The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1911-04-26
FRENCH BARON
TALKS ON WAR
Constant, a Frenchman, Says Talk
of Contest With Mexico
or Japan Is Absurd
HE WEEPS WHEN HE SEES
THE MISSISSIPPI WASTED
Soldiers Should Be Road Builders
Instead of Warriors--Women
Should Stop War by Refusing
to Consider Soldier Glorious

|
to Consider Soldier Glorious
| ST. LOUIS, April 25.--The distin-
guished Frenchman, Paul Henri Ben
| jamin 'Estournelles. Baron de Con-
slant, apostle of the worldwide peace,
who is a member of the national con-
gress of his country. and who was one
of the recent winners of he Nobel
peace prize, was the guest of honor
last night of the Round Table at the
st. Louis club. The feature Of his day
in the city, however was an address
delivered at Washington University
chapel yesterday morning, in which
he advised the students that instead
of being sent to war The youth of this
country should be employed to inn
prove the public roads He criticizcd
in friendly way the deserted Ameri-
can streams, which, he said, should
bear the commerce of the land in
stead of being allowed to run useless
ly to the sea.
Excuse me-" he said 81 hope you
are not touchy on the subject, but
you have no roads in the sense we
have them in Europe. Your president
took me around this beautiful city,
and we saw bits of fine roads, but
they are only bits You will not
have roads until every farm house in
the country is connected with the
railroad station"
He said he had been anxious to see
the river for which La Sale anu
other Frenchmen had sacrificed their
lives
II went down to New Orleans" he
continued. land the first thing l asked
to see was the river. And what did l
see? There was the splendid river,
but not a boat on it, lying there,
shorn of its usefulness. In Kansas
City it was the same. I have not yet
seen the river at St Louis The
United States needs good roads, with
the rivers connecting with her rail-
roads by means Of steamboats,, as in
former times.
War Scare Amuses Him.
IT'S pity and shame to give
the river over to floods and destruc-
ton
landing in New York
talk about peace" said my friends.
Why, what is the matter?'
asked
"'War with Mexico they declared.
SO l thought ] would go to the seat of
war, and | went down to Ell Paso, to
San Antonio and out to California.
ut is absurd to think the United
States has any cause to go to var.
" by these little neishho n BOD trou-
bles arise all the time and are not a
cause for war. But still the talk of
war persisted. and when I told how
absurd the reasons advanced We're, it
was darllly limited that something else
was back of it,
"'But WHAT / asked, and was told
in a whisper that Japan was back of
it; that Mexico was full of spies of
the Japanese and that they were the
Iimpeling cause of the trouble.
ANY such claim is absurd. Japan
would remain just where she is, but
with all other nations against her, il
she conquered the United States, and
the United states would gain nothing
by conquering Japan"
He drew a picture of the horrors of
war as the Europeans know it, but as
Americans with their few wars do
not. He told of the march of the
100000 young men, many of them 16
and Is years old, under Napoleon, into
Russia, and the coming back of
10000 broken and diseased for life,
With all the modern means of COM
munication he said war is unnecessary.
Says Women Should Oppose War.
The voice of the women will be
lifted against war he said, land
much depends on their influence. II
they look upon it as glorious career,
men will think of it in the same way;
but if they are Disguised with its vio-
lence their influence will have effect"
In beginning his address to the stu
dents Baron de Constant spoke in
French. AS puzzled expressions cloud
co the faces of his hearers he stopped
and said in the best of English:
81 could make a good speech II you
would let me speak in my own
tongue"
The baron yesterday morning was
met at Union station by Robert =.
Brookings a trustee of the $10,000,000
peace fund recently given by Andrew
Carnegie. He was taken by auto to
the Linden boulevard residence of Mr..
Brookings. where he is guest during
his st Louis stay. He is of medium
height, with gray hair and moustache.
81 think st Louis IA beautiful city"
he said at the Brookings home, land I
have seldom seen a finer street thar
that | have Just driven over refer
ring to Lndell boulevard
"War belongs to the past he de-
clared, speaking on his favorite theme.
''War is not in any sense solution
of amy question. No great problems
were over solved by il. Most, if not
all, wars could have been avoided"