Clearwater Republican. [volume] (Orofino, Idaho) 1912-1922, 1921-11-18
SERMON ON WAR
At N. {. CHURCH

Sermon preached at the Methodist
church by the pastor, J. A. Hon
mann, Sunday morning, November
-.
Text: Lev. 26:6.
War is universal evil. No one
will care to dispute the truth OF
this statement. The liabilities thai
are commonly attributed to warfare
ore the gigantic proportions of It'll
destruction of life and property An.
other liability. not so commonly
mentioned, is the moral depravity
for which war is responsible. There
Is still another liability that is CON-
monty lost sight of. 1t is the fact
that war prevents progress. II
stops up the channels of commerce
bringing famine and death to mil
lions Lack of production, as I'M
portant as 1t is, plays only a minor
part in the shortage of food and
clothing. The chief cause for want
and poverty must be sought in the
paralization Of commerce, due to
blockades and the sinking Of mil
lions of tons of shipping. Since
shipping facilities are inadequate
1t is impossible to supply the world
with raw material for manufacture
ing purposes. The inevitable result
is the shutting down of factories
in every country on the globe. 1t
is for this reason that civilization
not only halts, but is set backward
in its flight. For when industry
halts, millions starve. Starving
bodies produce emaciated minds, and
decadent minds revert backward to-
ward barbarism. Morals sink to the
lowest level. To feed thei hungry
bodies, men and women in every
civilized as well as in every pagan
country commit crimes that are re-
voting to the utmost extreme, to
the perpetrators no less than to the
public at large.
II the world is to develop nor
mally. as God intended that is
should. something must be done to
correct the evil that ia responsible
for this wanton destruction of life,
property and social progress. Des-
pairing millions cry for relief from
this arch-enemy of the race-war.
!. What Is the Cure for War.
ta) Armaments. This is at
once the most ancient and also the
most universal remedy that has been
shown that the implements Of war
are controlled by the spirit of war.
Give boy pistol and he is bound
to shoot with 1t. Human instinct
prompts him to use this weapon for
the purpose for which he knows
that it was made. 1t is for the pur-
pose of reducing armament that
President Harding has called the
nations of the world into conference
1t is called disarmament confer
ence." but the term is a misnomer.
Nobody is thinking of totally dis
arming the nations. Civilization is
by no means sufficiently advanced
for such an event.
tb) Treaties and Alliances. Fail
ing to meet force with force. the
N q hax- 70 teh tiae-
and alliances. The League of Ma
lions is only a new name for a new
treaty. 1t is far from being any,
thing new under the sun. When
the storm broke out in 1914. we
rubbed the sleep out of our eyes
and discovered that treaties and al
liances were only scraps of paper,
to be trampled on and violated at
will by some nation that Is devoid
of the sense of honor Now that
our minds are disjllusioned. we are
beginning to see that treaties and
alliances are only means to
strengthen certain groups of nations
against the eneroachments Of other
groups of nations
tc) Commerce. Until the storm
came in 1914. we were led TO be-
1ieve that the nations of the world
were so interdependent through com
merce that this would prevent all
future wars. Commerce, we thought,
had made all the world akin But
ii is now seen that commerce. so
far from preventing war. Is the very
bone over which the nations fought.
Commerce has no International con-
science. II thinks only in national
terms. The merchants of each ma
tion are bound together for mutual
protection against the insidiOus pro
paganda of merchants of other ma
tons. Our own congress. through
the tariff, is trying. to protect Am
erican merchants against cheaper
poducts fom othe countries. Dc
you know what Is at the bottom OF
the trouble in Mexico? II is Brit
ish and American oil interests try
ing to force each other out of the
field This commercial rivalry Is
tlro,fap;n~ ~ anu,,Tt