The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1914-06-04

And so long as man is human so long
will there be struggle and warfare.
The one element in the present age
that will tend to diminish war is the
rapid accommodation, speedy ex
change of news and views; we get bet
ter acquainted and as is always the case,
upon acquaintance we learn that the
other fellow is not SO bad after all that
We are all very much alike, and that
we can serve each other better by CO.
operating and exchanging our wares
on friendly basis. But wars there
will be, the millennium has not come.
and will not come until the sun shall
cease to set. A true patriot will not
shut his eyes to the teachings of the
past, but will in time of peace prepare
for war. The war cloud is at present
over us. Our want of preparedness is
| notorious. The same was true in 1898
when suddenly we were forced to en-
gage in.war with Spain. The lesson
might have been learned then. Yet
we are no better situated to-day.
"You may say peace, peace, but there
is no peace" Our statesmen philoso'
pliers speak of peace, mediation, arbi-
tration, diplomacy, yet we are con-
| fronted with facts. Our military and
naval forces are sadly deficient, Our
army must be made up of men untrain-
ed in arms and unused to camp life,
unprepared for the realities of war. A
reasonable preparedness commensurate
with our size and our wealth and our
position should be maintained, main
tanned not as an instrument of oppres.
sion but as more certain guaranty of
peace and for the maintenance of ma
tional honor and self confidence.
Patriotism calls upon us to foster the
military branch of our government but
it has an even higher and nobler pur-
pose than that-to foster the arts of
peace and to aid the citizenship to grow
in understanding of and loyalty to our
institutions. A democracy is always
restless. We hear SO many speak of
the spirit of unrest abroad in the land
as though this were something new.
Democracy is always restless. Then
the high piping times of peace" give
the small man, the selfish man his op-
portunity. Only great issues call out
| ha ff,1l
present method of making nominations
does not bring forward our best men
The manw no is too small to appreci-
ate the pitiable spectacle he presents
by his published sefaudGtion ~ she
one who becomesa candidate, and the
one who can intlame the greatest pre-
judices is too often the one who gets
the nomination. A candidacy for office
becomes strategy in catchpenny
phrases, in misrepresentation and in
playing upon the prejudices of the vot-
er in place of IN honest appeal to rea-
son and sound principle. The citizen
must rely upon the newspaper for his
information. Cheap paper and cheap
printing and cheap editors have delug-
ed the country with books, papers and
pamphlets advocating in plausible Ian
guage and cunning phrases all manner
of monstrous and dangerous doctrines.
Specious arguments are advanced, facts
are distorted, or even absolute false
hoods are stated as facts, and anything,
| true or false, is advanced to further
the purposes of the author. The pre-
| judces of the people are played upon;
the social, the financial, the racial and
the religious differences among our
people are sought to be made into
lines OF cleavage and class is sought to
he arrayed against class. The subjects
played upon and exploited are the less
informed mostly that class of foreign
ers who have no conception Of our gov
ernment, its plan, or its purpose, but
who were oppressed abroad and SO are
enemies to all government. The ig-
norant and the vicious become the
noisy and reskless followers of these
demagogues, these preachers of class
hatred, these enemies of the nation. MN
The foundation of our government is
our constitution. Some few of late
speak disrespectfully of that document.
This document in our land serves the
place of the king. 1t is the will of the
people. In monarchy fealty is sworn
to the king; in this republic every Of
ficer and every citizen swears to- sup
port and protect the constitution. Our
constitution was adopted by the people
OF the whole country and is the su-
preme law of the land; the law to which
every other law must conform, the law
with which no other law must come in
conflict. A law is unconstitutional
when it conflicts with the constitution.
But why constitution?
Experience has taught that human
ity is subject to be swayed by passion,
prejudice and whim. AS Lincoln said
"You can fool all of the people some OF
the time" These brain storms of the
mass may come on as the result of
some catastrophe, some crime, some
great wrong; or from the overmaster-
ing influence of some individual TO
guard against the danger OF being car