Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1916-06-16

ter and brag has sent no loving brother
to the dissolution of the grave. 1t does
satisfy the fathers of this land and the
sons of this land who will fight-for our
flag. and die for our flag when Reason
primes the rifle when Honor draws the
sword. when Justice, breathes blessing
on the standards they uphold.
And whom, we ask, will the policy of
our opponents satisfy, and for how
long? Fighting for every degree OF
injury would mean pes petual war and
this is the policy of our opponents,
DENY IT how they will. II would not
allow the United States to keep the
sword out of the scabbard as long as
there remains an unrighted wrong or
an unsatisfied hope between the snowy
wastes of Siberia and the jungled hills
of Borneo. It would make America as
dangerous to itself and to others. as de-'
structive and as uncomfortable as the
cannon that slipped its mornings In
Victor Hugo's tale of '93. 1t would
give us a war abroad each time the
fighting cock of the European weather
vane shifted with the breeze. 1t would
make America the cockpit of the world.
1t would mean the reversal of our ira
ditional policy of government. 1t
would mean the adoption Of imperialis-
tic doctrines which we have denounced
for over a century.
IF WE NEEDLE IN EUROPE
SHE WILL NEEDLE IN U. s.
1t would make all the other nations
the wards of the United States and the
United States the keeper of the world.
What would become of the Monroe Doc
trine under such a policy? How long
do our opponents suppose we would be
allowed to NEEDLE in European affairs
while denying Europe the right to NEEDLE
in American affairs. The policy OF our
opponents is a d ream. 1t is not even adj
vanced in food faith; it is simply an
appeal to passion and pride, to SYM
pathy and prejudice, to secure partisan
advantage. In a word, this policy of
our opponents would make the United
States the policemen of the world. Rome
tried to be policeman of the world and
went down; Portugal tried to be police
man of the world and went down; Spain
tried and went down, and the United
States proposes to profit by the exper-
fence of the ages and avoid ambitions
whose reward is sorrow and whose crown
is death.
In desperation for slogan our OPP
national honor
Now national honor is not the within
of an individual mind.
National honor is the composite SEN
timent, the composite reason Of a whole
people feeling the emotions of nature
and following the dictates of God.
And it is for this reason that the
power to declare war is conferred by
the constitution of these United States,
not on the individual will of the presi-
dent, but On the composite reason, the
representative decision of "the Congress
of the United States"
Do, then, the hotspurs of the country
mean to proclaim themselves more zeal
Gus of our national honor than the
trainers of the constitution, than Wash
ington or Lincoln? Where when and
from whom did they receive their com
mission as keepers and interpreters of
the honor of this nation? Who gave
them a monopoly of the workings of
the brain or the emotions of the heart?
What mystic faculty do they possess
which nature has denied to other men?
NOISE MAKES PATRIOTISM
IS REPUBLICAN, THEORY.
They proceed on the theory that the
noisiest man in the land is the best
patriot
Fearful within, clustering without,
the coward whistles to keep up courage,
and hopes the world will read in his
face what is not in his heart. The
brave man, conscious of what is in his
AiCdAN anu NdIC4CSS Of Wn6IHeI OF not
the world reads it in his face, neither
whistles to deceive his neighbors nor
publishes his patriotism to win the
Pharisee's crown of self-praise.
These noisy critics forget than an
appreciation of honor is as elemental
in every man as the instinct which
calls the flush of rage to the cheek or
the blaze Of anger to the eye. When
the honor of this country is outraged
or the glory of its flag is besmirched
the man of the street, the toiler in the
fields, the artisan in the shops, the
man who shoulders his musket and
marches away at his country's call will
need no one to tell him. no one-to show
him where the duty lies and manhood
calls. The men who will do the fighting
will not have to be drummed to war
they will summon themselves to battle
with the valor of a Jackson and the
ardor of a Wayne.
The genius of this country is for
peace Compared with the blood-smear-
ed pages of Europe our records are al
most immaculate. In the making of
no other nation has conquest played so
small a part. Stolen wealth does not
fill our Golfers or ravished territory
swell our domains.
We have built our greatness on the
resources OF nature ana the peaceIul
toll of our people. The ring of the
anvil not the rattle of the saber. the
song of the reaper not the Shrek of
the soldier, the clatter of the shuttle
not the crack Of the rifle have won US
the place We occupy today in the coun-
ellis of the world
With us war has never been a choice,
it has always been fate. We wout2
like to furl the flags of war and st-=1
its throbbing drums; we sigh for the
day when men will beat their swords
into plowshares, their spears into prun-
ing hooks; but we recognize that the
miracle is yet to be performed which
perfects human nature and imbues ma
tions with the spirit to do unto others
as they would do unto US.
WHEN NECESSITY DEMANDS
WE WILL RESORT TO FORCE.
Like the old Mohawk chief who loved
peace, We would like to throw the toma-
hawk of war so high in the sky that
no mans hand could ever pull it down.
But when some other tribe among the
races of men sends US a bundle of ar
rows wrapped in the skin of a rattle
snake, We want, like old Governor Brad
ford of Massachusetts, to be in a posi-