Grand Forks daily herald. (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1914-1916, 1914-10-03
PEACE SUNDAY.
ula

ern The president of the United States
Stshas invited the people of this country
TO observe Sunday, October 4, as a
tatslay Of prayer for the early restora-
..tion of peace in the world. and es-
,.vcIGpecially for the cessation of the pres
: patent war, with all its horrors, in Eu-
rope E. This As an exercise in which
.ataall persons, without regard to differ
ty2ence Of political opinion or religious
1rebelief, can unite. If prayer is, among
thHsother things, an outpouring Of an
: esaearnest desire. surely Americans. of
o. whatever creed, or race or belief, can
-.u..unite on this occasion in the express
.trieion of that desire. Whatever may
DE our views as to the manner in
-innsswhich peace should be secured. or un-
,nofder what conditions 1t should be
brought about, no one in whose heart
:" II a trace Of sympathetic feeling can
assM,4ail to be impressed with the awful
exenormity of war, with its cruelty, its
wssuffering, Its waste Of all that men
Piy%prize. And there can be no lack of
wiidesire that all these things be ended.
bill We of America are not participants
lotin the war. III q measure we, like
fII eHS pCople VI TIE "UTlu, SulLeT
frcfrom its effects. But the keenness
slasof its suffering is for others, not for
on1ls. Fol this we give thanks. But,
mshecause of our detachment, we are
'thable to see, perhaps more clearly
r'enthan others, something OF the greater
%MfnSmeaning of the war. The soldiers
Mat the front have their days of march
.te9lng, their nights in the muddy
Hanstrenches, their risk from shot and
thjshell, and the certainty that many of
r Them will leave their bodies. cold and
.sorn. on the field of battle. But they
IS ,are spurred on by the frenzy Of the
befght, calloused by familiarity with
ndanger and spurred on by eagerness
;wtto do the thing that they set out to
redo. The people at home mourn de-
baparted friends and desolated homes
Ihsand ruined prospects. but they. too,
edhave something to stimulate them.
edThere is the feeling Of national
caprfde. the desire to wreak vengeance
ssp1for wrongs inflicted.
co Americans a no such stimulus.
The war means to them neither glory,
++hhnor revenge. nor the thrill of battle.
m,They can see it as a world tragedy,
mpne whose %blighting influence must
uaextend over all lands and all peoples,
tea thing which casts a shadow which
sewill not be lifted for generations, I'M
less out of it comes such a horror Of
vawar hat war. as a recognized means
foot adjusting differences. will be for
tihver banished from the earth.
- 1t is we'll to pray for peace. But
ofpeace does not consist in a mere lay
Ming down of arms. 1t means the
I.Deating of swords into plows and of
kfspears into pruning hooks. 1t means,
def it Is to be worth while, the aban-
Comment of war as a craft, q cult, a
= fetish. 1t means that we shall cease
clarifying the military spirit, and set
ing 1t up as an idol to which, wheth-
er In battle or not, we continually
make sacrifice of blood and treasure.
1T means the return to the industries
Which make for the welfare of So
ciety of the millions of men who now
go armed with all the trappings of
wal as a menace to their fellow men.
Peace, to be worth having, means
all of these things. We in this coun-
TRY are in a better position to appre-
ciate the needs of that sort of peace
than are the people of any other
country in the world. And, If the mil.
lions Of people who constitute our
citizenship have. in preparing them
serves to supplicate the Almighty to
remove this awful curse of war.
brought themselves into the attitude
Wh1cn makes for peace in it's greater.
and broader and deeper meaninp
e may pray with the certainty that
they. themselves. are doing that
which. above all other things, helps
TO make possible the answer Of their
prayers.