The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1914-08-27
LASTING PEACE MAY
FOLLOW, SAYS TAFT
Stupendous Horrors OF Conflict Like.
ly TO Avert Future Wars.

Former President William H. Taft
has written remarkable Message to
the People of the United States, which
appear in the issue of the Independent
next Monday. He says of the war in
Europe:
Nothing like it has occurred since
the great Napoleonic wars, and with
modern ornaments and larger popu-
lations, nothing has occurred like it
since the world began. 1t is a cata-
cvlism. 1t is a retrograde step in
Christian civilization.
THE commerce of the world makes
much for the prosperity of the coun-
tries with whom it is conducted and
its interruption means great incon-
venience and economic suffering among
all people whether at peace or war.
The capital which the European people
have invested by the billions in the
United States, Canada, Australia. South
Africa and in the Orient must perforce
be withdrawn to fill the war chests of
the nations engaged in death grapple.
On the whole we shall suffer with the
rest of the world, except that we shall
not be destroying or blowing up our eX-
listing wealth or sacrificing the lives of
our best young men and youth.
The immense waste of life and
treasure in a modern war makes the
loss to the conqueror only less, if indeed
it be less, than the loss to the conquer
ed.
'In such war as this, with the uni
versal tendency to popular control in
every country, the strain and defeat in
war may lead to state of political
fux in those countries which shall
suffer defeat, with all the attendant
difficulties and disorder that a change
of government involves.
"Of the great powers of the world,
the only ones left out are likely to be
the United States and Japan, and per-
haps only the United States, by reason
of the alliance between Japan and
England. Japan, if she keeps out of
the war, will occupy the same advan-
tageous position, which will be ours, of
complete neutrality, of an actually judi
cious attitude, and. therefore. of having
an opportunity at some time, we may
hope, to mediate between the Powers
and to help to mitigate this disaster to
mankind
AT the time when so many friends
of peace have thought that we were
making real progress toward the abo-
lition of war this sudden outbreak of
the greatest war in history is most
dscouraging. The future looks dark
indeed, but we should not despair.
:" God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform. Now that
the war is settled fact, we must hope
that some good may come from the
dreadful scourge.
Zone thing | think we can reason
ably count on is that with the pros
tration of industry, with the blows to
prosperity, with the state of fux that
is likely to follow this titanic struggle,
there will be every opportunity for
common sense to resume It's sway; and
after the horrible expenditure of the
blood of the best and the savings of the
rich and the poor, the opportunity and
the motive for reduction of armament
and the taking away of a temptation
to further war will be greatly enhanc-
ed.
ut is an awful remedy, but in the
end it may be worth what it costs, if it
makes this the last great war. The
influence of America can be thrown
most effectively for peace when peace
is possible and for minimum ornaments
when disaster and exhaustion shall
make the contendlng peoples and their
rulers see things as they are"