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Wf9sZ.v:,'k'""" ' a.rj.a. uoiHnBar r- - ik "" -3 GOODWIN'S WEEKLY. 13 H tho pragmatic method of seeing how it works. 4 I , , Suppose a man who owns p. house discovers a burglar trying tQ break into his house, and ilghts him. They fight vigorously for a minute and 'then two policemen come along. Suppose the policemen have studied a little biology at a night school. "What would the policemen say? "Here we have a manifestation of the world-old struggle for existence. We cannot stop physi cal combat. It is foolish to attempt such a thing. Let us go about our business." Is that what the policemen would say? To the policemen and to every sensible person the important thing about the physical combat be tween, the householder and the bur glar is not a biological theory, but a legal theory The act of the burglar is unlawful and the act of the house holder is lawful. On that legal theory the important thing about a duel now adays is that both duelists are indulg ing in an unlawful act. To every sen sible person the important thing about war is that both sides are indulging in a perfectly legal proceeding. War is lawful. War is an institution. It may be or may not be a good thing from a ibiological standpoint. From a legal standpoint it is absolutely valid. Nothing is more legitimate than war. Nothing is more respectable than shooting at men hiding ia a ditch. Nothing is more classical than taking property that belongs to people on the other side of a river. Nothing is more canonical than to sink a big vessel flying a flag of a color different from your own. War is a legal institution as much so as property, marriage or taxation. Blood, gaping wounds, blind ness, insanity, crippling, death, stink ing corpses, burning barns, ruined ca thedrals, raped women, terrorized chil dren, bankruptcy, hate these are some of the incidents of war. But they are not nearly so depressing as another incident of war, namely, the absolute and unquestioned legality of war Of course, we cannot do away with biological instincts by passing laws. But the kind of war that is now rag ing in Europe could not exist if laws having to do wtih taxation, loans, arm ies and navies had not been passed after deliberate and conscious schem ing on the part of wise and influential men. Not only is war lawful but the present European war is the direct offspring of European law. Law is a thing of the mind, the conec'ous mind. Ihere is the lay of hope. Not for one minute do I want to sug gest that war can oe abolished by passing a few new laws, entering into a few new treaties and setting up a half dozen gray-haired gentlemen in frock coats behind a long desk to act as a covrt of arbitration. Law, merely because it is law, will not always Work out as a substitute for war. Our own country's history proves that No tri bunal ever decided a law suit with moie learning, more common sense, or a more conscious desire to terminate controversy, than tho supremo court of the United States when it decided the Dred Scott case. And yet the Civil war came. r Law often fails. Nevertheless it re mains truex that the main purpose of law is to take the place of physical combat to Set up something in lieu of the primitive biological struggle for existence. Within each nation law has succeeded approximately in its main purpose. Within each nation, the great majority of all controversies between individuals, families and classes are settled by law, and not by physical combat. Law, at any rate modern law, is chiefly a thing of the conscious mind. We of the twentieth century have outgrown the fallacies of Savigny, Maine and Ames. It would be an insult to legislators, judges and lawyers to suggest that they are act ing subconsciously when they go about their main business, which is to keep people from settling their con troversies by throwing stones and beating with clubs. As between nations themselves law has not done very much as yet in the way of making for permanent peace. But let us remember that law is a function of humanity. It is a function of the human mind. It is a function of the conscious human mind. If the conscious human, mind can bring per manent peace to individuals, families and classes within a state, can. the conscious human mind also bring per manent peace to the group of states themselves? I don't know. But I do know this: In no country, monarch ical or republican, aristocratic or democratic, has there yet been a pa tient, serious and systematic effort by influential persons to give the con scious human mind a fair chance to try to bring permanent peace to the states. And the chief fault does not lie with the rulers, the kings, the presidents PPIIimpriiinniicniiiiiinmntniiniuinraniffliiiinig (e J&& Pw opportunity to 1 Ti !w make their home I W 5llr study easy and wi22r effeclwef Give I js. NlF t"em the same 1 N Jir chaacestowinpro-1 r motion and success j li as the lad having the 1 Ipiwnm. - ,i,,,ji-WEBSTER'S I NEW INTERNATIONAL ( Dictionary in his home. This new I creation answers with final author- ity all kinds of puzzling questions in history, geography, oiography, 1 spelling, pronunciation, sports, arts, j and sciences. 400,000 Vocabulary Terms. 2700 Pages. 1 g Over 6000 Illustrations. Colored Plates. 1 a The only dictionary with tfc Divided Page. s The typo matter Is equivalent to that 1 of al5-volumeonoyolopodla. a i More Scholarly, Accurate, Convenient, 1 U end Authoritative than any other Enft- g Sfcasssj llaix Dictionary. s pSjSSi REGULAR fcBl l S ii rFREE.a aotof Pocket I Xh2! Wm f Map3 i you namu 1 llflflW PC.P& C. 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