The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1914-10-01


In our civil war there was at fret
only minority In most of the south.
ern states in favor Of secession, but
when the national troops invaded vir.
ginia the south was as united for state
independence as the north was for ma.
tional union, and yet today 1t will be
difficult to find anywhere in the south
an intelligent man who does OF recog-
nize the truth that defeat of secession
and the emancipation OF the slave
have been of inestimable benefit to the
southern states.
Defeat Of Germany End Of MiIitarism.
l make no attempt here to apportion
the responsibility for this war between
the several powers engaged in 1t. How.
ever this responsibility must be shared
among them. can see but one mean
Ing in the awful campaign. The VIC
tory Of Germany would mean the vic
tory Of Prussian militarism. The de.
feat Of Germany will mean the defeat
Of Prussian militarism. the rehabilita.
ton Of Germany as great Industrial
and educational power in the world
and probably the practical overthrow
of military autocracy in all western
Europe.
The campaigns Of Napoleon ended
for western Europe the divine right Of
kings The campaigns Of the allies
will end for western Europe the di.
vine right Of the armed man. The
Russo Japanese war gave to Russia
its first representative assembly, the
Duma. 1t is not unreasonable to hope
that the present European war will
result in greatly charging the powers
Of the Duma and establishing true
constitutional government in Ger.
many, government in which the min
istry will be responsible not to the
emperor but to the reichstag; and the
power both Of the purse and the sword
will not be In the hands Of an aristo-
cratic oligrachy but in the hands Of
the common people.
Christianity Not Failing.
1t is not strange that men should
point to this, perhaps the greatest war
Of history. as an evidence that Chris
tianity Is failure. II Christianity
professed to be able by a miracle to
transform human nature at once, such
war would be fatal to its claim. But
no such claim can be made for Chris
tianity. 1t Is great human move
ment, a phase Of the gradual evolution
OF man, governed by conscience and
reason. out Of the brute, governed by
appetite and passion.
Man as he is seen in the world today
Is an unfinished product. He is in the
making The best that can be said of
q Christian is that he is further along
toward the goal Of humanity than the
barbarian. Theological doctrines such
as the Trinity. the Atonement and the
like are not the essential doctrines of
Christianity. The essential doctrine is
that life is struggle for others as
well as for self; that In this struggle
every one owes duty to his neighbor,
and the stronger he is and the greater
the need Of his neighbor the more i'm
perative is his duty; that as the father
and mother care for. educate and gov.
ern their child until he grows able to
care for, educate and govern himself.
so always the strong men and women
owe the duty of protection, education
ana IN some measure government to
the weaker Of the human race until
tney have outgrown the need for it.
War Of Conscience and Honor.
In so far as autocracy is the rule Of
the rev for the benefit Of the few 1t is
paganism. In so far as democracy is
the rule Of the many for the benefit of
the many It is Christianity. He who
believes this will perhaps believe with
me that In true sense this Is a relig-
lous war. the war Of conscience, honor,
the moral sense against the rule of
the bayonet and the bullet.
The cynic who thinks this war dem.
onstrates the failure Of Christianity
should not forget such facts as the
heroic struggle Of Belgium to maintain
ner neutrality, the resolve of England
at every cost to maintain her pledges
10 Belgium, the Red Cross following
the armies In the field and ministering
70 the sick, the wounded and the suf-
iering' regardless of their nationality
the general kind treatment to prison.
ers' accumulated by some very horrible
exceptions, and all this contrasted
with the enslaving. torturing. the cru
CRYING and flaying alive Of prisoners
captured In war by barbaric nations
oefore the dawn Of Christianity.