A Tremendous Problem

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Aug 10, 1915

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 42, No. 31.

A Tremendous Problem

IN an address at Los Angeles, Archbishop Edward J. Hanna, of San Francisco, is reported to have said:

“Undoubtedly the trend of recent events in Europe, the attitude of the nations, understanding of the causes that brought the great war, the revolution in warfare in this conflict, and consideration of what will follow the European war, have made the question of American national defenses a tremendous problem. . . . The struggle for commercial supremacy is the big fact that lies behind the war.

“What reason have we to hope that it will end with this war?

“What guarantee have we that it will not become a menace to America next? . . .

“Experts told us that if the great conflict came, it could not last more than three months. It has lasted eleven months, with no sign of the end being near. Apparently it will be a draw. The nations involved will devote some time to recovery, and then start in to prepare for another attempt to gain commercial supremacy through war if necessary.

“The theory of economic necessity rules now, and what reason have we for hope that a less materialistic philosophy will succeed it in Europe? And in the new alignment, American ideals may be in grave peril unless we have a navy strong enough to defend them.

“The philosophy underlying the war in Europe most interests me. Fundamentally it is, as I have said, a war for commercial supremacy that is regarded as necessary to national happiness and development. Racial and national hatreds contribute their part, along with innumerable other minor factors.

“It is idle to speculate what line of evolution will be followed after the war. We might guess; but if we mistake one factor, the result we get is wrong. But assuredly we cannot build here in America that European governments will turn from materialistic policies to the ideal of the injunction, ‘Seek ye first the kingdom of the Father, and these things shall be added unto you.’”

It is quite generally recognized that commercial supremacy is the leading factor underlying this war as it has been of most wars. And the apostle Paul has told us that the love of money is one of the things that would make the last days perilous. And we see how “earth hunger” among the powers, and greed for money among individuals and groups of men, are plunging the world into revolution, ruin, and ultimate anarchy. There is but one thing that can save the world from it, and that is the second coming of Christ.