The Prescott daily news., 1913-12-30
AT PEACE.

w
congress- for the purpose of weighing
his utterances on the vital issues of
the hour. The Mexican Situation,
Ranking and Currency, Antitrust
Laws. Presidential Primaries and sew
eral other important questions were
discussed in remarkably brief mes
sage delivered by the President him
self in twenty eight minutes by the
watch
All of these topics are interesting
and important and have been discuss
ed and commented upon by the press
from one side Of the continent to the
other. but in our opinion the most re-
markable utterance in the message
has not received so much attention.
Indeed the most significant develop
ment which civilization has witnessed
for thousands of years so far as our
knowledge of history goes is announ-
ced in the first part of the message.
The President says:
"The country | am thankful to say,
is at peace with all the world, and
many happy manifestations multiply
about us of growing cordiality and
sense of community of interest among
the nations, forshadowing an age of
settled peace and goodwill. More and
more readily each decade do the ma
tons manifest their willingness to
bind themselves by solemn treaty to
the processes of peace, the processes
of frankness and fair concession. So
far the United States has stood at the
front of such negotiations. She will,
| earnestly hope and confidently be-
lieve, give fresh proof of her sincere
adherence to the cause of information
al friendship by ratifying the several
treaties of arbitration awaiting renew
al by the Senate. In addition to these
it has been the privilege of the De-
partment of the State to gain assent,
in principle, of no less than 81 nations
representing four-fifths of the popula
ton of the world, to the negotiation of
treaties by which it shall be agreed
that whenever differences of interest
or of policy arise which cannot be re-
solved by the ordinary processes of
diplomacy they shall be publicly anal
yzed, discussed and reported upon by
a tribunal chosen by the parties be-
fore either nation determines its
course of action.
"There is only one possible stan
dard by which to determine controver
sizes between the United States and
other nations, and that is compounded
Of these two elements Our own hon
or and our obligations to the peace of
the world. A test so compounded
ought easily to be made to govern
both the establishment of new treaty
obligations and the Interpretation of
those already assumed"
AT this time in the worlds history,
when universal peace is little more
than a dream it would appear sickly
sentimentalism to some to moralize
on the horrors of war or to rejoice at
the prospects of peace. There is bred
into the races a spirit of war and a
sense of its necessity in national pre-
emlnence. The world has never
thought of the progress of civilization
IN any other light than that its march
is indicated by this or that great war
and our histories are written having in
View the causes and effects of wars
on the human race. In the eyes of
The great historians and observers,
national greatness is measured by the
sizes of the army and navy. So thor
oughly lmbued with these ideas have
We become that some of the greatest
speaking as though it were some
thing to be desired) is best secured
through war. De Belleville declared
mat lifelong study of European
poiltics had convinced him that the
peace of Europe is never so much as
sured as when the various nations
are struggling at each others threats.
we are told too that the highest
reaches of civilization in all ages
nave been attained in the wake of the
'ioodlest wars, that art and literature
nave fiourished at such times as at no
o'her' We are told that the intellec-
'uai glory of Greece was greatest
mhen her sports were most brutal and
mat her civilization was at its zenith