time come for the indignant toilers in peaceful occupations to restrain
the unwise leaders who are responsible for this craze of militarism!
Has not the solemn farce of seeing Christian nations build ten million
dollar bulldogs in the remote possibility of being called upon to
match them against the costly bulldogs of their neighbors, unless,
perchance, these expensive creations should, before that, have been
relegated to the scrap-heap by some new device--has not that solemn,
ugly farce played itself out! “The welfare of the people is the supreme
law of the land.” It is the supreme law of all lands and any one who
has visited Europe, where every third peasant carries a useless and
burdensome soldier on his back as he goes forth to his toil, knows that
this modern evil of militarism is a mighty menace to the welfare of any
people.
The Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations in our Congress
last winter called the attention of the House to the fact that, in
pensions and in preparations for possible war, the United States was
spending more money than any other nation in the world. He called
attention to the fact that the appropriations for military and naval
affairs for the coming year would exceed, by twenty-nine millions of
dollars, all the money which the United States government has spent
from the beginning of the republic up to the present hour upon public
buildings. He spoke also of the fact that this nation, which we like
to think of as a non-military nation, is spending at the present time
more than two-thirds of the total national revenue on pensions and on
preparations for war. What an abnormal condition for a republic whose
splendid history has been almost entirely a history of peace!
Would that our country might take higher ground in this whole matter!
Would that there might go out from us a splendid endorsement of the
principle of arbitration, a strong insistence upon the method of
international litigation before such tribunals as have been outlined at
the Hague conferences and a stinging rebuke to the policy of increasing
these deadly and burdensome armaments! Would that our land might show
itself a leader and a messiah among the nations in achieving that
magnificent fulfilment when the promised Messiah, the Prince of Peace,
shall reign in the affairs of men.
The claim is made that risk is involved in refusing to maintain these
costly armaments which are sapping the life-blood of the leading
nations of Europe. Risk is involved, undoubtedly, but if we want peace,
why not take that risk in showing the nations that such is our desire?
It would be a magnificent form of moral venture. Risk is involved--so
be it! A far greater risk to the general welfare and to the perpetuity
of our institutions is involved in the opposite course. Why should
not we, as a land of high principles and shining ideals, make the
moral venture of staking our future upon a splendid obedience to the
appeal of the great Messiah? Beat the swords into plowshares! Beat
the spears into pruning-hooks! In peaceful, joyous industry let not
this nation learn war any more! Let it place its reliance upon courts
of arbitration for the settlement of international disputes, and the
blessing of Almighty God, which maketh rich and bringeth no sorrow
therewith, shall be ours!
“If drunk with sight of power we loose
Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe,
Such boastings as the Gentiles use
Or lesser breeds without the law,
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget--lest we forget!
“The tumult and the shouting dies;
The captains and the kings depart;
Still stands thine ancient sacrifice
An humble and a contrite heart.
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget--lest we forget.”
O thou land whose Declaration of Independence was made in Philadelphia,
the city of brotherly love! O thou land of Washington, who prayed in
his farewell address that we might be kept from the scourge of war! O
thou land of General Grant, who declared, “Though I have been trained
as a soldier and have participated in many battles, there never was a
time, in my opinion, when some way could not have been found to prevent
the drawing of the sword.” O thou land of Lincoln, who pleaded in his
second inaugural, “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with
firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us bind up
the nation’s wounds and strive to achieve and cherish among ourselves
and with all nations a just and lasting peace.” O thou land that we
love, enter thou afresh into a nobler rivalry with all the nations of
earth in the cultivation of good-will, in the reduction of burdensome
armament and in the maintenance of those policies which make for the
enduring welfare of the race!
Transcriber’s Notes
Page 5: “go to college and tay” changed to “go to college and stay”
Page 14: “your own impress on” changed to “your own impression”
Page 33: A missing period was added at the end of a sentence.
Page 88: “the ewards are rich” changed to “the rewards are rich”
Page 101: “stirring times of war on in the slower” changed to “stirring
times of war or in the slower”
Page 112: “to stand up befor” changed to “to stand up before”
Page 130: “simply gets wet and muddy, and rowned” changed to “simply
gets wet and muddy, and drowned”
Page 176: “by intemperance and some fly” changed to “by intemperance
and some by”
Page 202: “his name shall be” changed to “His name shall be”
Page 218: “conquer the united States” changed to “conquer the United
States”
Page 225: “England Germany, France,” changed to “England, Germany,
France,”
Page 231: “deadly and burdensone armaments!” changed to “deadly and
burdensome armaments!”