The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1916-01-08

oO A0AS OpOu " the SlIOu6SSS "a Iu0ul
when we ourselves take first place, l
am quite certain they will all become
eager to rid themselves of burdens
which crush their populations to the
earth and which no longer can result
in making any of them the predomi-
nant military force of the world. A
general understanding then could
easily be reached that no country
would maintain a military establish
ment greater than was necessary to
preserve peace within its own borders
say force equal to one per cent
of its population. The beneficent re.
suits of general disarmament would
be incalculable. Dismissal from un-
productive idleness in barracks of
some five or six millions of men to
productive fields OF industry, and
restoration of capital amounting to
between two or three billions of dol
lars every year from wasteful prepa-
rations for war to the channels of USE
full commerce would repair the raw.
ages of this conflict within five years.
And then the world would enter upon
a period of prosperity such as the chill
dren of men have never known. But
this happy outcome will be possible
only if this war be. ended now. If it
continue until many millions of men
in the flower of their youth are in
capacitated from labor and practically
the whole capital of the world is de-
stroyed, then it is difficult to see how
the measure of prosperity we have en-
joyed in the past can ever be restored
or how even the human race can be
preserved.
Such an agreement for general dis
armament would not greatly change
the international relations which have
governed the world before this war.
Mobilization of an army has always
been considered an act of hostility by
neighboring countries. This would
merely put organization of an army
on the same footing as mobilization
of an army is now. Should any coun-
try undertake to increase its military
establishment beyond the force neces-
sary to preserve peace within its own
borders, then this country could al
ways stand ready to outstrip such
preparations for war by more extern
sive preparations on our part. And
this would end them.
And thus we find the whole course
of events has been directed by AL
mighty God SO as to make this coun-
try the agency by which all the moral
forces of Christendom can be made
effective for the restoration of peace
not the troubled peace of conquest
and submission, but the permanent
peace-the blessed peace-of recon-
Citation and justice; and for the lib
Grafton of humanity from the curse of
ornaments.
am aware that the peace for which
am pleading peace permanent and
universal-will be characterized by
many as vain dream, an aspiration
wholly irreconcilable with human ma
ture. War, they will insist, is such an
essential feature of existence that as
men have always waged it in the past
80 they will always be found either
waging 1t or preparing to wage it.
Now, of course, II this be true, If
war is indeed an essential condition
Of human existence, denunciatiOn of it
is but vain rebellion against the dis
pensations Of Almighty God. But l
deny that such a peace is unattainable
or that the desire for it is a vain as
piration of enthusiasm. And in taking
this position plant myself upon unas-
sailable ground, for l am merely con-
tending that nothing is impossible
which has already occurred. What
man has done that man can repeat.
And what man has done under cOndi-
lions that were difficult and almost
desperate, he can certainly repeat un-
der conditions that are vastly more
favorable.
Peace for the sake of peace-not as
a measure of policy for the advantage
Of one nation at the expense of others,
but as measure of justice for the
benefit of all nations and all the chill
dren of men inhabiting them-has al
ready been established in this world.
Once-and once only, SO far as know
was peace established on any other
ground than as matter Of policy for
advantage of the state consenting to it
or enforcing it, but that was In time
of even more widespread conflict than
this, and when the disastrous results
of prolonged war which are now poten.
tial were actually scourging the hui
man family and driving it to extinc-
ton.
Nearly nine centuries ago the wars
and disturbances that had continued
almost without intermission for five
hundred years after the fall of Rome
had exhausted Western Europe to such
a degree that men were driven by fam
inc to feed on the flesh of each other.
Raoul Glaber, the contemporary writer
to whose chronicles we are indebted
for knowledge of these events, tells