Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1918-03-12
A PREDICTION COME TRUE.

Rousseau, in writing, predicted that
out of the Isle of Corsica there would
some day come man destined to rev.
olutionize his era and to have Europe
al his feet.
Soon after Napoleon Bonaparte was
born, and eventually he was the con-
oueror of almost his entire CONT
nent.
Montesquieu prophesied, before the
revolutionary war, that in America
there would arise democratic ma
ton ordained to become one OF the
mightiest of the world.
Two remarkable divinations surely,
but what about Brann's prediction of
worldwide war, made twenty years
ago
Brann was that fiery Texan, the
greatest writer of his time, one of the
most remarkable of all time, an ICON
oclast by profession and by nature.
With a pen squirting vitriol all it's
own, vet he could be more tender,
more gentle, more appealing than In
/ oln 10
combined the satire of Swift, the sim
pie eloquence of Paine, the biting sar-
casm of Voltaire, the thunderous inn
pressiveness of Webster, the superb
diction of Irving or the grandeur of an
Addison. His vocabulary was as ex-
tensive almost as Shakespeare's, and
decidedly more picturesque. His ia
ci1ity Of expression was amazing, and
withal he was philosopher, a thinker,
well-night seer.
In 1898, Brann wrote:
Unless all signs fail, the world
is on the eve of war, such as was
never known in all the mighty cy-
cles of human history. Lucky,
indeed, it will be if the Twentieth
Century is not born amid the
shock of universal battle Is
our boosted civilization breaking
down beneath its own ponderous
weight-the rotting props and pill
lars unable to sustain the gilded
roof? A murderous mania hath
everywhere seized upon the minds
of men. The pulse of the race is
beating the reveille; the soul of
the world is sounding the boots
and saddle. Savagery is re-as-
/ sorting itself. 49, Peace? There
is no peace-war is ineyitable!'
The ostrich may avoid seeing the
| approach of the fierce simeon by
hiding its head in the sand but
cannot stay its onward march
The craze for slaughter, the lust
for blood, is abroad in the land.
The stars are evil, and Ate
/ ranging hot from hell, plants her
burning feet on every brow For
years the brute passions of man
have had no outlet-a prolonged
peace hath become that good Gus
tum which doth corrupt the world.
A new generation hath arisen in
Europe and America which knows
naught of the horrors of war, but
is intoxicated by its glory It's SUI
| perfuous energy must find ex-
: preston, its pent-up passions are
ready for explosion. The
trend of events points to a war
that will involve the world-will
align the Old agains the New. .
We may deplore this spirit OF con-
tention, but to deny its existence
were to write ones self down an
irremediable ass. 1t is in evil
denee everywhere, from the Amer
lean Senate, to the country clown.
To argue against the war-spirit
were like whistling in the teeth of
the north-wind. You cannot alter
a psychological condition with a
made-to-order editorial. Vast
armies and costly fleets Of battle
| ships in time of peace are indi-
cation of conscious weakness. The
| Western Giant goes unarmed; but
| LET the embattfed world tread nm