Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-05-08
WORLD-PETITION FOR PEACE

Miss A. 3. E,ckstein of Boston Is cir
culating a petition addressed to the
next Hague congress- which vii II, In all
| probability, meet In 1915. i asks that
| body to agree upon q convention by vir-t
ture OF which each nation shall obligate
ests by conventions and treaties, thus
obviating the necessity OF war between
cizIlized powers.
Tho petition Is circulated by thou
sands in different countries, and mil
lions OF signatures have already been
obtained
Miss Ecksteir delivered the following
address at the Peace Congress in Chi
cago, May 81:
The wcr.d- petition is the outcome OF
q pressing need, Il democratic duty, O
practical experiment and an idea coT-
corning national integrity and honor.
Tie pressing need Is the abolition OF
war and substitution of paciiic MONS
for the settlement of international DIFF
flculties 1t is the most pressing Of all
needs today for two reasons: Firss,
because preparation for wal, has grown
so expensive that it is driving the ma
lions with alarming rapidity toward tho
abyss of Bankruptcy; and second. be-
cause war itself has become ineffectiva
as Il means of deciding international
Scontroversi since q wall between two 4
of the leading powers, today, would
mean mutual economic ruin before
decisive victory and defeat could be
reached.
The democratic duty is the duty
evolving from the democratic right now
enjoyed by most peoples, to have a
voice in the shaping of their national
and international affairs. 1t is the
dutS, to exercise this right. a
The practical experiment is the arbi-
tratinn petition presented to his excel
.lency, President Neiidow of tho second
Hague conference by the president OF
the American Peace society, Hon. Rob-
ert T. Paine and myself on the Fourth
OF July, year before last. In the short
time Of hardly five months that pet!-
ton had around 100000 signatures
from the United States. and in about
five weeks ! had several hundred thou
sand from Great Britain and Germany,
thanks to the ready and unseltish CO
operation of peace friends here and
abroad. Collecting these Signatures
proved that even the Indifferent and
skeptics will see that the wish for the
abolition of war is no longer futile, and
once seeing, they will do their duty,
which is to manifest that wish. In
other words, collecting these signatures
proved that most everybody wishes the
abolition Of war, and that to obtain a
united expression or this universal wish
is a thing which can be done.
But after all it is not the people
alone who shape their national and
International laws, and therefore, am
other question is: are the responsible
about the abolition of war, when every
where every yeal. new millions upon
of dollars are demanded for
continued preparation for war? Villa
petition, even if it represents a major
ity world-vote, do any good?
When was at the Hague to present
the arbitration petition Of which
spoke, DR.. Hill, now our United States
ambassador at Berlin, said to me:
our petition Is in the right direc-
tion.'i'
Mr.. Nelidow, during the generous au-
dience he granted Mr.. Paine and me,
said the same thing and FURTHER
among many other interesting things
he said this: I'VE are not for one mo-
ment losing sight of the original and
ultimate object-the reduction at arm
Majesty the Gear of Russia, first in
vited the governments to meet in joint
consultation. But, as in any disease 1t |
is of no use TO treat the symptoms, SO |
the attempts have shown that 1t Is |
futile to spend our energies on plans |
for simultaneous reduction Of arma-
nlents, because ornaments are only |
the symptoms of the disease of civ
ilization. We must go deeper. We
must concentrate forces on the remov-
al of the cause OF the disease, which |
is war This is what we are doing |
now. And wish to say to you, and |
wish to sayEit with the strongest en-
phasis, that every new day Of the .