The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1918-01-26

H. was one VITAL point upon winch
he always insisted whenever he
was threatened with discipline for get
ting into a fight "He began It'll"
Boys realize that Justice rests upon
the question, Who was the assailalt?
And almost every boy has more than
once suffered under the sting of an
adult injustice which, declining to in
vestigate, punished him for lighting
when he had beer merely defending
himself. OF course, self-defense does
not consist entirely of warding ges-
lures, for If 1t did it could not defend.
A person attacked must either be
beaten or take his choice of running
away or of striking back; and If the
assailant is the speedier, running away
Is a mere -postponement of being
beaten. But spectators Of a conflict
Especially if they nave not noted or
comprehended it's b~eginning) almost
always take a superior position of dis
gusted impartiallty. ."Brutes!" they
say. "Fightingl They ought to be
ashamed of themselves !"
1 remember such a case. A boy
friend of mine, an awkward but spir-
tied ten-year-old, was returning alone
from an afternoons skating when a
sturdier, shorter boy the same age,
opposed his progress, and addressed
to him the provocative formula, "Who
you lookin' at, o dern fool your"
My friend replied placatively that he
wasn't looking at anything, whereupon
the stranger demanded hotly: "You
call me nothin', do your" and, striking
him suddenly upon the mouth, snatched
his skates and turned to make away
with them.
Enter the Peacemaker.
My friend managed to trip the little
thief, however, and the latter, risin.,
struck out fiercely, whereupon a fight
of some duration took place. 1t was
interrupted by an elderly pedestrian,
shocked and indignant. you scoun-
drels !" he said. "FightingL Stop It'll"
Then for emphasis he struck my friend
a sharp blow across the face with an
umbrella, and forced his way between
the combataEts. "But he's got my
skatesl" my friend cried. "Shame!"
was the response. 'If 1 knew your
fathers and mothers I'd see that you
were both whipped for fighting.
Shamel"
My friend tried desperately to dodge
round the peacemaker, hoping to re-
cover his skates from the other boy,
but he failed, for the elderly man
seized him by the collar. "You would,
would you? Trying to get at him
again, you little beast! No, you Gon'tl
I'll teach you to stop fighting when l
tell you tol" Thereupon my friend
got the shaking of his life, and, though
he tried throughout this martyrdOm to
convince his shaker that he didn't
begin it, and that the other boy had
his skates, and was now running away
with them, he was unsuccessful in re-
moving the Impression that all bellig-
erents are wicked. '"ThereI" said the
elderly man, releasing him at last '1et
me catch you fighting again and I'll
give you a worse onel Go on homel
Get out of his neighborhoodI / don't
want to listen to your"
So, bloody and dizzy, nay friend went
on his way, and the elderly man pro-
ceeded, convinced that he had con-
Quoted himself in a manner beneficial
to public morals.
What Every Boy Understands.
Now, as any boy understands that
the most important question about any
fight is "Who started itF' so any boy
also understands that the question
next in order and mex in Importance
is "Why did he start it?" Any boy
understands that a just peace cannot
be made unless it takes these two
questions into vital accounts, and that
disciplinary measures not founded
uTan them are arbitrary and unjust
ana vicious. Any boy understands
that a peacemaker or d~isriplinnrian
who places both belligerents upon the
same plane is not only unjust but, in
effect, stupidity partial to the cause
of the guilty belligerent-for n bel
ligerent is guilty.
When the wal began In August,
1914, all those neutrals who wished to
understand the right int wrong of
the matter, that their opinions might
not be unjust, began to seek every
source of information which might
help them to learn who started 1t and
why. At first--as the sources of infor-
nation were not Immediately at hand
there seemed room for argument,
though on the face of things it was
apparent that Austria first declared
a war upon Serbia and Germany then
declared war upon Russia and France.
We saw plainly that Serbia had been
begging and squirming to avoid war
and that Russia had been working for
peace. Austria and Germany were the
countries that declared war, and, of
course, until somebody did actually de-
clare war or actually make war there
wal a chance of peace.
What Doeunnents nIsnIosed