The Conditions That Make for War
It is worth while to hear from a sensible scientist regarding the conditions which make for war. Prof. Garrett P. Serviss says there "are a few prophecies whose truth ought to be self-evident to all thoughtful observers of modern progress in mechanical science. War will not be abolished within any, at present, measurable time. We often hear the fallacy advanced that modern inventions will make war impossible by making it too destructive. History demonstrates the contrary. The invention of gunpowder multiplied enormously the destructive power of armies, but it had not the slightest effect in abolishing war. It simply brought about an evolution of the military art. As man grows in power he grows in aggressiveness. As the population of the earth increases, the friction increases proportionately." All of which is true. In addition to this, the Bible reveals that there is an evil spirit, with all his demons, who is stirring men constantly to war and strife. The only thing in this world which could prevent the universal war that is coming, is the power of Christ on the human heart, which can only come by faith. No schemes or plans devised by men can ever prevent the awful war which is bound to come. The Wichita "Eagle," Wichita, Kansas, says: "Wichita is just now, during weather when everybody should try to keep cool, getting into an argument that is going needlessly to develop a whole lot of heat. This is over a proper way to observe the Sabbath day." The Eagle tells how the ministers have entered into the discussion that followed a controversy in the State offices at Topeka over the question of closing such money-making schemes as nickel theaters, vaudeville shows, etc. Some, it would seem, are in favor of closing on Sunday everything in the amusement lines, even to the city parks. Others regard this as going back too far in the direction of the "blue laws." And the discussion goes on. Discussions of this character are persistently arising from time to time in all parts of the world. The Sabbath question is one of the most thoroly alive topics of this time. God has a true Sabbath, as He very clearly shows in His Word. In every such discussion that comes up, some are sure to have their attention called to that Word which shows plainly that not Sunday, but Saturday, is the true Bible Sabbath. President Wilbur P. Thirkield, of the Howard University of Washington, addressing the immense Sunday-school convention in the Greek Theater at Berkeley, pleaded for religious education in the schools. He said: "We have put the Bible out of the schools, and we are training children to be smart rather than good. I plead for a moral book in the schools, a book on which all religions can agree. . . . Science without goodness is a gospel of dirt. If man misses the Book he misses the development of his larger life." Those last two sentences are true; but when there is placed in the schools a moral book on which all will agree, we have a morality without foundation, without coherence, without solidity, without strength. State schools can not properly teach morals or religion. How could we expect, if we should have moral text-books, that the State schools would give us better Christianity than the schools of the world are giving us now? Prof. Garrett P. Serviss summarizes an address by Prof. J. J. Welsh before the British naval architects, and in so doing gives us some startling particulars of what future battles may be, with an air-ship as a factor. At a height of one mile an air-ship would be reasonably out of range of high-angle fire. A bomb containing 100 pounds of explosives direct from that height would strike a ship in about twenty seconds, at a velocity of 500 feet per second. During its descent a 16-knot battle-ship would move about 540 feet. That would be allowed for, even as a marksman allows for the flight of a bird. A battle-ship of course could turn, but battle-ships do not turn quickly; and if a number of missiles were dropped from a single air-ship, or a half dozen air-ships should take part, the case of the battle-ship would be utterly hopeless. So, in the mind of the naval expert, the steel-clad leviathans of the deep, beset by swarming enemies in the air, would become the marks for plunging missiles, and their only protection would be to have rival fleets of air-ships, even as they now have torpedo-boat destroyers. There are good dogs, and good cats, and good horses; but it verges on idolatry when honors are paid to them, after their death, surpassing what is often paid to human beings. For instance, the New York American of a short time ago tells of a St. Bernard dog that was poisoned in the northern part of the city of New York, or in the Bronx district. Services were held at the house consisting of singing and a eulogy of dogs, and this dog in particular, by a minister, the body of the dog was escorted to the grave, and four youthful pallbearers followed the body. At the grave he was buried with human honors by the singing of a song. There are thousands that die in a city like New York who are not cared for in life or death as well as that dog. Surely things are unequal. A True Conception of Balance.—Attorney-General Wickersham stated the case fairly well the other day in a speech when he said: "You can not expect to secure competent men for the conduct of public affairs if they are to be commissioned as untrustworthy, subjected to constant heckling and misrepresentation, and turned out branded as unfaithful servants at a moment's notice for temporarily unpopular acts. The great question confronting you to-day is to find the true balance between the freedom which the individual citizen must enjoy in order that he may justly prosper, and the protection of the mass of the people from unjust discrimination in favor of the few." There are the very principles of religious liberty in that, and it strikes pretty hard against the recall of judges, especially. An American artist has been honored by the King. Mr. John McClure Hamilton, of Philadelphia, has been commissioned by King George to paint a picture of the coronation scene in Westminster Abbey. He is the second graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts upon whom such an honor has been bestowed. The first was Edwin A. Abbey, who painted the coronation picture in 1901, when King Edward was crowned. June 30 the Pacific Coast Company's Alaska excursion steamship Spokane was driven on the rocks in Seymour Narrows with 151 passengers aboard. The steamer was a total wreck, but all the passengers were saved but two, who sprang overboard and were drowned. One reads with sorrow of the death of the venerable president of the American Bible Society, Theophilus Anthony Brouwer. He died in New York City June 15, 1911, in his 85th year. He has had very long connection with the society—manager, vice-president, president. As a result of seven years' investigation of the great steel combines, it has been found that there is $500,000,000 worth of "water" in the stocks. $100 in stock has become $490 in capital, and the percentage of profit has been reckoned on the watered stock.