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Show TRIUMPHS OF PEACE. H It is said that Lord Kitchener looks back H with more pride upon his achievement in con- H structing the railroad across the desert and there- M by cutting off the great loop made by the Nile, M than on any military triumphs he has won. That M certainly ought to be a more pleasant remem- M brance than that of killing some thousands of fl wild Dervishes or some hundreds of embattled M Boer farmers. M We believe that triumphs of peace are always M more satisfactory than military triumphs, espe- M daily when a fighting man finds himself arrayed H H against some of Nature's stubborn forces, and in B 1 the ensuing onset or by siege overcomes them. H I In building that road Lord Kitchener had only Hr; the desert to work upon, the equatorial sun beat Hl down upon him, the water for all uses had to be M ' carried long distances, and perpetual guard had B to be maintained against the wild riders of the H waste. It was a serious undertaking, like open- m '' ing a mine in Tonopah, but he won out and he H is entitled to all credit and to all happy remem- B brances. We suspect the emperor of Russia when V he contemplates the Siberian railroad feels a Hf deeper satisfaction over the knowledge of its com- HH pletion than over anything else accomplished dur- HS ing his reign, except the creation of the Peace H i Congress that grew out of his thought. B It is a pity that looking at Kitchener's Hj triumph almost under the, equator and the Czar's Bl triumph up close to the Arctic circle, the sov- B ereigns of Europe do not catch the inspiration B that there is more to carry comfort to their souls B in the works of peace than in all the battles ever Bl fought. Why cannot Edward of England say to B the nations: 'My navy this year is to cost al- Kj most as much as did the great road through SI- Hf beria built by the Czar. Why not let us stop Hp ' this foolishness of impoverishing the nations by H building more warships? There must be an end k sometime; why not make it now? Let us build B;j, no more lighting ships than just enough to sup- Bm ply the places of those hereafter to bo broken Hf up. Our relative sea strength will remain as it is H now, for what are we building more warships?" H In the same way William of Germany might Efj say to the nations: "Intolerable wrongs are be- H ing committed in the Sultan's European states. H Let us (Jail delegates to a Congress to fix upon the B . reforms needed and then all in concert send word V !' to the Sultan that he must inaugurate and carry H out those reforms in good faith or Europe will unite and drive him across the Hellespont." That would be a triumph of peace, indeed, sweeter than any victory won in battle, and vastly more grand than the road across the desert or across the shows. |