Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1914-10-01

first of last month. Countless men, busy
with other matters, repeated this state
ment so many times that. to all practica.
intents and purposes they lost every
point of view save one, and the armament
of nations went on without effective pro-
test because the great majority of civ
ilized people had permitted the playthinge
| of human destruction to be made ready
for use on the pretext that they would
| divert men of war-like inclinations and
| avert all possibility of war by suggcs-
| ton of the serious uses to which they
might be put. Sliitzlanders, all of us, we
| had proceeded along this one particular
| line Of thinking to such an extent that
| we ultimately found ourselves possessed
| of distorted minds that bound us to our
Ipreconceptions, and the boom of cannon
| to-day resounds around the world In the
| far east and the extreme west the play
| things of peace have become the murder
| Gus engnery of human obliteraton and
| the merclless destroycrs of human hap
| piness. Starvation, gaunt and cruel. Is
stalking with its grim threat through I'M
| reapt in-flclds. amid the ruins of dis
fnantled factories and over desolatc
| hearthstones where helpless children
mourn for the protection of fathers who
Will never again answer their call for
| protection and where outraged woman
hood yearns for the defense of husbands
brothers and sweethearts
| May God forgive the complaccncy
which under the gulse of manufacturing
| and setting up toys, has made us CO.
partners in the greatest crime agains.
civilization that this blood-drenched earth
| has known since time began. God r 'a1t
! that our vision may not have become so
| hopelessly impaired that we shall not re-
cover 1t sufficiently to get all points of
view In the future, with ability through
this and all succeeding generations to
save mankind from the spectacle of car
mage wrought by the ruthless instrument
thoughtlessly called n playthng. God or
bid that any honest patriot shall ever
again give utterancc to the establish ID
lie that preparedness for war Is the best
guarantee of peace"
What sane man will dare to say that
preparedness for war was not whit
brought on war in the year OF Our Lord
1914? Who now so hare-brained as to af
firm that there would have been war in
this year of grace If Europe had been
unarmed? The psychology tof the stua-
ton we now understand made war IN
| evitable. Men had their playthngs and
they must try them out After years of
aimess drill and countless sham bat
ties, soldiers had become weariod with I'M
reality and their supreme commanders.
to avoid discomfort. decided on reality.
, If the playthings had not been, and If
the monster of mitarism had not been
coddled and nourished we know that tho
trifing differences would have certainly
been settled through mediation without
the shedding Of one drop OF blood
Every moment we should he thanking
God that we live in America with n high
| minded, man-loving pre- sident az the helm
who despite the sneers of constituencies
demaSogues for his policy of "watchful
waiting" has steered our national craft
sa fely past the threatening chanc, of
war. The opportunity Is ours to 20 one
step further BY disbanding our small
standing army and abandoning every fort
and army post, by dismantlinE every man
of war and by sweeping our navy from
the hiCh seas. We may set an example
that all nations calling themselves CIV
ilized will he compelled to follow. We
must, of course. not permit ourselves to
become lop-Sidcd in our views by running
to the other extreme. for We should ma in
tain our national guard In the several
States to meet emergencies that will arise
until men have advanced beyond their
present mpetuosities. We shall want our
military drill in college and our student
encampments to assure us of army re-
serves in time of possible need We should
keep Annapolis and West Point for the
discipline and training Of men who will
not graduate into the navy or the army
but into the work of military instruction
or Into some vocation of peace so that
they shall be ready for service in bat
ties which. pray heaven. may never come
Breadth of vision and length of out
look. without w-mindcdncss or any
one-sidedness, with the spirit of the prince
OF peace, and pa triotism as wide as the
world, can demonstrate that The Hague
convention, contrary to being a scntimcn-
tai Idea. IS a genuine reality in the uni
versal brotherhood of men under the COM
mon fatherhood of God.
BY the development of symmetrical, we'll
poised men 1t is not idle to hope for
civilization where
THE common sense of most shall hold
fretful realm in awe.
And the kindly earth shall slumher wrapt
in Universal law"
The college students of to-day are the
hope Of the worlds tomorrow Young
men and women of the University of Vcr-
mont to what splendid company YOU
belong! You are to keep step in the ed
ucatonal march through the year ahead
with 100000 Of your kind in the 600 col
leges of America and, II with them, You
measure up to your high opportunities IN
the development of a we'll balanced man
hood and womanhood YOU may speed tho
coming of humanitys perfect day of
world wide disarmament when the war
drum shall throb no longer and the bat.
tie flags be furled
"In the Parliament of man. the Federation
of the world"
1t was Ruskin who said Education
does not mean teaching people to know
that they do not know; it means teaching
them to behave as they do not behave"
The University of Vermont will not be
to you all that it can be if you refuse 10
accept its proffered services in the I'M
provement OF your physical. intellectual
and moral behavior. If any of You are
Waxanders and born short" pray you
emulate your fellow countrymen OF the
schoolmaster's dream, The overwhelm-
Ing majority of you are endowed with the
beginnings of a complete physical, intellec-
tual and spiritual equipment. You | cx-
hort for the sake of your own largest
success and greatest happiness, and for
the sake of the whole race of men, to alb
jure the example and avoid the fate of
a p In nd Of