Ogden Daily Standard | 1910-05-14 | Page 4 | He Praises the God of War

HE PRAISES THE GOD OF WAR. Theodore Roosevelt, our much admired former president, in his Berlin lecture, presented nothing new. He simply gave emphasis to what he has so often said as to the need of character in men and the necessity for fighting men. We are of one mind with Mr. Roosevelt as to men of honor and integrity and love of home, but his glorifying of war and warriors offers too much encouragement to those forces which today are hoping to win fame by provoking an opportunity to display their skill in maneuvering men in battle. The former president's strumming on this chord of strife grows harsh. There is no more justification for praising the prise fighter because he is trained in the art of individual warfare, than there is in our making our greatest heroes out of military geniuses. Our men should be strong and robust; they should possess virility, mentality, morality and all the other virtues of soul and body, but why say that those qualities should be cultivated with the object single to gaining supremacy at arms? Rather, they should be desired in order to make war impossible by reason of the good common com-mon sense which is supposed to go with a healthy body and mind. A clash of armies is no more essential to progress than is the anarchy of fisticuffs in individuals.