Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1918-03-29


paoifsf.. ard every politician who
wished :" cater to the pacifist vote
aud 70 st the support of easy-going
! pies irc-lovinG mater:elists, and If
aordid money-gettinT materialists.
! kept assuring us that if we wouid
only keep unprepared we would ..s~',
,i!t OF war Well. we tried the eXper-
! iment. We kept unprepared. And Ne
got into war. The paciasts did not
keep us OFT of the war. They got Us
into war. They merely kept us ur.
prepared tn do our instant duty In the
war.
Guard Against Weakness
And friends, be Oh your guard
against these same apostles of weak :
ness ana folly when peace comes:
They Will then tell YOU that this is
the last great war Less than four
wears ago these same men We're tell
ing YOU that no great war could ever
again happen. They will tell YOU tina,
TO keep unprepared is to avoid war.
Well, that's just what they told yen
two and half years after>the. great
war broke out. and you see Tor yorr-
selves the result. They will tell YOU
that they can make parer treaties ard
agreements and guarantees ny viii i
brutal and unscrupuious men = will
Lave their souls 50 SCfteEed ;h5;t
weak and tim;d men won't have any
thing 20 fear and that brave and hon
est men won't have To preparc to de-
fend Themselves. We'll, we have seen
that all suci, treaties arc worth less
than scraps of paper when il becomes
to the interest of powerful and ruth
less militarist nations 70 disregard
them. IN our cNi;, country Just prior
tG the outbreak of the great war, and
for Some months after the war, our
government, though the state de-
partment. was busy signing dozens Of
ridiculous little peace treaties and III
solemnly giving 10 the signers small
metal plough shares made of con-
demned cavalry sabcrS. And this lu-
dicrous mCnkey-wOrk went on at the
very time that Germany had tram
pied Belgium and Northern France
and SeTvia into bloody mire. and
when those engaged in the fatuous
work owed their safety at that very
HloIIleHt oulS ~ tle TACT Inat 1nS
English and French fleets and armies
held back Germany from world do
minion. After the war is over all
these foolish pacifist creatures win
again raise their piping voices against
preparedness and in favor of patent
devices for maintaining peace without
effort. Let our people be on their
guard against them. Let us enter
into every reasonable agreement
which bids fair to minimize the chan
ces of war and to circumscribe the
area of war; but let us remember that
all such agreements when tested will
prove what the German chancellor
called them, scraps of paper" unless;
back of them lies the resolute strength
OF a nation which loves peace, but
which loves righteousness more than
peace, and which has prepared in adj
vance to defend it's rights. Let us en-
ter into the treaties by all means,
merely taking care not to promise
anything we cannot and do not seri-
ously intend to perform. But let US
also remember that it is Il hundred
times more important for US to pre-
pare our strength for our own de-
Tense than to enter into any of these
peace treaties; and that if We thus
prepare our strength for our own de-
Tense we shall minimize the chances
of war S no paper treaties can pos
sibly minimize them; and we shall
thus make our views effective for
peace and justice in the world a:
large as in no other way they can DE
made effective.
Also Prepare For Peace
Friends, it is not only OR duty 10
be prepared against war. 1t is if pos
Sible even more our duty to prepare
for peace. and we are almost as I'M
prepared in one respect as the other
Moreover, in the affairs of peace, as
in the affairs of war, let us grown
men. as serious citizens of great re-
public. impaticntly brush aside the
silly shamtrust in rhetoric as q sub
stitute for action. 1t is I suppose a
besetting sin of ali mankind, and GER
tainly of mankind as we see it arounI
us. always to endeavor to hide ugly
action, or ugly inaction, behind
cloak Of lofty-sounding sentimentali-
ty. and to endeavor to justify ard
atone for the refusal to look ugly
truths in the face by using fine
phrases as an anodyne for partially
aroused conscience.
We cannot afford any longer to con-
tinue cur present industrial and So
cial system. or rather no-system OF
eVery-hla n for h imself and devil
he-hindmost. We cannot any
longer afford TO cover our inaction bv
Fourth of July oratory in praise ce
ourselves. Least of all can we a ford
to accept sham remedies which would
merely make our condition worse 10
stead Of better. What is needed is to
fix definite ideals and then to try to
realize them by deeds; TO ondeavor
practically and cautiously but reso-
lutelv bv The actual service test. by
"ctual experiment to fird out just
how to translate these ideals into
working actualities; and therefore to
understand the necessity Of refusing
tC accept glittering half truths md CT
painfully cndeavoring to reduce real
truths to action. That great citizen
cf Maine. the late Tom Reed. used 20
be fond of saying that nothing was
easier to formulate. nothing more at
tractive to shallow thinking persons,
and nothing more mischievous when
reduced to action. than a half truth:
whereas a whole truth is always one
Of the most difficult things to state
and one of the most difficult things
actually to reduce to action. while