Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1915-12-03
"The greatest value of trained

that made them mere automatons.
trained to do the bidding of
their officers. The first thing
that must be done is to destroy
all initiative, and that, with the
training, fits men to be soldiers"
There you have it in the raw, in all
its naked, undraped beauty. There
you have it without compromise or
qualification, without the frills, and
furbelows, and fashions provided by
preparedness" which latter is a
mere vampire wanton parading in the
habiliments Of excellence and virtue.
There you have one glimpse of the
rotten core, but it's very heart is in
finitely blacker still, If that may be,
than the unholy purpose of making
mere automatons" with which to
commit wholesale murder, out Of men
fashioned in the image and likeness
of Almighty God, the God of love and
wisdom. Can the human mind con-
ceive of anything more atrocious or
inconsistent? What shall we say of
those who, living in a Christian land,
in a Christian era and protesting
or pretending-belief in the all
mightiness of God, prefer neverthe-
less to trust to "automatons" and
cannon to safeguard their pathway to
a condition of heaven on earth?"
What shall we say of them when they
profess adherence to such fine Chris
tian doctrines as that Of a God Of
love, as universal brotherhood, and
the concern for our fellow men equal
to our concern for ourselves. and then
clamor for the equipment for slaugh-
ter-and more or less secretly itch
for the opportunity to use It? What
shall we say of them when they pro-
fess belief in the wisdom Of such .
God as they describe in words. or
what shall we think, indeed. Of their
own common sense when their real
desire il to make "automatons" Of
men and to essay to build up the
world by the process Of ruthless and
widespread destruction and waste?
There IL nothing to be said. Out Of
their own mouths are they con-
demned, and the fruits they gather
are pictured In blood on every page
Of the history Of the wickedness and
suffering Of mankind.
'But." says someone, who was the
author Of the statement quoted? Per-
haps 1t IL merely the language Of some
dead and gone warrior chieftain. some
feudal baron Of the dark ages when
men wore iron collars like dogs with
the landlord owners name marked
thereon Perhaps It 10. II It II,
then Major General John F. Organ.
Of this present day and time. advo-
cate of preparedness. lover Of epau-
lets, worshiper OF the false god. Mars,
and visualist Of crouching enemies in
every corner. is q plagiafist % we'll
as some other things which it would
be unkind to describe In public print.
But let US turn to some pleasanter
subjects than Major General John +.
Organ and his unfortunate kind and
their deliriums and desires. The
world is full of such-I mean Of pleas
anter subjects than Organ, his ilk.
and their designs and Nightmares
II you look for them. M
Even war, upon its outer edges rem
ders its small grist of humor. For
instance, last week, German, just
an ordinary everyday German at
that. worked Congressman Michael J.
Farley and Port Warden Of New York
David Lazarus for passport to which
he was entitled none whatsoever In
the least at all. And now there is .
ruction over it. Oh, worra, worra.
tits sorry the day we're at when
Dutchman can put over even little
one like that on an Irishman and =
Jew at the same time. Faith and
what's to become Of us? Tell me
that.
And then there is the discord IN
the British cabinet, wherefore sundry
most excellent and dignified, not to
say ponderous gentlemen. get all "het
up" and resign in hun and go out
and bite their finger nails, and gloom
gloom rather splendidly but gloom
nevertheless-jus like ordinary NOR
tails. Really when the subject Is re-
duced to splitting ha'pennies and the
like, as one might say. though none
of these impressive gentlemen re-
semble ha'penny in the least, the
reputed great really never appear half
SO dominatingly stupendous when you
- - - your kuooa This not Ov