The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1911-04-26
with the JInaoes

Il am absolutely convinced that
there is q criminal conspiracy on
foot for the purpose of bringing on a
war between the United States and
Japan. Thousands upon thousands
of dollars are being spent TO carry on
this propaganda. "-Congressman Fos-
ter, Of Vermont member of the com
mittee on foreign affairs.
'These rumors of war with Japan
are the deliberate work of those who
would profit by an international con
dagration It is 20 the interest of
every gunmaker,- powdermaker, ship
maker, every manufacturer of can
ned beef, of cartridges, canteens and
arms to see to it that there are reg
ularly recurring war scenes. New
York Evening Post
We have here a pretty picture of
that form of patriotism known as
iingoism. drawn by a conservative
congressional authority, and by a
cons eryatiye newspaper. They impute
to the steel interests, to the shipbuild.
ing interests, to the packers with
their canned beef interests, and to
JIG N4AOW new nhtttttio WI tttMti GNuNt
O deliberate purpose which they refer
to as criminal. But if the word Grim.
inal fittingly characterizes an oifense
against society in one nation, what
word will adequately characterize the
lingo who would plunge two nations
into war?
Second only to these criminal con
spirators if such they be, are those
who secretly love war and long for
its loud alarms and crimson rivers,
and who justify their blood-lust by re-
iterating that worn creed 80 long
as man is man there will be war"
The Australian bushmen had the
pleasant custom of cutting off the
little Fingers Of all the women, and
of insisting that 80 long as man is
man, and woman is woman, ii will be
done" But is it done? Verify, at
intervals, we breed a new breed, and
the lingo will be weeded out, just as
the scalp hunter has been eliminated
for the most part.
Timour the barbarian conqueror
exacted 10000 dripping heads from
Bagdad on sacking it, in a glorious
campaign These practices have been
discouraged, ii not discontinued
Spencer says: The sleeping apart
ment Of the king of Dahomey was
paved with the skulls of neighboring
tribesmen, placed there that he might
proudly tread upon Them This tri-
fling war custom has waned and hui
man nature is still human nature
Zengis Khan, raiding Poland, "flled
nine sacks with the right ears of the
slain" Constantine V. "customarily
accepted as a gift plate Of noses of
the slain Turks" The ancient Next
cans dressed themselves for parade
in the bleeding skins of their slain
enemies, and Pompey returned to
Rome with the queens and Processes
of Asia Minor dragged naked after
his chariot These pleasant express
ions of jingoism have been eliminated
in spite of the fact that human ma
ture is still human nature"
Gradually we depart from our pleas
ant custom of electing to the king
ship or presidency the greatest war
rior, and of judging a mans rank by
the number of scalps at his belt, the
number Of bones in the heap before
his tent, or the number of Moro wom-
en- he has slain in battle. The pro-
cess is slow, nevertheless it is ire
sstible. It has been proved possible
to disarm and suppress the individual
criminal. It will be found possible
to dlsarm and suppress the criminal
nation.
The essential difference between a
newspaper that would cry for war
with Japan to increase It's sales, the
gun or shipmaker who would precip-
itate bloodshed to sell his guns or his
ships. or the packer who would pro-
mote international strife to widen his
market, and the mere local criminal,
Is that war sheds invariably the blood