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Show NATIONAL PEACE CONGRESS The First National Arbitration and Peace Cou-gress Cou-gress held a series of meetings in Carnegie hall, New York, last week, with the object in view of promoting the movement for international peace, i War and peace and patriotism received much attention at-tention from speakers, and the discussion of this most wonderful relic of ancient times no doubt will bear fruit. It is not surprising that advocates of peace should grow up in every civilized nation. In ancient times when men went to war their most deadly weapons were clubs and stones. Today two or three men with a Gatling gun could annihilate such an army as crossed the Hellespont. The great glory attaching to the slaughter of an "enemy" with a big stick is lost when the hero stands from one to a dozen miles off and trains his guns upon his adversary, who drops put of life with no visible cause at hand. It is so much like murder, and the other fellow has such a poor chance. So we have a peace congress, and men of peace and men of war get together to discuss ways and means to prevent nations going to war. It is a great step in civilization, to have men get together-to together-to discuss the causes for war and endeavor to find a remedy for those causes. Men of war, fighting i V men, furnish practical ideas and advocate peace by scaring the life out of any who would oppose their will by the display of big guns, and big battleships battle-ships and big regiments of soldiers with big generals gen-erals with big brass b'-ttons on their clothes. They don't want war, but they count on the military and naval strength of their nation to mako the other fellow realize the futility of attacking them. On the other hand are the men of peace who express admirable sentiments and pretty platitudes, and passionately tell us that war is not for civilized nations na-tions to consider. International differences, they say, should be adjusted by conferences of the aggrieved ag-grieved parties, but it is so much easier to shoot up a few battleships to make the other fellow come to our way of thinking. The business interests come in for their share of the troubles. War would make prices go up, and markets for steel and foodstuffs would be broadened, so they, while pretending a horror for battle, contribute only meagerly toward its prevention, if they do not actively encourage it. In discussing war and the causes of war, it is impossible to separate the individual from the nation. na-tion. If the present movement for peace is born of an earnest desire for the prevention of war, it is but a reflection of the desire of individuals who realize the futility of the legalized slaughter of the young men of the world to bring about reform. Nations are born in blood, and have been perpetuated bv the shedding of blood. National boundaries all have been established after a fight, though why the interests in-terests of the children of God should be different because a river separates their homes, or why an intervening ocean should make one nation an enemy en-emy of another, has never been explained. War is but the natural result of an antagonism of interests of individuals. Its prevention lies only in the mitigation of this antagonism. How this may be accomplished without reversing the ac-' cepted ideas upon which every government is based and upsetting the whole system of earthly government govern-ment and inaugurating one world-wide nation it is difficult to comprehend. It is not probable that national na-tional lines will ever be obliterated, but in the broadening of treaties between nations, in putting territorial aggrandizement under the ban and in holding conferences between nations at which the brotherhood of man may find expression, lie the fundamentals upon which the hope of international peace may at last grow to fruition. Sentiment against war must grow, for when it is carried to its final analysis it is sentiment which makes war and bloody conflicts possible. Profit to the high financiers who furnish funds at exorbitant rates to carry on the wars is a potent cause which sentiment must overcome. If the peace congress gives an impetus to the growth of sentiment, it has been worth while. Sensible and humane methods meth-ods of settling international differences will never be realized without some such movement, and if the dreamers can secure the co-operation of the Shylocks, or nations can escape the "power behind the throne," or w$ is made unprofitable to the money lenders in some other way, the statesmen may find some practical solution for disputes which threaten the peace of nations. The practical accomplishment ac-complishment of the peace congress may not have been great; but the simple fact that the congress ! was held and was participated in by many nations ' is a triumph and marks an epoch in the growth of Christian civilization. |