; rh ?
"Che Conservative.
WAK AND ITS WOKS ANI > KVI1.S.
If the people let their representatives
in congress hamper the administration ,
as they did last winter , when they re
fused to put the army on a proper foot
ing as to size , permanence and organiz
ation , then the people have themselves
to thank if the war lingers while diffi
culties and dangers increase. Governor
Roosevelt , Ocean Grove , N. J. , Aug. 8 ,
1899.
EDITOU CONSERVATIVE :
Sir : There has been such a. cloud
burst of sophistry ; such a deluge of
declamatory humbug , about the invig
orating , ennobling , elevating influences
of war , intensified by infusion of cant
on the enervating effects of "slothful ,
swollen ease" that it seems timely to
recall a few opinions of statesmen and
sages of the past on the baleful effects
of war.
The prattle about "slothful , swollen
ease" is simply a flippant utterance ,
having its inception in the demoralizing
influence of wealth upon the favored
few the "upper ten. " The lower mil
lions know nothing of any such condi
tion.
tion.Before
Before proceeding I will suggest that a
fairly comprehensive view of the indus
trial and economic conditions prevailing
in this country does not lead to the con
clusion that seventy millions out of our
seventy-five millions of population are
lolling in "slothful , swollen ease. " On
the contrary , I am quite confident these
seventy millions , "the lower millions"
of industrious , well-meaning citizens ,
are not surfeited with appreciative ease
of any kind. Their lives are one long ,
incessant , wearisome struggle for bread
either in the field , in the bowels of the
earth , in the workshop , in the counting
house , or on the high seas ; or else of
enforced idleness with its attendant
want and misery. And upon these a
nation depends for its development and
prosperity. If they are not constrained
to lead "the strenuous life" who are ?
But to our subject , War and its Woes
and Evils : It has been asserted that
without war to excite and energize the
human mind , some of its noblest facul
ties courage , magnanimity , fortitude ,
etc. , would perish.
Bishop Portens said :
"One murder makes a villain , thous
ands a hero. "
Thomas Jefferson said : "War is an
instrument wholly uncertain in its oper
ation and frequently , if not generally ,
occasions more evil than it cures or
prevents. "
W. E. Ohauning said : "War , it is
alleged , kindles patriotism. But the
patriotism which is cherished by war is
ordinarily false and spurious , a vice and
not a virtue , a scourge to the world , a
narrow , unjust passion which aims to
.exalt a particular state on the humilia
tion and destruction of other nations. "
War has always been averse to politi
cal freedom. A Roman statesman de
clared that "Laws are silent in the
midst of arms , " and history proves this.
The advocates of war dare not impose
for its support a direct tax upon the
people. They would not bear it ; they
would rebel. But this drainer of our
pockets comes not to us in the exasper
ating shape of a tax. Ifc lurks in our
coffee and tea , in our food and raiment ;
hides in our books and adornments ;
and dwells unobserved in everything we
undertake to buy and pay for. Wo
never think , when we moke a purchase ,
that we are giving more than its real
vnlue for the article bought. This is
the reason why war is thought by so
many to be a money-making business.
But the cost is none the less real , and
the destruction of property none the less
deplorable , for not being directly per
ceived.
In an essay upon the "Inefficiency of
War , " Hon. Wm. Jay said , "The folly
of war is apparent from the fact that
the object for which it is waged could
almost always be obtained by other and
less hazardous means , and that , when
obtained , it is rarely worth the blood
and treasure lavished in its acquisition.
Cicero long since declared 'the worst
peace is preferable to the best war , ' "
and Franklin remarked : "Whatever
advantage one nation would obtain
from another , it would be cheaper to
purchase such advantage with ready
money than to pay the expense of ac
quiring it by war. "
"The ancient despotism of France was
overthrown by representative assemblies
and a republic established on its ruin ;
and that republic was annihilated by an
adventurous soldier through the agency
of the army entrusted to him for its de
fense. The liberties of England have
been acquired not by force of arms , but
by the energy of parliaments. The ruin
of almost every republic that has been
blotted from the list of nations may be as
cribed to the military spirit fostered Ity its
citizens. "
In 1886 R. P. Stebbins said :
"Give mo the money that has been
spent in war and I will purchase every
foot of laud upon the globe. I will
clothe every man , woman and child in
an attire that kings and queens would
be proud of ; I will build a school house
upon every hillside and in every valley
over the whole earth. The darkness of
ignorance would fall before the bright
light of the sun of science ; paganism
would be crushed by the fall of her
temples , war would no more stalk over
the earth , trampling all that is beautiful
and lovely. "
Thomas S. Griuko said in 1886 on
"Peace : "
"The great objection \varisuotso
much the number of lives and the
amount of property it destroys as its
moral influence on nations and individ
uals. It corrupts the moral taste and
hardens the heart ; strengthens and
cherishes the base and violent passions ,
destroys the distinguishing features of
Christian charity its universality teems
with mockery and contempt for the vir
tue of humility ; weakens the sense of
moral obligation , famishes the spirit of
improvement , usefulness and beiiovol-
ence , and inculcates the horrible maxim
that murder and robbery are matters of
state expediency. "
In a Fourth of July oration , 1845 ,
Charles Sumner said :
"In our age there can bo no peace that
is not honorable ; there can be no war
that is not dishonorable. The true
honor of a nation is to be found only in
deeds of justice , and in the happiness of
its people , all of which are inconsistent
with war. In the clear eyes of Chris
tian judgment , vain are its victories ,
infamous its spoils. To Louis Philippe
belongs the honest fame of first publish
ing from the throne (1848) ( ) the truth
that Peace is endangered by preparations
for war. 'The sentiment , or rather the
principle , ' he says , 'that in peace you
must prepare for war , is one of difficulty
and danger ; for while we keep armies
to preserve peace , they are at the same
time incentives and instruments of
' "
war.
In 1816 W. E. Chanuing said :
"Our ordinary sympathies seem to
forsake us when war is named. The
sufferings and death of a single fellow-
being often excite a tender and active
compassion , but we hear without emo
tion of thousands enduring every variety
of woe in war. A single murder in
peace thrills through our frames ; the
countless murders of war are heard as
an entertaining tale. War not only
exercises a baneful influence upon the
character of the unhappy men who en
gage in it , but it assails the prosperity
and morals of a community ; its influ
ence on the political condition is alarm
ing. It arms government with a dan
gerous patronage , multiplies dependents
and instruments of oppression , and gen
erates a power which , in the hands of
the energetic and aspiring , can hardly
fail to prostrate a free constitution.
War organizes a body -of men who lose
the feelings of the citizen in the soldier ;
whose habits detach them from the
community ; whose ruling passion is
devotion to a chief ; who are inured in
camp to despotic sway ; who are accus
tomed to accomplish their ends by force ,
and to sport with the rights and happi
ness of their fellow-beings ; who delight
in tumult , adventure and peril , and
turn with scorn from the quiet labors of
peace. In a community where prece
dence is given to the military profession
freedom cannot long enduro.
"War feeds and grows on the blood
which it sheds. The successful nation ,
flushed by victory , pants for new laur
els peace becomes a truce , a feverish
