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I Goodwin's Weekly I
; Vol. XVII : ' SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, JUNE 11, 1910 No. 8 I
If The Union Of Nations
j A SOCIETY calling Itself the Infcerparliament-
Js f Jr, ary Peace "Union has been formed and has
' 4 already many distlnguishel adherents. Its
My I object Is to abolish war and to legislate Into ex-
IL ; istence the United Nations. In the New York
R I Times Mr. William George Jordon explains the
If ' objects desired and what has been accomplished
K i up to date, and with the article the Times pub-
Hi . lished the new official map of The Hague, show-
' i ing sites for the proposed buildings of the inter-
Is i national societies.
II ' The movement to call a Constitutional Con-
IB i vention of the Parliaments of the world, not un
lit like in purpose to the convention that united the
Wk American colonies in 1787 is gaining headway,
If j Ibe object being to frame and have accepted by
IP j the nations a constitution binding upon them
Ip ' all, and under which international differences
I : r must be settled. Senator and ex-secretary Root
1 approves of it and urges that the example of the
j federated American states, working under Inde-
I pendent governments for their general welfare be
11 held up to the governments of Europe as proof of
! its practicability.
Much has already been accomplished through
The Hague Peace conferences; the trouble with
them is they have behind them no power to en
force their decrees. Their force up to data has
been a moral force only, and that is not sufficient
I to curb the anger of nations or the ambition and
J avarice of rulers.
$ If a work could be accomplished which could
crystalize into an organic lawand bind the civ-
!ilized nations Into a union to support that law;
one can see at a glance the immediate and all
embracing benefits that would follow. The stand
jjf ing armies of the world would be reduced io
"t numbers merely sufficient for national police du-
f ties; the rush for increasing armaments would
r cease; the world's industries could have the rein-
, forcement of hundreds of thousands of men who
are now consumers; and thousands of men-of-war's
men would have places in increasing mer
,, chant ships. The moral force that would' bo
worked on the semi-civilized nations and tribes
!of the world would be very great. Surely these
are results worth working for. They would not,
if accomplished, give an absolute guarantee of
peace, of course. Our constitution could not pre
vent the most consuming war of modern times
! among a people speaking one language, and at
heart inspired by the same fundamental senti
ments and withal the most generous people on
earth. But such a compact would change the
sentiments of mankind, half-savage as well as
vl civilized; the thought of "putting by the sword"
fl because "states can be saved without it" would
' take on a new significance; the proof would be
'JA supplied that enlightenment and Chr'stian prin
ts clples were winning their way.
- The business of legislation could be directed
I entirely to local affairs among nations, and
I in the event of serious internal differences, a
K. court would be supplied to adjust them. It would
make an epoch in the twentieth century only less
I in importance than that ushered in with the com-
1 ing of the Messiah; mothers looking upon their
ff- sons would not fear that they , ere growing up
f to be given to the sword; the thoughts of men
I would turn to peaceful channels, and the trl-
f umphs of peace would be multiplied; the re-
I' demplion of mankind would really begin.
With this now constitution and a new code
l
i
under it, men would realize more fully the ne
cessity of every citizen submitting to righteous
laws, and that a perfect society must be gov
erned by laws; and that men who would not ac
' .pt that rule miist be restrained.
All this has not yet come, but it is coming.
Men will not yet cease to learn war, not yet is
the sword to be beaten into plough-shares, . but
the light of that new day is beginning to warm
tho east, the echoes of the old song "Peace on
Earth, and to Man. Good Will," will be heard
again by those who listen in the not distant future.
What Of The University?
AN eastern journal publishes the opinions of a
dozen or more presidents of eastern univer
sities on the benefits of a university training
to students. They all agree that the discipline to
the mind is one of the most marked benefits; then
the making of acquaintances and forming of
friendships is a material advantage. Of course, the
fact that a young man graduates from a university
is in itself a letter of introduction. The fixing of
higher ideals is of course a great advantage, and
yet the opinions of these university presidents, it
.seems to us, reveal, on their part, a conviction
that the best Is not being done in those higher
educational institutions.
Of course a university can not be run unless
its expenses and something more are met. To
make this possible, all students that present them
selves have to be accepted. Nearly all rich men's
sons want the endorsement which goes with a
college diploma, and a good many of these do not
care very much on what terms they can obtain the
coveted parchment. A good many of them, too,
do things which they know are wrong, because
they can either fix the difficulty with money, or
that because of the knowledge that they are rich,
offences will be smoothed over that would not be
condoned if they were poor. Suppose a university
was entirely independent, that its revenues would
not be in the least affected were half its students
to leave; would all who now are accepted be per
mitted to stumble through the four-year course?
Of all things, ought not a great university to
be least handicapped?
In point of fact no student should be permitted
to spend four years in a great school unless he
has a passion for study and an insatiable desire
to acquire knowledge. It would be better for him
to spend the time in travel and in the acquiring
of a practical knowledge, of the world's affairs.
And then he would not be in the way of real stu
dents and of then teachers.
We have great faith in a university training,
provided the subject has the order of mind that
will accept the training. Some young men who
have not much desire to expend any effort in ac
quiring knowledge, still have the self-respect and
honest pride to Impel them to make a reputable
showing, but when they lack these and are, more
over, natural shirks, they have no right to have
the name then of being university graduates.
When in addition they are "mother's darlings"
and natural hoodlums, they are a nuisance, and
should be eliminated the first week.
Then many young men whoN mean to be all
right, spend too much time in studying what they
have no capacity to acquire. This is not so bad"
as formerly, but there is much of it still. The
greatest need, we think, of our universities, Is
more independence; that those in charge may iB
be able to conduct them altogether according to 'H
high ideas and brush everything out of their way H
that interferes with such a program. H
Not every young man is fit to have the honor H
of a university course. H
Russia's Advancement WM
PETER THE GREAT of Russia was born two MM
hundred and thirty years ago today, and lived H
fifty-three years. H
We should keep those facts in mind when we H
are disposed to criticise that country. Its clvill- H
zation is only about two hundred years old. In- H
deed, Peter himself was not civilized according H
to modern ideas. In manners he was half a H
bear. He was a terror to western Europe and H
England when he visited those countries. We H
speak lightly of men who eat with their knives, M
but Peter preferred his hands to even a knife. mM
He did not know how to occupy a room decently, mM
and the ord nary restraints and courtesies of life H
were a closed book to him. But he had an all- mM
comprehensive brain; he saw what his country- mM
men and country most needed, and determined H
that their wants should be supplied, so he learned mM
to build ships, to forge guns; to build cities and M
fortresses, and had the prescience to found mW
schools and establish manufactories. In his brief H
life he transformed his country and began to
draw to it the respect of the world. So great
were the changes that ho wrought that Russians m
look upon his life as an epoch In their country,
and the world supplies no finer example of what H
a great and resolute soul can, againBt tremendous H
difficulties, accomplish than the life of Peter the m
Great of Russia furnishes. Shakespeare had been m
dead fifty-six years when he was born. All that m
shining group around Shakespeare had long been H
dead, and when Peter started out to leam to build mM
ships, the great Armada had been lost almost a mm
century. So, as we said at the beginning, when we H
judge Russia we must not forget howTrlef has m
been the time since she really took her place m
among the civilized nations of the earth. So, too. m
in estimating her possible future, we must not m
forget what she has accomplished since she really H
took on enlightened ideas and began to forge out m
for herself a real place. By the capacity she has M
shown what may not be expected from her when H
she rises up to appreciate her real opportunities? m
When she puts aside most of her strong drink, ;
when the little red school house is on all her H
cross-roads; when she turns enough of tho m
leaves of the book of knowledge to appreciate its H
loveliness, what will not that strong race accom- m
plish? Her first enlightened sovereign was a
marvelous man; when all the dreams that printed H
pictures on his restless brain materialize, Russia Mm
will be a marvelous nation. H
The Fulton Monument
THE New York Times has a picture of the de- M
sign of the monument to be erected to Robert m
Fulton in Riverside Park, New York City. It WM
is to cost $3,000,000, and is to be the most superb ' M
memorial over erected to the memory of man. imm
That is all right. Pulton's invention caused trans- AMM
portation by water to be revolutionized; It 11
doubled the working power of the world; it oven- 11
tuated in making man master of the world's i'l
oceans; the importance and the splendor of the fi'l
invention can never be described; Its valm to lil
mankind can ever be measured. m