New-York tribune., 1916-07-17
Wickedness To Be Fought.

Wickedness To Be Fought.
Every hour has its peculiarities-life
would scarcely be worth living otherwise
but the present moment of grace has mucn
to qualify it as one of the strangest here
abouts. There have always been sharks
in the sea and germs by land and as for
war, Americans have fought long and fire.
ouenty-at intervals of little less than
thirty years on the average, not counting
the present border. fighting with Mexico.
So there is nothing amazing in any one OF
our present Affections. 1t is their arrival
together that suggests a demonstration in
force by the powers of evil or the rever-
sion to type of an atavistic world grown
weary of too much placid goodness.
Man had conquered the world according
to the old phrase and belief. The great
war, utterly unbelievable at the outset to
many, broke down much of this faith;
man had not conquered himself at any
rate, we were forced to conclude. Such
local visitations as the present plaques
bring home the truth that the world is still
a fairly wild and unexpected place to live
in, and that much remains to be done be-
fore civilization is complete and thorough
ly at ease. According to the naturalists,
there have always been man-eating sharks
in these waters. The only mystery has
been why they have not set about their
grewsome trade before. Now that they
have there is distinctly unpleasant sense
of false security about our whole cheerful
sheltered routine of life. Such a disease
as infantie paralysis makes the same at
tack. Medical science has done so much
to reduce the terrors of disease that 1T is
a disconcerting shock to come against a
set of germs that must be fought wholly
in the dark. What does our conquest
amount to, after all?
Perhaps it is just as we'll that we are
being so thoroughly convinced Of the per-
sistence of evil and the long fight ahead. |.
A very pat statement is that of an un-
named Quaker in "The Evening Post"
The organizations Of Friends have stood
by their disbelief in war; but, as often be-
fore, individuals have outspokenly defended
the necessity of force, as in this recent ad-
vocacy of preparedness by a prominent
Quaker:
"If there were no evil in the world,
Christ's non-resistant doctrine would
be unnecessary. As there is wicked
ness to be fought, the doctrine is, in
my judgment, fanatical, absurd and
pernicious. There is struggle for
existence and supremacy wherever
there is animal life, and the human
animal has emerged from the early
barbarism by fighting and will con-
tinue to fight until in the course of the
development which has gone on from
the first, and is one of Natures great
est laws, the good individuals so far
outnumber the evil that an interna-
tional police force will take the place
of armies. But that time has not
come, and when a nation like Ger
many determines to conquer the world
and crush free government, the only
thing to do as see it is for the outlaw
to be overwhelmed by the intended
victims, as l hope and believe will be
done, for the future peace Of the peo-
Piles.
"If this is 'hysteria' thou wilt see
that | have chronic case Of it,"
There are more and more Americans
coming to exactly this point of view. Be-
tween the submarine that sank the Lusi-
tania and the shark of Matawan Creek
there is a difference, both in destructive
and in moral responsibility.
There is none in point of view of hostility
to unprotected, unoffending human life.
As long as any such forces of evil re-
main nop-resistance can scarcely offer any
present rule of conduct for either nation
or individual.