The morning journal-courier., 1908-04-28

mortal The officers change but once a year, The city Is proud of this an cicnt company and l am sure the members of the company are proud of the place that has grown up with them,
 Dean Rogers Speech.
 Dean Rogers made the address of the evening, his subject being The American Soldier" He said in part
 The president of the United States believes in war. It Ia his opinion that every so often war Is necessary to keep a people from degenerating into q nation of mollycoddles. The pres ident Is q man of great ability of wonderful versatility, and of no little originality, He eSerts q remarkable influence upon the American people. But Is he right in supposng that war Is essential to preserve the greatness of the race? His Idea that war Is in Itself good thing did not originate with him. It Is an Idea which has come down through the ages In Germany, in our own day, Von Moltke has proclaimed that war was sacred, a divine institution which has saved men from sinking into the most shocking materialism. In France, | likewise in our day, Zola has declared not only that disarmament Is lmpos- sible but that only an armed nation can be great and that general disar- mament would be followed by moral degeneration and widespread effemin- acy. In England fifty or more years ago, De Quincy wrote his essay on war to prove not only that war could not possibly be abolished but that 1t ought not be abolished.
 It seems to me incredible that men should believe in war for wars sake I am not convinced that war is to be commended as a good in itself Against yon Moltke l put the opinion ! of Martin Luther that War is one of the greatest plaques that can afllict humanity; it destroys religion, 1t de- stroys states, it destroys families Any scourge, in fact, Is preferable to it. Famine and pestilence become as nothing in comparison with It. l Cannon and firearms are cruel and damnable machines. l believe them to have been the direct suggestion of the devil" Against Zola 1 put the opinion of Victor Hugo that "A day will come when the only battlefield I will be the market to commerce and the mind opening to new ideas
 X day will come when bullets and bombshells will he replaced by votes, by the universal suffrage of nations, by the venerable arbitration of d great sovereign senate, which will be to Eu- rope what the Parliament is to Eng land what the Diet IS to Germany, what the Legislative Assembly Is to France"
 Against De Qulncey put the opinion of Emerson, who said. War Ia on Its last legs; and universal peace is as sure as Is the prevalence of civilization over barbarism. of liberal governments over feudal forms The question for us is only How soon?"
 Against the President I put the opin- ions of Washington and Jefferson Washington declared that his first wish wax to see the plague of war banished from tho earth. Jefferson said; 'I love peace, and am anxious that we should give the world still another useful les son. by showing them other modes o' punishing injuries than by war, which Is as much punishment to the sui ferer. I ahhor war and view 1t as the greatest scourge of mankind"
 I hope day may come and I believe 1t will when the nations will consent to disarmament. believe nations ought to settle international difference by ar bitration. l believe in an internationa court at The Hague. l am proud of thC