The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1913-01-05
The Ethics Of Peace and Of War

no crime, but really deserves we'll OF
, society IL ne Is able to a%pprehend or
| punish the criminal.
There are also many wars waged
in defense of a principle. Such was
| our ancestors struggle In 1875, and
surely no patriotic American win
| condemn them for establishing liberty
on this continent, badly though. 1t is
| being prostituted as license in these
degenerate days. Such was also our
war with Spain to terminate the
| wretched condition of Cuba, and our
uprightness of purpose IA evidenced
| by our twice voluntarily quitting the
island as soon as u troops had sue.
ceeded In restoring peace and order.
Such was our. civil war, fought for
| the principle of secession, and Sec
ondarily for the abolition Of human
slavery In our land.
1t is thus seen that only wars of
injustice and aggression are morally
ubiquitous, and the broad settlement
that all war is immoral Is not exact.
To maintain that such soldiers as
Lee, Jackson, Grant, Poll, Sherman
and Meade were actuate by the de-
sire to ''lie, steal and kill" is absurd
upon it's face. though they did find
1t necessary in serving the sides
which they respectively thought to be
in the right, to use substerfuge to
deceive the enemy, upon occasion to
capture his property in order to d.
minish his fighting efficiency. and
unfortunately tool the lives of his
soldiers In prosecuting tnS defense
Of the interests committed TO their
care. But their fame rests fully as
much upon their skill in strategically
forcing the enemy to do what they
wished as upon the victories accom-
plished i'm battle.
AS to the moral t%urpitude of war.
there are many who will agree with
Professor James that a state of war
rouses the best and highest attri-
butes in men, which in peace might
have lain dormant and never been de-
veloped. 1t certainly seems true hat
when the dignity and safety of the
country are menaced with harm or
oppression, that all the virile i'm
pulses of the people come to the
front, n the spirit of self sacrifice
and devotion to the highest ideals
rises to supreme heights. Then it is
that our public men develop qualities
OF craftsmanship. whereas in times
of peace they rarely rise above the
level of the politician. Long periods
Of peace and prosperity lead to the
worship of Mammon above all else
the pursuit OF wealth and position
and power seems to outweigh every
other consideration, social excrescen-
sizes who give monkey dinners ap-
pear upon the epidermis Of national
life. they are initiated by others. the
cancer cuts deeper into the tissues
and the surgery of war is needed to
save the nation from the fate which
befell Rome after the loss of hel
! military virtues.
Note what Ruskin. scholar and
traveller. p%eace-lover, and. in his Ok
: ford days. so retiring and unaggres'
sive that only his genius saved him
!. from being called a prig. has to sa.
. in his Grown Of Wild O9Ire:" :
when I tell you that war is thu
' foundation of all the artsseI- meal
ri that it is the foundation Of fall tn
r high virtues and faculties Of men. l
is very strange to me to discover this
and very dreadful, but I saw It to b.
quite an undeniable. fact. I found
e in brief. that all great nations learne'
their truth Of word and strength o
: thought in war: that they were nour
ished in war and wasted by peace
y lin a word they were born in war an,
( expired in peace"
It may here be remarked that mos
of our chivalrous ideas of the sancti
~ - xho rol1farso Vpyor1 on5 tho ipvf
e olability of his parole, his devotio
e to the highest ideals of duty. hi
fortitude in hardship and his stead
Is fastness in danger. his spirit Of fai
- play in combat, his contempt for In
g coward and sneak. his loathing for tn
= secret assassin who approaches hi
le enemy from the rear. his %generosit
n to the unfortunate and his p%rotectio
for the weak: these. some Of the mil
8. itary virtues. had their oriein in til
e practice of the Christian knights VIII
y went forth in the Crusades to rescu
the tomb Of their Master from tn
ID unbeliever. and they have been al
If ticles of the soldiers code Of homo
le ever since.
y But waving all that. and assumin
a for the sake Of argument, that war
to- something of which we shout
y promptly rid ourselves. how is it
i'll be ,done?. The abolition of armie
to and navies is not the first step, eve
ic III 1t were possible. There must fir
se be aroused q real desire on the pa
re of the nations for universal peac
or and the outlook for that is. as Pres
Of dent Eliot regretfully tells us in IL
I'd face Of his round the-wo4td pilgrim
Of are in the interest Of That, props
s. ganda, mot encouraging" He foun
rs "a respectful hearing everywhere, b,
er no enthusiasm anywhere. In ord'
st to effect disarmament, there wou.
I'D have to be an agreement among a
liz the nations as to h manner and tin
and conditions. Suppose 1t We
IN agreed that 1t should proceed SUI
of cessively. that is. for instance. thu
to France should disarm first. then Gel
many. then England, and so on. VIII
go guarantee would France have th'
he Germany wo not invade her II
II day after she destroyed all her mil