The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-05-18

! W nat Inc TrlenlS or humanity wanted II
/ to do was TO formulate peace without
doing much for war; and now the ques-
ton is how such change in its pur-
poses may be brought TO pass. Facing
| this problem let US recur to the open
| ing thought about the great promise OF
the work of the church; for where the
zeal of the church is kindled, outside
! the realm of sect and dogma, the
schools and the press, the people, and
I through them the State, sooner or later
/ find a kindred inspiration.
COMPLETE CIVILIZATION.
| The thing to do, before we can be
sure Of The Hague, is TO complete the
| civilization of our governments. That
/ is the first objective; and it Is a vital
| objective because our governments,
elective and hereditary, are far less
civilized than they require US TO be; and
some of them are almost as barbarian
| as we were in the ages of private war
fare.
Is it not true that government turns
to war to settle grievances which its
subject or citizen is obliged to take
into court of law? The State feels
free, upon point of honor, to fight a
gigantic duel with another State; but
the man, beholden to its laws, if he
has been. insulted or foully wronged,
may sue for damages but he may not
fight. If he even writes a challenge
there is a sheriff at his elbow The
State fights for its grudge; the man
must refer his to a jury of his peers.
The State may rob and shay its foes and
burn their property; but the citizen who
steals or kills or applies the torch is
punished as a malefactor by the State.
The man must be orderly and humane,
but his government may set an example
of privileged violence And so we hold
that, unless governments can be led to
accept for themselves the rules of con-
duct which they have made for the peO-
pie under them, they will keep society
from reaching that rational state of
being towards which civilization turns
as the needle to the Pole.
CHURCH, SCHOOL AND PRESS.
In admitting that there has been
progress among governments towards
more humane rules of war we but
strengthen the plea for further work by
the church and the moral agents that
labor with it, For it IS to these dy-
manic forces in our better life that we
owe what has already been achieved.
Without the free church, the free school
and the free press, the State would still
be as savage as it was in the dark ages.
BY their influence upon the people, act
ing through the people upon the State,
war has become less horrible; and we
have obtained that system of prece-
dents, partly governing it, known as
international law. By this code piracy,
the azor-edging of swords, the poison
ing of wells and streams, the slaughter
of wounded, the robbery of non-com-
batants, have been stopped and with
the help of The Hague we may soon
get further rules of this character,
eventually leading to the reform which
expresses the final triumph of civiliza-
ton over the primitive instincts of man.
Surely in dealing with the greater
aspiration, the church, the school and
the press viii feel the burden of a
heavy task. The world is still building
Dreadnaughts; armies are adding to
their ranks and to the power of their
batteries; military states still believe
with Won Moltke that universal peace is
only a dream and not even a beautiful
one; and even now an enlightened ma
ton cannot sleep at night because it
fears that another enlightened nation,
to whom it has given no offence, will
land an army on its shores and sack its
treasures.
First civilize the governments that
are set over US. They must be taught to
accept the broader logic of their mar
row laws and to prohibit public war
through the same code by which they
have outlawed private war. 1t may
take long time to win this reform, but
good men can be in no better business.
Nor need they fear the result. The
common instinct of Justice, the behests
of religion, the logic of human develop
ment. the higher aims of man-all are
on the side of those who oppose, in the
affairs of nations, decisions of might as
from DEGREES of wisdom |
Only our rulers are in the way; and |
them we may well rebuke in the voice |
of him who was not for an age but for |
all time:
F'ie, lords! that you, being supreme
magistrates,
Thus contumeliously should break the
peace.
HISTORICAL INCONSISTENCIES.
The history of society in its dual
growth is one of curious inconsistencies.
When society began to form, it was
the brute habit to settle all differences
between men by force. The angry or
the greedy man attacked his neighbor
with a club or a stone ak and the sur
VivOr of the fight got whatever they
we're battling for, the honors or the
1t was then that might set
tied titles; but might could never make
right and in time mans natural sense
Of justice called for some other and
wiser adjudication. Then the head of
the tribe, the Patriarch, was asked to
decide the quarrel. He did so. as best
ne could, but often the loser did not re-
spect his decision and attacked the win
ner, to kill him. The peace loving
members of the tribe then saw that, if
the patriarehial court was to be worth
anything to them, armed men must be
to enforce its decisions When
that was done the court got power to
sustain authority. It was backed by
force. A lawful police had been pro