St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1915-06-16
Preparedness For War

Especially strong and convincing is
the argument of Sen. H. c. Lodge
made at the commencement exercises
of Union College last week in favor
of a defended America. In discuss
ing how universal peace is to be es-
tablished and maintained he asserts
it is certain it cannot be done by
words. He said:
If we are to secure our own peace
and do our part toward the mainten-
ance of world peace we must put
rhetoric, whether in speech or on pa
per, aside. We must decline to be
satisfied with illusions. We must re-
fuse to deceive ourselves or others.
We must pass by mere words and
vague shows and come clear-eyed to
the facts and the realities. The dom
inant fact today, repeat, is the phys
ical force now unclaimed in this great
war Some people seem to think
that If you can abolish force and the
instruments Of force you can put an
end to the possibilities of war.
His next argument is that it would
be no wiser to abolish force because
it is sometimes misused than it would
be to abolish fire because it some
times gets beyond control and is a
destructive agent. That force is the
real power that preserves peace and
order is shown by officials necessary
to enforce civil laws. He said:
You may carry your inquiry across
the whole range of history and over
the earliest human societies of which
we have knowledge to the Vigilance
committees of the Far West and you
will find that law, order and peace
were brought about by men coming
together and exercising the united
force of the community, great or
small, in order to put an end to the
chaos and disorders of uncontrolled |
force exercised by each individual.
Law is the written will of the COM
munity. The constable, the police
man, the soldier, is the symbol of
the force which gives sanction to law,
and without which it would be worth
less. Abolish the force which main
tains order in every village, town and
city in the civilized world and you
would not have peace; you would
have riot, anarchy and destruction;
the criminal, the violent and the
reckless would dominate until the
men of order and the lovers of peace
4
community which had been swept
away. 1t is all obvious enough, it +,
all rests on human nature, and if
there was not somewhere an organ
lied force which belonged to the
whole community there would be }
neither peace nor order anywhere.
No one has suggested, not even the :
most ardent advocates of peace, that :
the police of our cities should be
abolished on the theory that an or ;
ganization of armed men whose duty :
it is to maintain order, even if they :
are compelled often to wound and :
sometimes to kill for that purpose, :
are by their mere existence an incite- '
ment to crime and violence. If or y
der, peace and civilization in a town, :
city or state rest, as they do rest in .
the last analysis, upon force, upon
what does the peace of a nation de-
pend? 1t must depend, and it can
only depend, upon the ability of the
nation to maintain and defend it's
own peace at home and abroad.
The peace of a nation depends in ,
the last resort, like domestic order, !
upon the force of the community
and upon the ability of the COM l
munity to maintain peace, assuming +
that the nation lives up to its obliga- f
tons, seeks no conquest, and wishes
only to be able to repel aggression
and invasion. If a nation fulfils
all its international obliga- @
tons and seeks no conquest and has +
no desire to wrong any other nation,
great or small, the danger of war can
come only through the aggression of {
others, and that aggression will not
be made if it is known that the peace :
loving nation is able and ready to re-
pei it. The first step, then, toward
the maintenance of peace is for each
nation to maintain its peace with, the
rest of the world by it's own honora-
BILE and right conduct and by such or
ganization and preparation as will p
enable it to defend it's peace.
There is no jingoism in such rea- II
soning nor in making sufficient prep
aration to defend ourselves against :,
an aggressor. Had we been prepared
to infiict severe punishment on Ger
many for every offense it committed
on our citizens there would have
been no offenses. If we are in po-
sition to administer singing defeat
on the first demonstration of Japa-
nese insolence and aggression we
need never fear for our island pos
sessions in the Pacific. 1t is not time
to prattle about ideals but time to
prepare ourselves in a practical way
for the conditions all about us. No
one wants war and we never will