The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-12-24

on the mount We are told Blessed arc the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.
 ''fhe meeting here tonight is to ex- press our appreciation of the cause which tlie speaker represents, and to mingle our voices with his in the prayer that the Senate of the United States will make these treaties part of the law of the land. But we are also gathered to testify our unfeigned admiration and affection for one whose services have been as eni- nent and as beneficial to his people as any man who has lived in this generation
 Fellow citizens, it is my pleasure to present to you the Hon. Henry Waiter son. one of the first citizens of the United States of America"
 MT. WattersOn's Address
 When the echoes of the applause that signaled the close of the intro 'duction MT. Watterson arose. a figure of strength whose snowy locks were the heirlooms of many years of pub lie endeavor, to begin and said In part
 Let us have peace" said Grant; with malice toward none and charity toward all,'' said Lincoln; Blessed are liio ptatGntdhtlS lOl lHGN SHdfl inherit the earth" said Jesus in His sermon on the Mount
 1 ''It would seem that matter of such public benefit as the arbitration treaties this government would need little urging. In England and France there is no diversity of opinion what ever regarding these treaties, but here h1 this country, either from lack of knowledge on this subject, or perver- cit txr.-H appeal to reason that peace is better than war has become necessary. Here we have striking example of the human absentmindednes to things ob- vious and the passing by of facts that are easily accessible. The rule that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure is too rarely applied in this country.
 T belong to that body of men who require a deal of coaxing to be good. Uaughter.) I grew up to manhood under that old subterfuge known as the code of honor, which was unmanly and had no qualities of equity to com mend it. I realized that the profess sional duellists fell away from the line Of battle when war was declared and were absent from the ranks of our sol diery. Too often they knew only too well the weak point of man and took NffAoN opNaHtdSt Ol lnlS hHOWlGQR6 10 challenge him. So duellos became dis credited in the south as they had sunk into oblivion in the north years before. The decline of the duel and so called code in England and the United States led my mind to think that this could be done with. nations. If individual com bat could be eliminated among gentle men l concluded that it could also be done between collective bodies of men.
 hot to decide that this could be done, as I am, temperamentally speaking, trifle given to contention, and circumstances have made me bit of a jingo. Gaugh- ter) I have spent some time in my early days across the ocean. I loved to see the bunting flying and hear the eagle scream. I have longed to twist the tail of the English lion until the proper rec ognition, in my estimation, was given me as a citizen of the United States. But these are little international pleasantries that are not to disturb the friendly re- lations between this country and Eng land.
 Wise Treaties
 ''The peace treaties are wise and far seeing, possible and practicable If they were but pipe dreams and misty vision ings of the future, would still support them. l spoke of the ignorance among men, but the ignorance seems to be in evidence, too, in the Senate chamber of the United States.
 "The peace treaties provide two instru- ments for the averting of war and pro. motion of peace; a commission of inquiry to consist of three representatives from each of the three nations; commission in arbitration, whose decisions are moi to become law until the President of the TTpitad Ctaf fd txun birdo of fba ate have confirmed them. The rulings oi the inquiry commission, which is to de termine whether the matter of dispute is arbitrable or not, cannot become de- cisions unless it is unanimous in the commission, with the exception of one vote. Two of the votes may nullify theiI decisions.
 "One of the objections that has been raised to the treaties is that foreign bond holders might take up the state bonds of this country, especially those of the old Confederacy. The preamble of the pro posed treaties stipulates that only maS ters of the future are to be dealt with If these treaties do nosgood, I hold that they can do no harm. I can't see why if 100 years ago no. gentlemen of Eng land or this country, could refuse chai- lenge and retain his social standing, and now that any man who would issue a challenge would be considered unbal- anced, it could not come to pass that bloody war would be all but impossible The instruments of warin use today are so destructive that the issue is deter mined by single battle.
 Universal Peace Movement
 ''The movement for universal peace be- gan with the peace conference in 1899, and that has since been followed by Cen .,.. .fx,.a ,or The idea that arbitration is a modern notion concocted in the brains of few men is fallacy, for we can trace this mode of settlement as far back as the eighteenth century, and we have on rec ord 15O cases since 1900. But the trouble with these cases is that they did not go far enough. The pending treaties have the advantages of at least covering every thing necessary to avert war and pro mote peace. How long do you think the horrible atrocities reported from Africa would continue if Italy and Turkey had agreements of arbitration?
 ''The treaties would at least give the war spirit time to cool, while the com mission of inquiry investigated the arbi- trable points of the dispute.
 War depletes the manhood of a na- ton. This has been shown by the wars of Greece, of Rome, of France and our own SectloHdl war WISH eNeiy Aiici- ican could read that book recently writ ten by pr. D. $. Jordan It proves con- clusively that war is depletion of man. hood wherever it occurs and that luxury precedes the downfall of a nation.
 ."rbe world moves on apace. ! am Methodist enough to think that we go on from grace to grace to perfection. think a dose or two of arbitration would have done the work in the war scarce of England and Germany a few years ago I am not and have never been a free