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Show "So I Implore You Not to Join With the Women Pacifists Who Are" By ADMHiAL B. A. FISKE, Address to New England Women. Virtually every normal man and woman abhors the very idea of war. But merely because we abhor wax is no reason why we should not wish to be prepared, in case war should come. During the last fifty years, and especially during the last five years, a large number of people, mostly women, have united themselves in peace societies of various kinds. Their avowed object is to promote the cause of peace. This object, of course, is laudable ; but the means by which they ara endeavoring to promote peace are far from practical, because they start from the false premise that preparing for war tends to cause war. Their main effect is to obstruct all efforts toward preparedness. Therefore, their main effort is to imperil the national security, Nevertheless, the cause of preparedness has a very large popular support, sup-port, mainly from men with healthy nerves who have read history carefully, care-fully, and are familiar with the main facts of human nature. These men realize that wars always have existed, and that, as civilization has developed, devel-oped, the alternations of war and peace have followed each other with about the same degree of frequency, from age to age. They have also realized that of all the ill effects of war, the worst effects have come to those who were unprepared for the war. For this reason, they say that if wars are bound to come, it is better to be prepared pre-pared than unprepared. |
