The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-05-17

do not intend to night. Inc rulers and
cabinets say they do not intend to
fight. The present Secretary of State
is worthy successor to Mr.. Hay and
Mr.. Root = both towering figures
in the ranks of peace. The Secretary
of War, man of enormous ability and
unblemished reputation, presided over
the national peace congress in Chicago
last week. The situation is bit of
a mystery.
There may be something in the argu-
ment for the greater weight of Amer
Jean influence for peace by reason Of
great battle feet. IF I can't see it,
the fault may be in my own limitations.
There are times when a peaeemaker
can use gun to advantage. An incl
dent of my boyhood days comes to my
mind We were a very peaceful lot
of boys in our village. But unfortunate,
ly there was one, much bigger than
the rest, who was bully, foreordained
to trouble. He imposed on US all in
,, way that even after half century
/ still rifles me.
One day, very suddenly, struck him
in the pit of the stomach. It was the
same blow that many years afterward
became famous at Carson City, Nevada,
and made gentleman by the name of
Fitzsimmons. the champion heavyweight
, of the world, and precisely as in the
case of Mr. James Corbett, it gave
totally new direction to the fortunes of
my schoolmate. He sat down and cried
{ in loud voice. Then I whipped him
! more before he got up. Then, on the
very thin pretense of parting us, the
little boys kicked him, individually and
collectively. / speak of it only to al
! lude to the result. We were not with
| out spirit-we boys of that village
but there was no more fighting, for, as
I say, we were peaceful lot, none
of us more so than my friends the bully.
! 1t may be that there is a bully ma
! tion in the family that needs to be
! soundedly and thoroughly thrashed.
/! But even so, the true prescription
would seem to be more haste to COM
plete The Hague world-court, rather
than more millions spent in battle
ships, for battleships are like police
men-when the fight breaks out, there
is a possibility of their being some
! place else.
/ And, besides, it is not the peace Of
/ ficer who carries the most pistols that
/
/ exhibits. the less awe one produces, as
i a rule 1t is not his pistol but his
! business, thats makes the sheriff i'm
/ pressive.
/ If the United States Government had
| declared at the last session of Congress
! against further increase of the Navy,
| on the ground that the word of all
/ nations had been given for peace,
! Great Britain and Germany by this
: time, instead of glarine. like two
/, Calibans at each other, would be on
: broad grin at Uncle Sam for his
straightforward good faith and good
i sense in letting off the tension of the
. world.
| At any rate, a gun carries with it
| elements of weakness as well as
| strength, in the hands of a peace
maker. recall personal experience
that seems in point. I was the pros
f. ecuting attorney in a large city and
| had had very heavy term of court.
| Some twenty men had been sent to
/ penitentiary There had been an cpl
/ demic of robbery. and 1 had fortunate
Iy got inside information that enabled
| me to secure convictions of the whole
gang.
Threatening letters were coming to
me thick and fast, but the thought of
being afraid of the wretched scoun-
| drels had not crossed my mind. One
! night I had worked at my office until
after midnight, preparing my cases
for the next day, and I was about to
start to my home, about a mile away.
| My eye fell upon lot of knives and
! pistols that I was holding as evil
| dence against the owners, from whom
the police had taken them, and [ took
| one of the pistols that was loaded and
i appeared to be in good order, dropped
| it into my overcoat pocket, and set
out for home. The street cars had
| ceased running and there were no
| cabs I had never carried a weapon
/ before, nor. so far as I can recall, ever
| felt fear for my safety, going over
| that familiar city. That was the most
uncomfortable and most humiliating
Journey I ever made up to that time.
At any deeper shadow l looked about
for assassins that were, of course not
| there, and at every unexplained sound
my hand would drop to the handle of
the pistol in my pocket. The argu-
ment is very simple; the pistol made
a coward of me, and made me actual
ly dangerous character. IF one of
my own sons had sprung out at me,
/ might have shot him. / fancy a
| similar psychology works in a nation
| and a man, and that just such a fer
ment in this country is the explana-
ton of the present nervousness about
building Dreadnoughts at $4,000 900
each. with a probable life of ten years
before becoming obsolete.
| We are about as new a member of