The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1913-04-27
OLIVE BRANCHES AND SUCH

VII L. DNAlNNI1IO AMI OONIz
Peace was the keynote of the week just gone-peace anc
good will. True, there was strife in some corners of thu
earth, but the Montenegrin assault upon Scutari and the
Mexican bushwhacking warfare are but side shows. Over
the entrance to the big top hangs an olive branch and above
the show hover flocks OF White-Winged doves. And Peace
is the word which is blazoned upon every pennant that
floats from the wagon where the tickets are sold.
Colonel Bryan is the ambassador of peace. And he prac
tees what he breaches. Did he not shake hands with
Speaker Clark? Thereby he showed that he means what
he says and that his peace proposition is not a theoretical
plan, merely: OF course, it was easier tor him to forgive
the way the Man from Missouri carried out his part in the
peace pact-he seemed to have some mental reservations
when he promised to wipe off the slate. But perhaps it was
just his peculiar personality, one OF the ldiosyncrasies OF
greatness, and Champ may be on the square.
The burying of the Ratchet by these two leaders of oppos-
ing democracies furnished an excellent start for the weeks
campaign for perpetual and universal peace. If these war
riors can declare permanent peace, there is no warfare that
cannot be ended. We can beat the swords into plowshares,
the doves can build their nests in the cannons' mouths, we
can turn dreadnoughts into merchant vessels and turn our
soldiers loose upon reclamation work.
Following close upon this peaceful demonstration, Colo
mel Bryan launched his scheme for international disarma
ment. He lost no time. He gave his plan an attractive
sendoff; there is nobody, who can frame a proposition more
.alluringly than he. Right from the shoulder he struck his
blow for peace. 1t was an important stroke, and time alone
can tell whether he landed or not.
Immediately following events would not indicate that the
peace proposal made much of an impression. 1t must be
confessed that European capitals did not pay half the atten.
ton to it that they gave to the grape-juice dinner which was
the third number in the weeks program of the secretary OF
state. The peace business went clear over their heads, if we
may judge from the response which didn't come, but the
grape-juice dinner landed a plexus blow right away.
All Europe is talking about the g%rape-juice dinner. All
America has to talk back in one way or another. So there
is more free advertising being given the grapejuice bust
ness than any other industry has received in many moons
Watch the advertising space of the grapejuice fellows and
see the secretary of state photographed there in convvia
pose.
The connection between grape juice and peace is, how
ever, more direct than might at first appear. We never heard
of anybody getting into a fight over a glass of grape juice
and we are bound to confess that we can trace many fierce
encounters to the fermented juice. So we may place the
grapejuice dinner in the list of the weeks events which
form the peace program.
While he was yet smacking his lips over the last draught
of grape juice (untermented) Colonel Bryan packed his
peace propaganda in his suitcase and started for California
there to talk with the coast folks regarding their altogether
unworthy attitude toward the Japanese. If we were to have
war with Japan, it would knock the peace plan OF the ad-
ministration higher than Gilroy's kite. Therefore, Cali
fornia must do nothing which will tend to increase the like
lihood of war.
We must have peace at any price. And, as we said at the
outset, if Bill Bryan and Champ Clark can shake hands and
make up, there is nobody on earth who can stick his hand
behind his back and decline the %proffered grip of an erst:
while foe. The free list may paralyze the sheep business
and put the sugar refineries out of commission, but this
peace plan will put new lite into the olive-branch business
and will add to the Importance OF the dove industry.
Ordinarily, The Missoulian endeavors to avoid the discus
sion of politics on Sunday morning, but this peace PROPOSE
ton is something broader than mere politics. 1t reaches
out into the realm of religion. 1t points the way to the mil
lennium, which we may follow if we will. So, it seems tc
us, it is a good topic for Sunday-morning consideration. We
have had the theory and the practice placed before us dur
ing the week and we have the opportunity to enlist in the
war for peace. Olive branches, grape juice, white wings
all these are worthy Sunday emblems. And they are the
symbols of the new peace. Now is the time to subscribe.
here is enough of it to make a goo spring duty may be well performed.