The labor argus. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1906-1915, 1911-07-13

on next Tuesday, and dec.res me TO
enquire whether or not you would
| be willing to accept nomination as
IiI ector, in case it should be offer.
ed. While meetings of the full
beard are not hell; frequer.iy, yet,
the peace society being incorpor-
atGi!, we feel that we must have a
Aoaid which, so far as possible, will
| A." nd meetings when they are call
ed :nd assume the responsibility
which naturally falls upon a board
o. cilectors. The growing Interest
in me peace movement, all the
prominence of the New YORK Socic-
~. mike it very desirable also that
IL - ct tors shall be men who are
Wiling to inform themselves on the
snb.9ct with which it deals, 50 tina.
t he al ts of the board may be suci,
as 20 give the society righttul Lead
erSh;p In this important field Hon
ing that We may hear favorably from
you at an early date ! am
Very truly yours,
w. H. SHORT,
Executive Secretary
May 11th 1911.
Mr.. w. II. Short, Executive Secre-
tary, New York Peace Society
w. nun &tNelIue, Ne" Ork
City.
Dear Sir: ir:-Temporary absence
from the city and an accumulation
of work of all kinds have prevented
me from answering your kind let
ter at an earlier date. | presume
that your society has in the mean
time elected it's directors for the
coming year and that the practical
mart of M ,ioa
thus been disposed Of But I feel
that l nevertheless owe you tn.
courtesy of reply, and l am glad
to take this opportunity to express
my attitude towards your society
and it's work.
l realize that l am indebted for
the honor of a tentative offer of a
nomination as a director Of the
New York Peace Society, to the fact
that | am known to be a Socialist,
and am frankly gratified at this
proof of your recognition of Social
ism as a factor in the peace move
mcnt.
The organized Socialist move
ment of the world is relentlessIy
opposed to war between nations
Not only because wars are among
the Erossest relics of barbarism and
entail a criminal economic waste
through standing armies and for
midable navieS. but more particu-
larly because the SufferingS and
miserieS of wars fall almost exclu-
sively upon the working class and
because militarism, with it's insep-
arabic companiOn-falSe patriotism
dcmoralize and debauch the public
mind. and are most fornlidloie
obstacle to true social 'prosreas
Long feiore the abstract move
ment :or universal peace had re-
c"ived The endorsement of political
and industrial monarchs, the Social
lists OF all civilized countries have
demonstrated their earnest and ac-
tive crposition to concrete wars,
sometimes at the risk of their liber-
ties and lives. In the Franco-Prus-
sian war of 1870, it was the Social
list workers of Germany and France
who alone had the courage to raise
their voices in protest against the
wholesale human bltchery and to
exchange fraternal greetings and
mutual assurances of friendship and
solidarity across the Rhine. During
the infamous AnSlO-Boer war the
Socialists of Great Britain fearlessly
denounced the brutal slaughter OF a
defenseleSs people, in the teeth of
unclaimed fury of their war-drunk-
en- countrymen. While the govar~-
mentS of the Gar and the Mirsdo
were busy goading the masses or
their people to mutual murder, the
Socialists of both countries clasped
hands in international congress, and
so1emnly proclaimed peace and
goodwill among the workers of
Russia and Japan.
Hardly national or internation-
al Socialist Congress passes without
the adoption of a Strong resolution
in condemnation of militarism and
war: the Socialists in all national
parliaments persistently and con-
SlSten1y advocate reduction of arm
ament and arbitra ton of interna-
tional disputes. and in several re-
cent instances, the determined pa
citic attitude of Socialism and or
ganized labor in Europe has been
directly instrumental in avertinE
threatened wars.
The fear Of proletarian rising
is one of the most effective checks
on the bellicose expansion of the
ruling powers. and the organized
CONTINUED ON PAGE FouR)