The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-11-01

less. and ignorant, and Impractical as
they are painted, They know history.
and they understand human nature,
and they are acquainted with the laws
OF the world they are living in. Their
grip on the facts and laws OF life
is not the grip Of men who are asleep.
They are familiar with every move
/ that has been made in Tie last thirty
years. The man who imagines that
they are soft and green is dreaming.
He is in the grip OF a spook What
the peace-workers have said from the
beginning is now being confirmed.
In the fierce light of the European
confiagration even blind men ought to
be able to see that ornaments are
not guarantees of peace.
Spook Number Two.
"Armaments are a form of national
Insurance. The doctrine has been
promulgated through the world. The
insurance comes high but we must
have 1t. A man insures his house;
Ia nation must Insure itself. Compare
the annual cost of an army and navy
with fle aggregate wealth of a coun-
TRY. and any one can see that military
and naval expenses are a mere baga-
telle.y
This has been taught by men who
had the air of SIR Oracle. When they
opened their lips, not dog dared
flo bark.
six nations of Europe went into
this scheme of insurance. Within the
Hast thirty years they have paid IN
premiums six billion. five hundred and
.ninety-two millions OF dollars. and
now they find they are not insured
rat ALI S.S.. a-sp
Some fool In Southeastern Europe
threw lighted match. and instantly
all Europe was in flames. Why? The
whole house had been saturated with
kerosene.
Military and naval budgets are not
insurance, they are kerosene. Their
function is to render a nation infiam-
mable. Europe had been SO repeat
eddy drenched with kerosene that one
match was sufficient to start an instan-
taneous and continent-wide confiagra-
ton: Russians. Germans, Frendhmen,
Englishmen, all heard at once the roar
of the blazing rafters above their
heads. The house is burning. and now
other billions of dollars must be ex-
pended in putting out fire which was
made possible by the very means
which Were devised to prevent it. An
other spook has vanished into air.
If one-tenth Of the treasure spent
by Europe in the last thirty years
upon ornaments had been devoted to
building rational safeguards agains,
war. the present catastrophe would
never have blighted the world.
Spook Number Three.
only by ornaments can liberty be
safeguarded and Justice secured"
The advanced nations must protect
themselves from the insults and as
saults of the backward nations, and
weak nations when attacked must he
defended by the strong. Tyranny must
not be permitted to rage uncheckeo,
and cruelty must not be allowed to
work its infamies iynPunished. Ar
maments are the natural protection of
righteousness and truth.
1t sounds plausible. but IL is false.
For years Abdul the Damned al
lowed his Christian subjects to be
butchered. and although Christian ma
tons stood round and watched the
streams of flowing blood, they did not
lift a hand in defense of the helpless.
They could not. They were bound
hand and foot by their ornaments.
The other day the Balkan States
were fighting each other with a fero-
city surprising that OF savages. com
hitting atrocities which In .dev!nsn
cruelty have never been exceeded, and
the great Christian powers--like so
many huge. and unwieldly brutes-
the frlghtful carnage go on. all of
them so weighed down with steel that
not one of them could move
That mighty armies are an efficient
instrument for the establishing of
justice or the rescue of the oppressed
is another of the spooks. In the light
Of recent experience it has vanished
into air. No doubt certain dreamers
will go on dreaming All men who
q 20 ayxrn H. hot J1ay,
ments block the way of justice and
jeopardize the liberties of mankind.
Spook Number -Four.
only by great armies and navies
can we have international law and
order" The Hague Conferences at
tended to various important matters,
but they left ornaments untouched.
By establishing certain rules of pro-
cedure and laying sundry restrictions
on combatants, it was thought by
some that the nations would gradual
ly turn their feet into the paths OF
peace It was a delusive expecta-
ton
The militarists are willing that all
sorts Of conventions shall be agreed
to. If only the big armies and navies
are left intact. They have no obtec-
ton to Red Cross Societies, and to
arbitration treaties, and to the neu-
tThllLdlibH VI CERTAIN out
they insist that the ornaments shall
not be reduced.
After each of The Hague Confer
ences all ornaments were increased
This is because Christendom is in the
hands of the militarists. and for
generation they have worked their
will.
1t Is idle to talk Of the observance
of conventions and treaties so long
as nations rely on their armies and
navies for the accomplishment of their
purpose. Italy stole TripoH because
she had An army Austria stole Bos-
MIA because she had an army. Armies
enable nations to steal. Armies make