New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1915-01-27
WAR AND BRAVERY.

The riotous, reeking war hell of Europe
illumines one truth perhaps more con
spicuously than any other, and that i
that our brothers, our brothers OF France
our brothers of Germany, of England
of Austria, all perhaps less unlike our
selves than we sometimes fancy, are, at
least in the frenzy of war, neither brave
nor Christian.
Brave? What bravery is there in the
sway of might made possible only by
vaster numbers and superior armament?
What bravery is there in the fomenting
of mere race hatred that men may craze
themselves into dashing at each other
like beasts with only murder in their
hearts? What bravery is there in
planting explosive mines in open sea,
that the ships of fellow men may come
upon them unawares and their crews be
blown to kingdom come? What bravery
is there in sneaking, hidden beneath the
waters, to strike low down upon I'M
guarded vital spots of an enemy's man.
of-war, trick that even low browed
brutes of the prize ring despise? What
bravery is there in ruthlessly, wantonly
making million helpless women and
children homeless? What bravery is
there in wrecking cathedrals and art
palaces that cannot strike back? What
bravery is there in flying at secure
heights and dropping murderous and
destructive bombs where defense is
impossible? What bravery is there in
starving men into submission? What
bravery is there in cornering human
beings like rats and turning machine
guns on them to NOW them down in
sickening, certain, horrible harvest? Can
any sane man call this bravery? When
the smoke has rolled away and the reck
at last dispelled by heavens sweet, pure
air we shall be RECALLED with tales Of
handfuls of men here and there who
essayed fruitless, impossible tasks; of
little drummer boys who grabbed a
tattered rag of one color or another and
strutted for brief moment upon some
parapet till their poor bodies were riddled.
Fools! Poor, crazed,vain fools. But in
all Europe, in all that land of sturdy men,
not one soul who had the real courage
to say "Shoot me for disobedience of
orders if you will, I shall not kill brother
man of mine merely because he happens
to be a little darker or little lighter
skinned, or speaks different language
than l." There was not one nation
which had the courage to say: "We
will not invade your countries, neighbors;
we will not kill you nor harm you; we will
not even arm to do so. We have preached
that the right will prevail, that the God
Of good reigns. We will prove our faith,
our faith in that God, our faith in you,
our faith in ourselves by our works. We
will compete with you, fairly, to render
service to the world, but we will not
combat with you" Such nation
would have gone unscathed.
War breeds only vain, strutting, muir
derous demoniacs and saddened men and
women. 1t does not develop really
brave men, men of the genuine worth
while bravery. At best, every war
movement represents, as the New York
Staats-Zeitung, itself radically pro- Ger
man, of course, and war fevered, expresses
it merely, "The strength Of cold steel
and cold calculating intelligence -
Christian? Every participating nation
has entered the contest announcing
its special partnership with almighty God,
the God made comprehensive to us by
the meek and kindly though courageous
master teacher, Jesus, and then hurried
intt the melee as to g-sticking tourney
in an abattoir.
Christian? Following in the footsteps
Of the pre-eminent teacher Of justice and
fairness, but spreading wanton, needless
destruction, resorting to every conceiv-
able conceit; Selling, invading, pillaging,
running?
Christian? Following in the foot
steps of the great revelator who spread
for our understanding and guidance the
sublime lessons of love and morals and
the all reality of the good and the
beautiful and the spiritual, but rushing
at each other to hack, to behead, to dis
embowel? What inconsistency, what
horror can equal it, and not even the
semblance of question of religious
liberty to justify it.-Robert S. Double
dog II, Public Opinion
Will Curtis, editor and publisher o
the St. James Plaindealer passed tn,
5Oth milestone week ago Monday
In honor of the event a large circle o
fr;o,, dc rofhorod Of I;c howe owl ....