The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1917-07-26
From Other
Editorial Pages
IN THE DAY OF ARMAGEDDON

IN THE DAY OF ARMAGEDDON.
Christian Science Monitor: The great
war has now endured for almost three
years, and yet there are still people
who do not seem to have discovered
its meaning. These people who do not
consist apparently either of peace.at
any-price pacifists or Of those whose
range of political vision is so limited
that they are incapable of grasping
the larger meaning Of the struggle.
The peace-at-any-price pacifists pursues
an absolutely simple and easily discern.
ible policy. He is to be found, however,
nearly always in countries which have
been wont to consider themselves with.
out the range Of any conceivable con-
flict He is most numerous and most
articulate, naturally, for this very rea.
son, in the United States But, after
this, he is to be found in England, less
in numbers, and speaking with less
assurance, for the simple reason that.
though England has stood, as has been
said in great pool swans nest 4"
and so largely free from the dangers
of the banks, still It has been only in a
pool, and not like the United States
girt, practically, by the oceans.
Once, however. the main continent Of
the Old World is reached, the pacifis.
decreases in numbers, and becomes
comparatively silent Most countries In
Europe had known, before the great
war, in more or less modern times, the
meaning of invasion, and so their peo-
pie had grown less willing to say that
nothing was worth fighting for, and TO
maintain that national subjugatinn
meant only the exchange Of one form
of capitalistic exploitation for another.
The Italian people did not think that.
when the Austrian officers walked daily
in the piazza in Venice, nor did the
Bulgarians nor Macedonians think so
when the soldiers Of Abdul Aziz or Alb
dul Hamid occupied their farms and
villages. The frogs were neither the
first nor the last Of the families of this
earth to discover that there is consid.
cradle difference in the methods Of
King Log and King Stork. And the
contention that invasion and conquest
only mean the substitution Of one mas.
ter for another is a theory which II is
much easier to maintain with an ocean
between yourself and the demonstration
of the fact, than on one side or the
other Of an imaginary line, marked out
by differently painted posts.
As for those whose political insight
reaches no farther than thanking them
selves that they are not as other men
are, or who think that the whole figh'.
ing world has gone crazy in the present
Walpurgis night Of slaughter. or that
every man or nation going out TO bat.
tie does so from a purely selfish or un-
worthy motive, II will be necessary for
them to soften their self.righteousness
with little OF the milk of humility and
generosity, and to extend their historic
horizon a little beyond the walls OF their
own houses AS in every other form
Of human activity, there have been
wars. and numbers of them, fought, on
both sides, for the meanest and mos.
sordid motives. But it must be remem-
bered that the mere contention that a
war has no better motive than self.ag.
grandizement or self.enrichment neces-
states the corollary that one side in
the struggle may be defending itself
against this self-aggrandizement and
this self-enrichment. and defending IL.
self most probably also against super
for strength. since It is certain thSs
those who go to war for selfaggrandfzs.
ment and self enrichment only to do
so when they think they are strong
enough to win the day.
Now do the people who object TO war
for any reason at all, really believe
that the world would have been richer
II the culture Of Greece had been sub
merged. at Marathon, by the tide Of
Persian conquest that the world would
have been a happier place TO live in.
II the Arabian tornado had swept ava Y
the army OF Charles Martel at Tours;
that liberty Of conscience would have
been safe-guarded by the triumph #
the Armada over the fleets OF England
in the Marrow Seas; that social. poliii.
cal, and religious liberty would havo
been enhanced II the burghers Of the
Netherlands had bowed before the
march Of Alva's infantry; or that tho
great idea Of equal sister nations would
have been brought nearer by the trl.