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INTERNATIONAL PEACE ADVOCATE SUGGESTS
TRYING WOMAN'S WA Y FOR KEEPING PEACE
BY MRS. ELMER BLACK,
International Peace Advocate.
Copyright, 1914, by the United Press.
Man's theory of making peace
through preparedness for war, which
has had every chance to prove its
truth, has utterly broken down. In
1880 the six great powers of Europe
spent on their armies and navies
$670,000,000; in 1910, $1,375,000,000;
in 1914, in time of peace, $1,849,000,
000 and to this we must add inter
est on war loans, war debts and loss
of productive work through the
maintenance of" masses of men and
we have something over $4,000,000,
000 a year as Europe's expense for
maintaining peace by the gun metal
method. To this must be added the
expense of war, now raging, costing
upwards of $50,000,000 a day. Every
body all of a sudden exploded in Eu
rope, because everybody was loaded.
Now, why not try the woman's way
and in time of peace prepare for more'
peace?
We are about to celebrate the one
hundredth anniversary of peace be
tween the English-speaking nations.
During the century there were oc
casional disputes between the United
States and Canada that might have
turned out seriously, but there never
was a soldier along our borders and
never a gun, and where there are no
soldiers there is no war. The present
catastrophe in Europe shows that the
."peace-at-any-price" epithet may
justly be applied to the militarist
Swollen navies multiply points of
friction, foster distrust, foment sus
picion and fan the fires of hatred.
Woman's conception of the govern
ment's supreme business is not scar
ing rivals, but making friends.
Lowell in the Bigelow Papers gives
not only the thoughtful farmer's
philosophy, but the woman's "point,
as:
"Ez for war. I call it murder,
1 1 don't want to go no further
Than my Testament for that.
Woman, who gives birth to life,
naturally believes that life conserva
tion is better than life destruction It
costs $15,000 to kill a man in war
fare nowadays and while 17,000,000
men in Europe are playing the war
game, let American women point to
a better way than shooting men at
$15,000 a shot.
Instead of gathering pennies and
nickels and dimes for all kinds of life
prolonging propositions, let the wo
men of America in their churches of
every creed, and organization of
every sort, rally round America's
peace policy and demand that the
people's prosperity be made the first
conception of government; sustain
the statesmanship of peace; stop our
own enormous waste of $300,000,000
a year on armaments, incident to the
mad rivalry fostered by navy league,
armor syndicates, ship trusts and
other vested interests, and Jnstead of
making firearms, powder, Shells and
bullets so that the outgoing souls
may be as rapid and painless as pos
sible, let us spend our time and
money in ways and means that will
make life longer and sweeter.
Let the women of America spend
the next ten years preparing for
world peace. Let America lead the
nations as the arbiter of right, the
teacher of truth, and not be an imi
tator, tagging at the heels of the Eu
ropean powers in the naval proces
sion, haunted always by the fear that
we may fall behind.
Let the American women head the
procession of nations for perpetual
peace, universal brotherhood, and
crown her with imperishable renown.
Let women everywhere, from the pine
forests of Maine to the golden coast
of the Pacific and from the lakes to
the gulf, preach peace, parade for
peaqe and Bhow the men that the old
' Ther' you have it plain and flat; (policy is wrong, that old programs,
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