PEACE VERSUS WAR.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 310, 25 May 1911, Page 4

PEACE VERSUS WAR.

To the Editor. Sir—As, in this morning'* sub-le.idfr 011 the above subject, you state, or, rather, imply, that you regard international peace as both desirable and feasible, T can only hasten to express my regret that I misconceived your altitude, on the question, (or quite honestly, but erroneously, us it appears, I thought I saw in your recent utterances an attempt to foster in the Dominion the very military spirit which -Major-Cleneral (iodley 1. imself so frequently implies to be an evil, and which, amusingly enough, lie so often disclaims any intention of fostering. 'Militarism, of course, is, in' plain words, a'disgrace to mankind, and especially a disgrace to those nations who claim to class themselves among tho civilised peoples of this so-called "age of reason." Any wnowledgable man. possessed of imagination and a sense of perspective and values, cannot but regard a soldier or a sailor as an insult to man's intelligence, and as an evil—an evil which, of course, is very necessary at the present time, but which must, as soon as practicable, be once and for all swept away. In this coming elimination of the soldier, all nations of importance must, of course, proceed pari passu, according to some international agreement. I submit that it is the patent duty ol every man worthy of the name to do lug best to facilitate the mnking of this great agreement. Were the international Press to exert their immense influence in the same direction, who doubts that the change in public oj>inion would he so great that the present armed-to-the teeth state of affairs would have its death-knell sounded within a couple of years? Until some international agreement is arrived at, however, we must arm ourselves and prepare for fight. To this course no reasonable man can have any objection. But to strive year after year, in the interests of militarism, and not more strenuously (as a rule it is not at nil t) iq the interests of international arbitration, is the height ol absurdity and folly, and is perhaps the most glaring of the many glaring blunders of our times—l am. etc., PEACE AXD PROGRESS.