Americus times-recorder., 1915-05-13
WORLD PEACE TRIBUNAL
To FOLLOW EUROPEAN
WAR

is the object of the World Court Con-
gress which assembled here yesterday,
was viewed in an address by John
Hays Hammond chairman, as pro-
ject in which America should lead.
The promoters of this Congress have
laid emphasis ON the fact th1t their OBJ
ject is not stop-the- -war-movement,
but that it looks to the consl mmation
of International peace ideals as soon
as the present war is over.
Picturing the horrors and economic
losses of the war, Mr.. Hammond urged
mankind not to despair of civilizations
ideals, but to take renewed courage
from the fact that "the ethical stan
dards of the people are higher and the
cardinal virtues more widely prevalent
than ever before in recorded history"
There is more religious tolerance
today, more allowance for racial pecul-
iarities, more earnest desire for better
understanding and community of in
terest than ever before in international
relations.
WARS in the past did not excite the
horror that is today universal even
among the non-combatants. Wars in
generations past were waged confes-
sedly, if not avowedly, for conquest.
Today the desire for the respect of
their fellow beings induces even the
warning nations to make Jealous eff
fort to vindicate their respective caus-
es, and this for the special reason that
there is such a contrast between war
and the high ethical standards of the
age in which we live.
Nevertheless, all wars in this age
are an abomination and an ineffable
stain upon the .escutcheon of the vaunt-
ed Civilization of our twentieth Chris
tian century 1t is the system control
ling international relations, rather
than the individual belligerents, that
is responsible The fact is that the
science of war has been assiduously
developed, while the science of peace
has been woefully neglected in the cur
riculum of human progress. God-given
genius has prostituted it's inventive
faculty to the destructive process of
war, while only mediocrity has charac-
terized the efforts to prevent war.
Let me digress moment to say
that, | believe it is our own duty to
impress the horrors of war upon the
youth of the present day and upon
coming generations, that their concep-
tion of war be undeceived as to its
heroism and glory, but, rather, that
their minds be saturated with the folly
the cruelty and the waste.
We should impress upon the per-
verted ambition of youth the fact that
bravery, self-sacrifice and heroism in
the pacific fields of human endeavor
are equally deserving of the Victoria
Cross and of the Iron Cross, conferred
for achievement upon the destructive
fields of bloody battle,
"While the propaganda for world
peace has been one of the steps nee
essary for its realization, it is now
time to take concrete action, rather
than to moralize and to expatiate upon
the evils of war and we pacifsts, if
We are to dominate the situation and
to supplant the institutions of war by
those of peace must be prepared to
submit practical Ian for the main
tenance of peace and not be longer
content with pacifsts' platitudes.
Cooperation of world courts is un-
doubtedly prequisite to the limitation
or reduction of armaments, and huge
armaments, while not direct cause Of
war, undoubtedly do tend to develop
that spirit of militarism which is pro-
vocative of war. Moreover, huge ara