The Irish standard., 1915-02-06


War may be Hades let loose. War
may also be blessing in disguise.
1t never is an unmitigated evil.
A violent clash between nations
will naturally cause great destruction.
But, like a prairie fire, it removes
much that binders real growth. Mars
unchains lust for blood. He also i'm
bues people with a salutary fear of
death and eternity. He fosters mar.
tial virtues that are the price of
safety in civic and religious life.
Self-indulgence, Effeminacy and Lux.
ury hate Mars bitterly.
The danger of war may be reduced
by the fostering of good will among
nations and races. Still, war will
never be out of date.
Armed conflict between nations is a
fierce blaze devouring the materials
for bonfire heaped> up by mems pas.
sions during times of peace. Were
there no greed, envy, hate, injustice
murder, and other crimes among races
and nations, as well as in single com.
munities, Mars might as we'll sink
his rifles, cannon, warships and other
paraphernalia in midocean and enter
vaudeville as a champion of perpet.
ual peace. But in that event mankind
would have to be made up of angels
in human flesh, or at least of practical
Christians.
AS long as this does not obtain, war
will have to be reckoned with, and
Mars will do some business at the
old stand.
In pastoral issued at the outbreak
of the world war Cardinal Bourne,
Archbishop of Westminster, writes:
"War is in truth one Of the great
est material evils that the world can
see, but our Divine Master has warned
us that it is an evil for which we
must be prepared. You shall hear of
wars and rumors of wars. See that
We be not troubled. For these things
must come to pass, but the end is not
yet. For nation shall rise against ma
ton, and kingdom against kingdom.
War is, at the same time, a reminder
of sin, for, without the sin of individ-
uals and of nations, enmities and con-
sequent hostilities would not exist
(Tablet, Aug. 8th.)
Absurd to Babble of Peace While
Human Nature Remains Unchanged.
The prophetic words of our Divine
Lord show that it is absurd to babble
about universal peace as long as
human nature remains the same, and
attention is centered on arbitration
and neutrality agreements which, as
ex-President Roosevelt recently oh.
served, are not worth the paper used
to write them down. We must go
deeper and get a firm hold on the
conscience Of mankind. Says Our
Sunday Visitor (Sept. 6th) very per.
tinently:
"Man, driven on by jealousy, ambi
ton or avarice, or by love of father.
land or religion, is willing to accept
every suffering entailed by war, to
make every sacrifice demanded for its
successful prosecution, to drain to the
dregs the cup of the agony of death
in order to secure the victory. No,
there must be offered him better,
higher motives than mere material
loss to enlist him under the banner
of International peace!"
Peoples Of Warning Nations Wanted
War.
Editor Kelley of the Chicago Her.
aid (Sept. 2d) practically endorsed
this view when he wrote:
g. There is no doubt that the
war was popular in Europe, much as
some of us would like to believe the
contrary. In Servia, Belgium and
France the feeling of the masses may
be explained by the instincts of self.
defense; in Russia by the sense of
Slavic brotherhood; in England by a
conviction that the national honor was
involved; in Germany by conviction
that the national existence
was at stake. Whatever the instincts,
convictions or delusions behind it,
there is no doubt that these six gov.
ernments, in going to war, were sup.
ported with practical unanimity by
their peoples"
And these "battered and impov.
erished peoples" observes Prof. F.
Schevill, of Chicago University, in a
pamphlet of the Chicago Germanistic
Society, will be preserved for no
other purpose than new wars and new
disasters, If they do not fit themselves
with new mind. And that means
that the individual-for everything
depends on him-must learn the les.
son of peace and love. :"
It also means the recognition by
the principal powers of some impair.
tial, disinterested International court
or mediator. OF course, even these
would not guarantee perpetual peace,
for the animal in man can not be
completely abolished.