Evening star., 1921-07-31
Wisdom and Prudence Applaud
The Call for Disarmament


clerk observed. Il think We shall
have rain" Shifting his fists an
grily. the owner turned on the
clerk, exclaiming. "Have I not told
you time and again not to say
we? We shall not have rain.
shall have rain"
No one can define, much less
analyze. either motives or emo
tions. Whether the proposed con-
ference touching disarmament
arises from altruistic motives or
financial concern it is not mine to
presume even to guess. The cove
nant which contained a provision
for this very purpose was rejected.
Now comes this new proposal.
Whatever any one else may say.
I declare that it is a source of
qualification. il not Of consolation,
to men of like mind as my own
now to receive the hope that Il
shall have rain"
+ r ~
As I did not vote for President
Harding. modesty and experience
have bade me not threaten him
with a repetition, in 1924, of the
1920 campaign unless his admins
tration enacts into law the demo-
cratic platform of last year I
never goad anew the man who
has licked me. at least not until
I see his power waning and my
strength returning. AS good
party man. I shall keep my am
munitfon until the battle begins.
I shall not join that illustrious
company which is always talking
about rather being right than be-
ing President. I have known its
members all my life. and have OBJ
served that they stand as slim a
chance Of being one as Of being
the other. The man who con-
stantly talks about being right is
just explaining to his wife for
fear she. too. will lose confidence.
! am. myself. a believer in party
loyalty and party government, but
that is no reason why I should not
welcome anything that promises
good. though it may not come
bearing my party label.
Along with the comforts and
luxuries of civilization have come
frightful evils. A man has in
vented gun that will fire a shell
300 miles. If he shall be permit
ted to fire it the recoiI of his gun
each time will destroy the tax
ables of some road district in
America. I find myself wondering
IL the world would not be just as
well on travelling by coach il there
by warfare would have to be waged
with q stone ak or a thorn stick
II war ever comes again, the dec
laration Of the German general
military STAFF that in war there
are no non-combatants will prove
to be true. With the aeroplane
and submarine and death-dealing
gases, no one will be immune.
neither the old man in dotage nor
the babe in its mothers arms.
This of itself ought to convince
US that no wrong. however griev-
Gus. inflicted upon a people by the
most ignorant and prejudiced
court, would be at all comparable
with the horrors of future war
fare.
No difference in what way it
comes, whether from lofty purpose
or from financial necessity, 1 can
see with unclouded vision that it
duty of every man who thinks he
loves his fellow men to give his
whole-hearted support to the ef-
fort of the President to solve the
problem of disarmament. De-
scending to the low but neces-
sary plane of cash, no one who
has had anything to do with gov
ernmental affairs can find a place
where savings may be So largely
made as in the appropriations for
the Army and Navy. Govern
ment is the most expensive busi-
ness on earth and expenditures
break all bounds for war-pre-
pairing for war, waging war and
paying for the results of war.
n X 4
Outlines what is impossible of
accomplishment through a high
and lofty purpose becomes COM
paratively easy when approached
from q more ignoble standpoint.
The statesmen Of the world may
not all be good. but they all are
wise in their day and genera
tion. They know a hawk from
a handsaw when the winds i the
south" They have observed the
onward rush of democracy and
the fast-gathering storm against
the dissipation in war of more
than nine-tenths of the taxes that
peoples pay. Wisdom and pru-
dence alike call for disarmament
as the one sure cure for uni
versal revolution against con-
stituted government. More power
to the arm of President Harding
each time he strikes a blow in
this most just cause.