Milford chronicle., 1933-09-15

citizen from every conceivable peri
must be obliterated if the spectur'
of war is to be efaced from the
world. Coolidge used it as excuse
to interfere in Nicaragua, and Eng
land, only a few days ago, made
use of it to break OFF trade rela-
tionship with Russia. War with
Mexico in 1918 was narrowly averted
because of this same reason. His
tory reveals the fact that the United
States has been the aggressor in
the following wars: That on
Tripoli, Mexico, and Spain. In the
latter war, we took as a prize,
/ Porto Rico, Guam, the PHILIPPINES.
the Gulu Islands. and established a
practical protectorate over Cuba.
In seventy-nine (79) years, the
Army and Navy of the United States
have been in forty-eight (4S) wars.
They have landed troops on foreign
soil upon one hundred occasions in
one hundred and fifteen years. To-
day S7,000,000 annually are spent
upon the Army and Navy.
When Theodore Roosevelt found
that his plans for a peaceful pur-
chase of territory from Columbia
for the purpose of building the Pan
anna Canal were blocked, he stopped
to intrigue and trickeTy in order to
obtain what he wanted. Let us
listen to his own words upon this
subject-in March, 1911, in an ad-
dress two years after the Canal
Zone had been purchased from the
Republic of Panama, at Berkeley,
California: Il am interested in the
Panama Canal because 1 started it.
If l had followed traditionally con-
servative methods, l should have
submitted a dignified state paper of
probably two hundred pages to Con-
gress and the debate on it would
be going on yet; but took the
Canal Zone and let Congress debate
and while the debate goes on, the
canal does too. If they (the people
of Panama. had not revolted, l
should have recommended Congress
to take possession of the Isthmus
by force of arms, and as you will
see, l had already written the first
draft of my message to this effect"
And today, in this twentieth CEN
tury of enlightenment under the in
fluence of the Christian religion, we |
are being taught that the support |
of war is a religious duty, Some
one has said that clergymen and |
college professors on the subject Of |
war have opened their mouths the
widest and swallowed the hardest.
Christ was a man of peace. He
taught that we should live under
the influence of the Golden Rule.
He forbade the use of force, even
in that tragic hour when his fate
was about to be sealed in the Gar
len of Gethsemane, He ordered his
devoted follower. Peter, to put away
he sword with this statement,
those who live by the sword will
lie by the sword"
We find the whole world under
lrms: greater navies, and vaster
forces are abroad in the
world than were present prior to
914. In addition to the agencies
low in operation for the avoidance
# war, the following would be
lelpful: International education
Department of Peace in the Presi-
Ient's Cabinet-peace education in
he schools-and recognition of Rus
ia. Some of these things might be
'emedied also by reducing the large
lrmies and navies, s,-destroying race
prejudice, supporting the movement
o induce our government to enter
he World Court. striving to secure
he early entrance of the United
states into the League of Nations,
working for the early independence
f the Philippine Islands, and striv-
ng to avoid racial discrimination in
ur immigration and naturalization
avs.
Until we as a people subscribe to
he above agencies or their equals
nd inculcate into the thoughts and l
ctions of international relation s
hips, the tendency of Christ, we
i've under the menace of the sword.
Until we put into effect the policy h
f loving our neighbors as our
elves. we need expect the hatred S
nd distrust born of nationalism,
oisted by fools who call themselves f
tatesmen to bring us to the brink '
( Armageddon.