Defenseless America

as always been destroyed by those who shelter themselves under the cover of its form

ent thing in its constancy

istics the exact opposite of their self-vaunted pretensions. Often the most enthusiastic and devout w

e was a famous woman pacifist on board, who wanted to meet me. She was a notorious militant moral reformer-the Carrie Nation of

at hanging is too good for you; that men like you, who invent and make explosives and guns to kill

ght of the Armenian atrocities, which

just this-that, if I were the Queen of England,

you do it

go there with an army, and ex

of the tools for killing people, like those you blame me for i

ts of their time. They believed they were following the teachings of Christ, and applying them in their business and social relations. T

held a different opinion was an enemy of God and man, and should be punished accordingly. They called difference from their opinion heresy, which was branded as the most heinous of all crimes. Thos

if retiring, non-resistant pacifism is the best policy for a nation to adopt in order to get what it wants, they themselves should adopt such pacif

a doctrine of mildness, meekness, self-sacrifice, and lowly-spiritedness without attempting t

c moralist dyed in the wool. When raised to dictatorial power, however, Robespierre became the wickedest and most venomous of all the fanged monsters of cruelty in the history of mankind

hem are actuated by the best intentions and the kindliest of motives. Torquemada sincerely hoped to do a great good by tortur

engaged in paving a broad highway through this coun

w. The bloody Duke of Alva, Executioner Extraordinary to Philip II of Spain, who undertook the task of killing the entire population of the Netherlands, because their religious opini

ople or the fate of a nation. Religious sects have been formed upon the various interpretations of a si

loquent lungs have hoarsed themselves to defeat Congressional appropriations for defense, simply be

an's Peace Party, has lately been created. The main re

sol

ade to force this country into still further preparedness for war. We desire to make a solemn appeal

f using the expression for war in

ent preparations against war. None of us wants war, but when we, who believe in armaments, speak of them as preparations for war, then t

n their purpose, their aim is high. They are emulating the dictum of Emerson, for they have hitch

es together to demand that

they have used the word

stablished in the mind, gives the mind a fixed set in a certain direction. This is strongly exemplified by the f

pes our destiny to its own bent. In short, a

attend a lecture and get a new kink put into our opinion; we converse with our friends, and they dent our opinion; we read books and newspapers, learn something, and are swerved in t

like sandwich men, disporting a legend written on a board by the m

speaker, aspiring to popular favor, finds it easy, even with a weakling voice and a halting speech, to get his audience

something besides the humiliation of this country by war may lead them into the light of understanding. War, however, will do i

eir homes in flames; when they saw innocent citizens clumped in open spaces and shot down with machine-guns; when they saw little children, lean as shadow

cend on those ladies through the smoke of their burning homes-that armed preparedness against

their sons, husbands, and brothers for the front. We shall find them, as in England, training in the use of arms as a last emergency reserve. We shall find them, as in England, doing police duty, that the city guardians may go to the front. As the women of Carth

he chief sacrifices. The sexes suffer equally, for to win victory they make mutual and equal sacrifices, and

eded in the sterner affairs of life, she may be as gentle as a dove and as kind as a purring kitten; but, when her help is needed

ern exigencies of war require that the invaders shall bend every energy and employ every resource to the attainment of the main purpose-victory. The invaders themselves are compelled to make extreme sacrifices, and to bear extreme suffering and privation, and are not in a moo

prepare for his march to the sea, that in reply to protests on behalf of the women and childre

a calamity. It is useless to lament the miseries of our women and children, after we

bemoan the lot of the poor women and children of Belgium, are by their own a

tion applies also to the life of social organizations, except that, when applied to nations, it should be differently stated, as follows-t

ego-fanatic moral reformers are often useful, because they tend to throw society out of balance. This rouses the great mass of the people to inquiry and raises them to a broader understanding, with the result that, in the end, pernicious propagandists, who have overshot the mark, are brought back nearer the mark, and the sane mass of the people brought nearer the mark. A fana