The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1911-11-03
FROM A LECTURE AT THE
TEACHERS INSTITUTE AT :.
POCATELLO
Brains VS.. War

In his lecture on Brains VS.. war
DR.. Howerth said in part. War Is
the most conspicuous illustration of
social waste. The economical loses
of war are only half the story. There
remain the ethical and moral loses
the debasement of character, the
hatred engendered, the sorrow and
suffering inflicted upon the helpless
and the innocent, and all the other
evils incident upon war. The ques-
ton is not; Is any good derived
from war? There is probably no
form of. national expenditures, no
evil, to which some benefit may not
be traced. The question is; Do
warlike expenditures bring as. great
a return as they would if applied in
some other direction? Are the be-fc-
fits derived from war worth the price
paid for them? Might not the quail
ties of devotion, courage, etc., be de-
veloped at less expense and without
Enchanting all the brutal passions.
Put it this way, the question has Du'
one answer-war is waste; for the
test of waste is what might be done
with the same means most wi-eiy
expended.
Suppose that the United States
had turned its expenditures for wal
to the direct promotion of the pur-
suits of peace. Can anyone doubt
that the benefit to the country would
have been immeasurably greater?
Cut the estimated war expense of the
last eight years in two, and there
would still be enough to construct
the Panama canal, according to the
original estimate, and to secure the
great increase in commerce it is ex-
pected to bring; to irrigate a large
part of our arid lands and make
homes for thousands of people where
now is barren waste, and to educate
the 3,720,O0O children in the country
now said to be without educational
privileges; or, if devoted to the SIT
ence of preventative medicine, it
would have heightened the average
of human life and have brought
health and happiness into thousands
of homes where now is disease and
despair. What wisdom is there in
spending millions to protect our
coasts from an anonymous enemy ana
practically nothing to protect the
lives and health of the people?
Before expanding another seven
and half million in the construction
of a war-vessel, we should consider
carefully what might be done of pub
lie value with that amount of money.
Suppose it were invested in education.
The average cost of a school-house in
the south is about $275, and the
average wage of the teacher about
$25 monthly. Seven millions, five
hundred thousand dollars; the cost
of the best type of warship, would
build over $4,000 school houses, or
employ over $1,000 teachers for the
school year of eight months The con-
gressional library at Washington cost
100000, a little more than half
the cost of battle ship. Which is
worth more to the country? and
which should be the object of great
est pride? There are little colleges
in our land, struggling along with
an endowment of less than million
that are more to the nation than any
war vessel that ever was built. They
have made men, and man is worth
more than a man-of-war. There is
really no comparison between the
value of money spent in fighting
ships, which anyhow are soon out O.
date and must go to the scrap-heap,
and money spent for education. The
true greatness of our nation depends
upon the intelligence and character
of our people. Instead, therefore, OF
increasing our sea-power by strength
ening our nevy, we should increase
our brain power by Strengthening our
schools. Brains are worth more than
battle ships. A good school is better
than a fort, and the best army a
nation can have is an army of intelli-
gent school teachers, for the true
greatness of our nation depends upon
the intelligence and character of our
people.
"War, then, may be truly consid-
cred as waste in comparison with
education. Consequently, economy
demands that vast streams of revenue
which has hitherto been flowing out
upon the sands Of war, where it
shrinks and is lost, should be direct
ed over the fields of education and