Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1916-02-05

COUSGleUCtS
are so convinced surrender life and
all that they cherish and love at the
behest of the aggressor. This attitude
concerns the individual, and him
alone. Since IL does not assume TO
be based upon fact or reason, IL can
not be dealt with on that basis. 1t
cannot be made the general rule of
conduct under our form of government
without departing from the basis upon
which our government is founded
Our government is enjoined by the
law of its being to use whatever force
is necessary to protect the rights of
the citizen. Before leaving this, one
is impelled to query upon what
proper consideration there is based
any distinction between the right or
necessity or desirability of using men
tai force to Tepel error. moral force
to repel evil, and physical force to
repel wrong 1t would seem, If reason
were applied, that in each instance
the situation is Identical; and that If
we should properly prepare our minds
to be strong so that we can reject
error, and our moral characters to be
strong so that we can reject evil, we
should likewise make our physical
force strong in order that we may
maintain the right as again those
who would physically impose the
wrong upon u.s.
Some FaIlacies About War !,
There are others concerning whose
clarity of vision We are not advised,
and concerning whose soundness Of
reason we are not Informed, because
the attitude which they take is adj
mittedly not based upon either vision
or reason. They are those who pre-
dict that war will never come to this
country, and assert that therefore pre-
cautions with respect thereto are I'M
wise and needless. Since wars have
come upon nations from the earliest
date of recorded history to this mo-
ment, there is no basis of fact for
such position but an actual demon
stration of the nonexistence of such
basis. We were early warned that
there would be wars and rumors of
wars, and that nation would rise
against nation and kingdom against
kingdom and the end was not yet;
and that prediction Fhas been fully
verified. There is no basis and no
foundation to conclude that this great
evil has been eliminated, and il there
fore must be treated as are all other
existing evils and must be prepared
against Surely, as between resting
upon prediction or upon preparation,
wisdom would not hesitate.
There are others among us who are
too intelligent and clear-sighted not to
see the facts and to realize their sig
niicance, but who counsel traction
because they mistrust themselves and
the nation. Those to whom / now re-
fer do not believe in the doctrine of
nonresistance; they do not rest upon
the prediction tnat an evil which has
existed since the world began has
ceased &c exist and been abolished
and should not therefore be consid-
cred as one to be prepared against;
they even point out our potentiality of
force, but they counsel against any
preparation thereof They base this
counsel upon the expressed fear that
IL we possess force, we will be induced
to use II when we should not 4
position ignores certain things which
are essential to be maintained, and
IL OdPCQ QpO1 CciIdlu
which are not justified. It ignores
the asponsibilities which we have ur-
dertaken and which we must maintain
at any self-sacrifice 1t ignores the
fact that If nations which possess
force are likely to use it when they
should not, some nation which has
such force is likely to use it against
as when 1t should not. It assumes
that our nation may not be trusted
with force for fear that it may mis-
use it, know of nothing which JUS
titles such an indictment of our peo-
pie and our nation.
"Militarismp Blinds Many.
The eyes of many are blinded to
fact and their minds closed to rea-
son by an adherence of what they
term i'militarism," without any actual
conception. of just what this means
or how it should affect the proper