Evening journal., 1910-08-12
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
Gladstone and Universal
Peace
BY "HOlland."

81 never read Of the proceedings of
peace conventions or associations
without wondering what would have
been the result had Gladstone taken
part in the proceedings. For 1t was
my good fortune to learn from his
own lips what he thought of disarm-
ament and universal peace, SAID
Senator Chauncey NJ. Depew at
time when universal peace proposals
were assailing the ears of the nations.
ct happened upon an occasion
shortly after Gladstone had resigned
the office of premier in June, 1880.
was guest at dinner in London
at which we're assembled some OF the
leading men in British public life, one
or two governors Of the Bank or Eng
land. and two or three of the great
financiers of Europe. Mr.. Gladstone
was there as the guest of honor.
Before the dinner had gone far !
began to learn at first hand OF the
manner i'm which Gladstone collected
that fund of detailed information
which made him the wonder OF every
one in Europe who knew him. he
turned to one of the financiers.
How much gold do you expect
/ from Australia this year? he asked.
when he was told the amount
have forgotten what II was, several
millions-he turned to another fnan-
cier
"How much gold is India going
10 send us2 he asked Are they
producing any gold in the Lahore dis
] trict? How do they transport the gold
| from the mines at Lahore to the sea-
port?'
THE answers called for received,
Mr.. Gladstones next question was put
to me, and when I had answered as
best | could regarding this country's
production of gold, similar questions
we're directed to others at the table.
! Then, for moment, the Grand Old
Man was silent. All he said break
ing his silence. the world is produc-
! ing about one hundred million OF new
gold a year and England ought TO get
at least half OF it, He had tucked
away the newly gained statistics IN
his mind for future reference and use
THE conversation was changed
and some one spoke about the ques-
ton Of disbanding the armies Of Eu-
rope and curtailing the building OF
navies.
"'How large standing army has
/ Germany asked Mr. Gladstone oil
one of the gentlemen near by, and re-
ceiving the answer he asked success
! lively of as many men how large were
/ the standing armies of France, ltaly
and Russia. Then he turned to me
MIR. Depew. he said, you have nc
standing army i'm the United States
/ - -. ha4 nj
your militia. told him that his in
formation on the subject was correct
Gladstone was again silent for 9
moment or two, evidently making
mental computations. At last h
looked up, and as he did so began e
speak I'm that wonderfully deep and
perfectly modulated voice Of his.
"'Well. gentlemen, he said, thu
standing amries OF Europe number
one million men. I speak in rounS
numbers; the figures are approx
mately correct. Therefore, I'm view o
that fact, / tell you that in my opin
ion the talk Of disarmament is absurd
because 1t is impossible. The day Il
many generations distant, and thu
nature OF individuals, as well as o
nations, must be greatly changed be
fore disarmament will ever be a fac
or anything else than a vague, hypo
thetical condition. We may havl
peoce, but it will be peace, base,
upon strength, fear and power"
( Copyright, 1910, by f. J. Edwards
All rights reserved.)
Tomorrow Mr.. Edwards will tell o
"The Strange Impulse That Estab
lished Record