The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1911-05-18

SALTWATER MINNESOTA. THURSDAY, NAY, Is. lel1
IS international Peace ossibIe2
rs Debated Before the Local IChauauquu Circle

what we term Criminal Carelessness, when
human life is sacrificed in so many of the
avocations of life, why not class all forms
of death with that of the Divine purpose to
keep the worlds population from being
overcrowded? But, my friends, there is q
falacy in this reasoning, and when dissect-
ed, reveals itself as such. The struggle for
life is always apparent, against the forces
which exist to destroy it, but man has been
provided with the weapons to battle for his
life, and for his betterment, and when
used are sufficient against death,
except by decay.
Individuals in the abstract, and nations
in the concrete are the Arbiters of their
own destinies. God does not make our
destiny, that power is ours, for if this be
not true, then it stands to reason that the
free moral agency of man is a myth, and
man ought not to be made to suffer for his
mistakes and errors.
But this subject is not germane to the
question of whether there is still room for
a few millions more of people to inhabit
the earth without overcrowding. For /
think you will concede that we might still
safely have century of time in which to
try International Peace, before we found it
necessary to resort to war to reduce the
population; and the only reason refer to
it is to prove that war is not one of the De-
vine Economies to reduce the population of
the Globe, and keep it reduced
The only direct recorded revelation, we
have Of God S will in war is the command:
ssThou shalt not kill, and am willing
to accept it as such, and know of no
reason why every man or woman profess
ing Godliness, or Christianity should not
be willing to accept it as such, and con-
fess have been unable to see any consist
ancy in man or woman claiming to be
the followers of the lowly Nazarine, and
yet justifying their course when they ap-
peal to the sword, to settle disputes either
individual or national in character.
Might does not make right and many are
the cases recorded in the annals of mankind
when might has struck down right, and
many more must be the unrecorded in
stances when the like occurred. Going
back to the close of the fifth century,
sswhen civilization perished in blood and
fames,' as Prof. Freeman says. And the
question has been asked, why this Gigantic
Catastrophe occurred, this disaster which
almost stopped he march of huma n
thotght and science for thousand years?
If there is one thing certain it is that
civilization tends to become stronger than
barbarism. How comes it then that civ
ilization fell before barbarism1' A re-
cent writer has so pertinently asked. The
answer to that question is found in the de-
cay of the Roman people, and that decay
had its beginning and its origin in the wars
of Conquest which it waged. The tri-
umph of the Greeks over the Persians was
the triumph of a higher civilization and a
nobler manhood, but with that triumph
began the decay of the Greek nation, and
they were in turn triumphed over by the Ro-
mans, and the same decay became mani
fest in the Roman people, the degeneracy
of public and private morality, in other
words civilization perished because the
spiritual quality failed in their war for con-
quest, not all the arts, nor all the litera-
ture, nor all the splendor and refnements
of the Roman world could save it from
destruction at the hands of vandais and
/ Goths.
1t was not the decay Of its military spirit
but the decay thru its military spirit of its
morality that brought about its downfall,
and these are not the only instances in
history where the decay of nations great
ness began from its military spirit of CON
quest. ! do not wish to claim that there
have not been exceptions to this rule,s but
it is solemn truth that war for conquest
has never brought the victor permant great
ness among the National Powers; Spain is
certainly an example of this truth.
Before passing to note the possibility Of
International Peace, and the forces in mo-
tion for its accomplishment, want to say
something regarding an assertion Of writ