Canadians Fear Militarism.
A Canadian journal, The Westminster, sees cause for alarm in the spirit of militarism that has been developed in Canada from the connection of that country with the fortunes of the British Empire in South Africa. It says: “One of the signs of the times is the marked and quite dangerous development of the spirit of militarism and disregard of its dangers on the part of the public. A species of military mania has manifested itself among us, and the distinction won by the Canadians in South Africa has fed this war spirit until it threatens what is best and most worth while in the character of our people. There has become common among us a way of speaking about war which is suggestive of a very marked lowering of the moral tone. There is being fostered in this city a false spirit, the wicked spirit of militarism, which unless it is checked will spoil what is best and fullest of hope in our national government.” But what especially stirs The Westminster is the observed effect of the military spirit upon Sunday observance. “It has come to be so,” it says, “that neither the fear of God nor regard for man is esteemed of importance as against the supposed interests of militarists. We are gravely told by a military officer that the Sabbath should be devoted to rifle practice by our Toronto volunteers, in order that their marksmanship might be improved. ‘Killing the Boers’ is held up before our school boys as a laudable ambition. The Lord’s day is being degraded from a day of rest to a day of military parades, and the desecrating influence of these parades is not a whit lessened by the hollow pretense of a religious service. Is it not time some strong, earnest voice were raised in determined protest against these efforts to make Canadian nationhood after the pattern of the militarism-cursed nations of Europe?” The Westminster’s fears for the preservation of “the Sabbath,” and for “what is best and most worth while in the character of our people,” are certainly well founded. It is the very nature of militarism to crowd out or override every other sentiment in the mind where its spirit finds a welcome; so that even regard for “the Sabbath,” so strong in most parts of Canada, becomes entirely subservient to the display of that which glorifies war, with only the “hollow pretense of a religious service” for its justification. Militarism, in short, becomes both the business and the religion of the individuals who fall under the spell of its fascinating and bewildering influence. The alarm which is now felt in Canada on this point ought to be instructive to the people of the United States.