The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1914-10-31
ROOSEvELT'S
War VIEWS

CONTINUED from Page One.l
all assailed and denounced Abraham
Lincoln, and all voted against him Tor
president. Moreover. at that time there
were many individuals in England and
France who said 1t was the duty OF
those two nations to mediate between
the North and the South SO az to stop
the terrible loss of life and destruction
of property which attended our civil
war: and they asserted that any Amer
leans who in such event refused to ac-
cept their mediation and to stop the
war would thereby show themselves
the enemies of Peace. Nevertheless.
Abraham Lincoln and the men back OF
him by their attitude prevented all
such effort at mediation, declaring
that they would regard 1t as an I'M
friendly act to the United States Look
ing back from distance of fifty years,
We can now see clearly that Abraham
Lincoln and his supporters were right.
Such mediation would have been hos
tile act, not only to the United States.
but to humanity. The men who clam
ored for unrighteous peace fifty years
ago this fall were the enemies OF man
kind.
These facts should be pondered by
the well-meaning men who always
clamor for peace without regard to
whether peace brings Justice or injus-
tice. Very many of the men and wom-
en- who are at times misled into de-
handing peace as If 1t were itself an
end instead of being q means Of right
leOusneSs, are men OF good intelligence
and sound heart who only need serious
ly to consider the facts. and who can
then be trusted to think Alright and act
Alright. There is. however. an element
OF certain numerical importance
among our people, including the MEM
bers of the ultra pacificist group. who
by their teachings do some real, al
! though limited, mischief. They are a
feeble folk. these ultra pacificists, NOR
ally and physically; but in a country
| where voice and vote are alike free,
they may. il their teachings are not
ldisregarded, create a condition OF
things where the crop they have sOwed
in folly and weakness will be reaped
| with blood and bitter tears by the
brave men and high-hearted women Of
the nation.
The folly preached by some Of these
individuals is somewhat startling, and
If it were translated from words into
deeds it would constitute q crime
against the nation. One professed
SO many words that we ought to fol-
low the example Of China and deprive
ourselves OF all power to repel foreign
attack. Surely this writer must possess
the exceedingly small amount of infor-
nation necessary in order to know that
nearly half Of China Is at present un-
der foreign dominion and that at this
moment the Germans and Japanese are
battling on Chinese territory and domi-
lneering as conQuerors over the Chinese
in that territory. Think Of the AFFECT
soul Of man capable of holding up to
the admiration Of free-born American
citizens such a condition of serfage I'M
der alien rule!
Nor is the folly confined only to the
male sex. A number of women teach
ers in Chicago are credited with having
proposed, in view of the war, hereafter
to prohibit in the teaching of history
any reference to war and battles. In
ltellectually, OF course. such persons
show themselves unfit to be retained
as teachers q single day. and indeed
unfit to be pupils in any school more
advanced than q kindergarten. But 1t
is not their Intellectual. it Is also their
moral shortcomings which are strtk-
ing. The suppression of the truth is.
of course. as grave an offence against
morals as is the suggestion Of the false
or even the lie direct; and these teach
ers actually propose to teach untruths
to their pupils.
! True teachers Of history must tell the
facts of history; and If they do not tell
the facts both about the wars that are
| righteous and the wars that are I'M
righteous, and about the causes that
led to these wars and to success or de-
feat in them, they show themselves
morally unfit to train the minds Of boys
and girls. If in addition to telling the
facts they draw the LESSONS that should
be drawn from the facts they will give
their pupils horror Of all wars that
are entered into wantonly or with lev
ity or in a spirit of mere brutal agrees
sion or save under dire necessity. But
they will also teach that among the no
blest deeds of mankind are those that
have been done in great wars for lib
erty. in wars of self defense. in wars
wars for putting an end to wrong doing
in the dark places Of the globe
1 Any teachers. in school or college,
who occupied the position that these
foolish, foolish teachers have sought
to take. would be forever estopped
ington and Lincoln; because their
names are forever associated with
great wars for righteousness. These
teachers would be forever estopped
from so much as mentioning the shin
ing names Of Marathon and Salamis.
They would seek to blind their pupils
eyes to the glory held in the deeds and
deaths Of Joan Of Arc. of Andreas
Hofer, Of Arnold Won Winkelried, of
Kosciusko. and Rakatski. They would
be obliged to warn their pupils
against ever reading Schiller's "Wil-
liam Tell" or the poetry Of Koerner.
Such men are deaf to the lament run
ming. "Oh, why. Patrick Sarsfield, did
we let your ships sail. Across the dark
waters from green Innisfail.'' To
them Holmes ballad Of Bunker Hill
and Whittier's 'Laus Deo." MacMas-
ter's ode to the Old Continentals. and
O'Hara's "Bivouac Of the Dead are
meaningless. On them lessons Of ca
reers like those Of Timoleon and John
Hampden are lost: in their eyes the
lofty se1f-abnegation of Robert Lee
and Stonewall Jackson was folly: their
dull senses do not thrill to the DEATH