Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1936-03-05

1880
Of force starts, the use of intelligence
with the result that war settles
nothing. With these things in mind, he
for a moral equivalent for war,
manner in which that urge OF
young men and women to give OF
themselves for their less fortunate
fellows and for the great causes OF
and justice might be transmitted
into something other than the trenches
and shambles to which they are usual
ly led. In our own day, we have seen
but brief STRINGS of that desire to
devote life to the public good and the
service which would have
pleased the great philosopher who was
searching for a moral equivalent for
war.
The Perils of Today
"Yet, as a nation, we have not
it, nor have other nations found
it. So we stand today, / fear, exposed
to that whirlWind of fear and suspi-
cion of war preparation. We have, as
a nation, little to offer our young men
in the name of truth and justice other
than a uniform, a rifle and sealed or
ders.
"Many of us have thought OF
preparedness for peace and have
wondered whether it was a fool
ish, empty, meaningless cry or
really possible, in a world wher.
few trust their neighbOrs wheth-
er it was possible for us to be very
different from our barbarian an
cestors Of thousands OF years ago
who stood ready to meet death
and administer death at every mo-
ment.
During the last year and a hall,
| have been thinking much about pre-
paredness for peace and | have v
allowed myself to wonder if the
American people wanted peace. ! have
tried to find if there were among them
a will to prepare for peace.
1T is hard to see at the moment in
the face of the impending whirlwind.
Far easier is it to see the clouds that
portend the whirlwind itself-the daily
columns of news covering reports oil
war threats in Europe, Asia, Africa,
South America; far easier is it to see
the orders given by nation after nation
for arms, implements of war, navies,
armies. Distinguished gentlemen of in
dustry have told us hat another war
will destroy what we now know as
western civilization, and other dis
tirguished gentlemen are telling me
daily hat the arms race, which is now
accelerated, can lead only to the war
which will destroy that civilization
T. IL g. a., - tL@ fD,, ~
this admitted failure Of men to think
and plan their way to peace, it is
doubtful hat anything l say here or
elsewhere can help to save, out of the
great war, even that small section OF
the worlds surface which we know
and love to call our country.
81 would like to ave it from involv-
ment in a world war where the in
terests of the other belligerents are
so different from our own. l would
like to build barriers across the roads
that lead from this country to war
and on those barriers ! would like
to place huge danger lights 81 that
when, in the dark or under the pres
sure of circumstances, the barriers are
destroyed or removed, the American
people, in the face of any whirlwind
of fear and suspicion, can ever see that
the roads along which they are being
told to march are still the roads to
war. There are those of us who hope
to do this even now, who hope to say,
here and here and here are the ways
in which we become involved in
wars" and to ask congress to stop
those ways.
''There are few spectacles Of
fered by mankind for u contem-
platiOn more appalling than the
one of young men Of this world
who are not yet aware that they
are today simply waiting their
turn to die.
"How much like the world of %
years ago is our world of today! The
world is on the march again. The
machines of death, the gases of tor
ture, are now being rushed through
the factories. When they are done, will
it again come the turn of the young
men, yes, the old men, the women, the
children in the cities far back of the
front lines? They have a year, per-
haps a little longer to live. This sum-
mer still perhaps they can enjoy va
cation and play. This year still, per-
haps, they can experience the delights
of life and love. Next year, or the year
after, maybe a very different matter.
Two Billions fer Arms
$50 recently as last week, the gov
eminent of Great Britain began com
sideration of plans for an immediate
two billion dollar armament program
in response to the program of other
nations. Herewith was written prob
ably the summation line beneath the
whole postwar period of peace"
"Whatever peace was won Is
years ago is over. The armament
race between England, France,
Germany and Russia cannot last
forever. II must stop with war, or
it must stop with the revolt Of the
people who are first taxed to
death in preparation for war and
then marched to death. II may
stop with both war and revolt,
and the great governments of
Europe, as men have known them
of years, will go with Nineveh and
Tyre
81 am greatly impressed with the
fact that even in a democracy such as
u own, people never know, unit
it is too late, the decisions which af-
feet their destinies. Under a dicta-
torship it is clear that every either
has put his life in the hands of his
master and that he may be called upor