The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1911-05-21
PEACE DAY OBSERVANCE.

To-Day - / td'' lay. III tn' 'NuitH'S
The ministers are expected 10 speak Of
he benefits, the advantages, and the
dcslrability Of peace. Communities
everywhere are cnioinod 10 support the
sentiment. and 10 give expression TO the
idea thut he whole world should ahhor
fighting and determine hat war should
be no more. Whether this is good
philosophy, whether peace would be
ultimately advantageous 10 mankind
is question much debated, 1t would
seem rs though there arc occasions
when war must br applied as the great
corrective and curative Of unbcarablc
evils or conditions. There arc those
also who hold that the dccadencc of
nations begins when these nations have
attained such supreme power that war
is unknown, because a war against
them in their prime and glory Is hope
peace have brought on decay in the
state and in the nerve of the people,
then war comes on fiercer, more de-
tcrmined, moro ruthless, moro general,
and more devastating than ever.
Whether this view is correct or not, it
is certain that nations have decayed,
and that in their relapse into dccadcnce
wars are more frequent and more dc.
structive than ever
However, today is Peace Day
throughout the land The benefits and
gories Of peace will be dwelt upon
in the churches, on the rostrums, and
in the press. There is nothing in sight
to indicate any present danger TO hn-
manity through the peace propaganda.
There is, on the contrary, much to com
mend the peace movement If we look
at Mexico we see the blighting effects
of an absolutely useless rcactionary
war. Diaz has kept Mexico on scale
of advancement and security never
known before in that country of nat
ura turbulence. On the other hand,
we see in Morocco fanaticai, frenzled
war, absolutely uujustifiable on any
basis Of Justice, or defensible from any
civilized standards. AT the same time,
those conducting that war can only be
made TO cease through fighting; they
will have to be put down, many of them
killed, and they viii have to be held
in subiection until they learn better
sense.
1t is true that in the present day
wars occur or are threatened chiefly
among the peoples that are lacking
somewhat in the advanced civilization
of the age. This in itself is a bad
handicap on any argument that would
speak in favor OF war at the present
day. There is another fallacy on the
same general line, which urges that war
fosters the manly virtues, leads TO Wig
orous vitality, to a high standard of
honor, and to Il respect for higher
things that are commonly not found IN
less warlike people. This Is an argu,
ment, however, that defeats itself, for
war destroys those very individuals
which are so admiringly held up for
our inspection as exemplars of the viz
tues of war, The most vigorous, the
most manly, are killed in war. Grip
pied in war, or are infected by the dis
cases which accompany war, Undoubt-
cdlv il is better for the human race TO
conserve these lives in their manly
vigor than to allow them to be e1tin
guished or marrcd in war. From this
point of view war kills off the most
effective and leaves the least effec-
tive to propagate the race, and main
tain its standard of vitality and. viz
ilitv. Thus war kills the very argu
ment and destroys the very qualities
which are claimed to he the offspring
Of war.
And so the world has come to the
point when it is willing at least tc
consider the plea that we must have
war no more And today is the day
chosen TO advocate that sentiment. Al
the better tendencies Of the human
mind and character arc invoked III
support of this peace sentiment In
salt Lake. as elsewhere throughout The
Republic, the demonstrations for peace
will bc active and general today. Le
all good citizenship support the move
mcnt and Tins wipe out that which dis
tinguished authority has pronounced t.
| be hell,