The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1917-01-27
SPEECH OF HON.
DANIEL F. c0hAlAN
Justice Of Supreme Court, New York,
at National Peace Meeting, Academy
Of Music, Philadelphia, Pa, Thurs.
day Evening, January 10, 1917.

The people OF this country wish for
peace and they are not alone in so
wishing, for venture to say that there
is in no country in the world any con-
siderable portion of the people who
now wish for war The governing
classes in the bellgerent countries
may want the war to continue, the pro-
fessional military men may be anxious
that the contest shall go on until one
set Of combatams has absolutely van
pushed the other set, but the great
mass OF the people of every country
| are signing for the return of peace;
and patriotic as they may be, ready
as they are to go on making great
sacrifice after great sacrifice, they are
anxious for the war to end, in order
that they may return to their ordinary
pursuits in life; for peace, Mr.. Chair
man is the natural condition of man.
kind and war, from it's very nature
must be temporary and passing and
not an enduring or lasting condition.
All history teaches us the truth of
Shermans statement that "War is
hell" War means death and destruc-
ton, suffering and gloom, and no mat
ter how orators may describe or poets
may sing the glories of war, civilized
man recognizes that it should be turn
ed to only as a last resort and when
reason has failed to reconcile the diff
ferences which are at last submitted
to the dread arbitrament of war. And
therefore, sir, we are not different
from the rest of mankind When we de-
clare that we are in favor of peace,
that we desire to see an end to this
awful struggle that is unparalleled
in all the long history of man and that
we wish to see force banished from the
foremost place among the leaders of
mankind and reason again enthroned
as the guiding rule of action.
Thirty months of such warfare as
until now had never been dreamed of,
thirty months of struggle that have
redeemed the far-fung battletields of
Europe, Asia and Africa with the blood
of millions of the best and bravest of
the white race have opened the eyes
of this generation to the horrors of
war and have convinced mankind that
all of our boosted civilization is a
failure, if no better means than war
| and mutual selftlestruction can be
discovered to settle the differences
that are bound to arise from time to
time between the different nations and
races Of the earth. Certainly civiliza-
ton has failed if the chief achievement
has been to make wholesale murder
easier and if every agency it has dis
covered for Harvesting the elements is
to be turned into a weapon of death
and destruction.
We are interested like the rest of
mankind in the problem of ending
the war, but our interest should be in
proportion to our opportunity and be-
cause of our position in the world, of
our ties with all the countries that
are trying to destroy one another and
of our acknowledged rank among the
nations of the EARTH we cannot sit
idly by and await the time when either
mutual destruction shall have made
our mediation useless or the absolute
triumph of one side or the other shall
have made it impossible. The time
now seems ripe to arouse the country
to Il realizing sense of our opportunity
and our responsibility, for iT spite of
the manner in which the suggestions
of peace both from their opponents
and from our President have been
refused by the Allies the entering
wedge of peace has been driven into
the war situation and all mankind
both belligerent and neutral has begun
the discussion of peace, and that dis
cussion will not end until peace is es-
tablished and this most dreadful of
wars is ended.
We cannot expect that this will be
an easy matter, sir, for the most fright
full passions have been aroused, not
alone among the fighters themselves,
but among their friends throughout
the neutral world and even here in our
own beloved land the discussion OF
peace must be bound up with the dis
cussion of the progress of the war and
, those who are more interested in the
continuance of this awful slaughter
, because of their interest in the for
, tunes of one of the belligerents, thar
they are in the cause of peace viii
, not hesitate to charge that the tall
of peace comes from the fear lest thei1
: present great advantage should be
lost by one set of the fighting nations
and more even condition Of things
: be brought about by the other set