The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1914-05-28

Things that require your backing,
So help boost for an athletic field.
And if you are true Leon booster,
And are willing to work with a vim,
To add to Leon Highs luster,
Why also boost for gym.
UNIVERSAL PEACE.
(ClasS Grafton by Leland Ackerley.)
Ladies and Gentlemen:-On of
the greatest problems of our day is
the question, "How can we do away
with war;" The foremost men Of
the world such as the Emperor Of Ger
many, William Howard Taft and An
drew Carnegie have taken up the
question and have become advocates
and champions of universal peace.
Peace societies are being formed all
over the world for the purpose Of
promoting sentiment in favor of
universal peace.
1t is my purpose this afternoon to
discuss some of the various phases of
the peace problem.
One Of the greatest arguments
against the war is the cost of actual
warfare. 1t is estimated that during
VIC MY sCdlS
has been wasted on war.
The leading nations of the world
are today burdencd with great ma
tional debt. These debts were prac-
tically all contracted to meet the ex-
penses Of war France bears the
largest of these burdens. her national
debt has reached the enormous sum
of $4,000, 100000. Russian has a
war debt of $4,000, 100000. Great
Britain and Austria Hungary each
have a debt Of over $500, 900, 900.
The national debt of the United
States, Spain, Italy, Germany and
Japan total almost $4,000, 900 900,
The interest alone of these debts
amounts to approximately $1,000
100000 annually
England expended in 1911 $341,-
100000 on her army and navy;
France 100000, 1000; Germany
100000 and Russia S319,0OO,-
900. In single year the civilized
world spends about $2,500,00O,0OO
because Of war.
Cur expenditures on account of
wars that have ended, and in prepara-
ton for war, amounted to $685. ,O00,-
coo for the fiscal year ending June
&c, 1914. This sum includes 1884,
0No,000 for the army; $140,000,000
for the navy; $3.50, 100000 for pen
sions and approximately $22,0O0,OOO
interest on our national debt. 1t
also includes a $50, 100000 sinking
fund to pay off that debt The re-
mainder is made up of appropriations
for the military posts, the military
II C~ll
Hcme, etc. In other words 81 cents
OF Of every s1.0o appropriated by a
national government, exclusive of
the appropriations for the post o flee
department which is practically self
supporting, goes to pay the cost of
var
Think Of the waste of capital and
human energy in maintaining our
army and navy. If we had the world
wide peace these forces might then be
used to upbuild and heautify our
country; to build permanent roads;
to improve our rivers and harbors;
to irrigate the arid lands Of the west;
to fight against tuberculosis; and in
many other ways that would be a
permanent and lasting benefit to our
people and their descendants. Long
fellow has expressed similar
thought in this verse:
Were half the power that fills the
world with terror,
Were half the wealth bestowed on
camps and courts,
Given to redeem the human mind
from error,
There will be no need of arsenals and
courts.
The Massachusetts commission in
vestigating the high cost of living
made this statement in their report:
In weighing the causes which
cost of living, this commission is
convinced that most far-reaching
influence in creating and perpetual
ing the high cost of living is militar-
ism with it's incidence in war and it's
consequence in taxation. The debt
piled up for war and waste remain
burden on the life of the world,
burden calling every year for a huge
interest payment of more than ST.
600. 100000 taken from the earnings
of the nation. This is supplemented
annually by many other billions to
maintain huge armies and navies,
taken from industry and trained for
the day when they will be hurled
against each other to duplicate the
destruction of the past, and pile up
new and heavier burdens upon the
thrift and industry of the world"
In actual warfare we find a darker
side to militarism. During the civil
war 100000 men served on the
Union side and nearly a million on
the Confederate side. The majority
of these men were volunteers who
broke home ties and left those who
were dear to them to respond to the
call Of duty. 100000 left their.