The Fargo forum and daily republican., 1909-05-19

injury upon another people. to say
nothing of the enginerys of electricity,
have changed the significance of the
word "island."
"The greatest present obstacle to
the limitation of the ornaments un-
der the weight of which the world is
staggering toward bankruptcy; the
greatest obstacle m carving forward
those social and economic reforms
for which every nation is crying out,
that it's population may be better
housed, the public health more COM
pletely protected, and the burden of
the wage earning classes, appears to
me to be the insistence by England
on what it calls a two power naval
standard. This leads, and will in
evitably lead, to huge programmes of
naval construction in every nation
where the patriotism and good sense of
the people do not put a stop to this
modern form of madness.
at is the plain duty of the friends
of both England and Germany-and
what right-minded man is not the
warm friend and admirer of both these
splendid peoples - to exert every
possible influence to promote a better
understanding of each of these peoples
by the other, a fuller appreciation of
the services of each to modern civili-
zation, and to point out the folly, not
to speak of the wickedness, of per-
mitting the seeds of discord to be sown
between them by any element in the
population of, either 49, 1855 .a. ID
"The aim of all rational and prac-
ticable activity for the permanent es-
tablishment of the worlds peace. and
for the promotion of Justice, is ana
must always be the education of the
worlds public opinion. Governments,
however popular and however power
full, have ceased to dominates; every
where public opinion dominates gov
ernments. AS never before, public
opinion is concerning itself with the
solution of grave economic and social
questions which must be solved Alright
If the reat masses of the worlds pop
ulation are to share comfort and hap
piness. A nations credit means the
general belief i'm its ability to paw in
the future. That notion which per-
sistently turns away from the con-
sideration of those economic questions
upon which the productive power or its
population must in last resort depend,
limits and eventually destroys its own
credit. That nation which insists, in
response to cries more or less inarticu-
late and to formulas more or less out
worn, upon spending the treasure TAX
en- from its population in taxes upon
useless and wasteful ornaments, hast
ems its day of doom, for it inpairs its
credits or ultimate borrowing capacity
in a double way. 1t not only expends
unproductively and wastefully vast
sums of the nations taxes, but Ii SUB
stitutes this unproductive and waste
full expenditure for an expenditure Of
equal amount, which might well be
both productive and uplifting. The
alternative to press upon the atten-
tion of mankind is that of huge ar
maments or social and economic i'm
provement. The world cannot nave
both. There is limit to mans capa
city to yield up taxes for public use.
Economic consumption is now heavily
taxed everywhere Accumulated
wealth is being sought out in It's
hiding places, and is constantly being
loaded with a heavier burden. All this
cannot go on forever. The world must
choose between pinning it's faith
to the symbols Of a splendid barbarism
and devoting its energies to the task
of an enlightened civilization"
s