from a com
mon ancestry The same law which prevailed in the animal kingdom held
sway in the human family before the coming Of Christ.
But the angels who brought the news Of the birth of a Savior told also
of a e condition of life, that of - Peace on earth, and good will toward
men, The law of self I'M the survival. of the fttest, the potency of
nigh over right vas to be changed. Ages m ages were to pass beforet they
would 'beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning
hooks The centuries are rolling on, the change is still in progress. Many
swords and spears ave been beaten up into implements of peace, bt still
there are many implements of war yet to be discarded. But the day ap
nroacbas whom paaeau will no surname over rfe