TEN YEARS AGO AND TO-DAY.
By G. B. Thompson
[THE wise man says, "Ponder the path of thy feet." It is well to take account of our on-goings if we would learn our true condition, and as respects the drift of our present civilization, we feel that to the Springfield Republican of June 26, we owe a debt in giving us two photographs of ten years ago and the present. The Republican says:—] To see how fast we are moving, it is necessary sometimes to cast a short backward glance. One grows so quickly accustomed to daily news of war that it is easy to forget how new a thing it is in our time. To-day it seems hardly believable that only a few years ago the world was at peace, and peace-lovers were not without excuse for believing that a brighter, sweeter era was at hand than any this blood-soaked planet had ever known. War seemed a remote possibility; peace seemed the normal and natural thing. To see how far we have moved from that tranquil time, it is only necessary to turn back to a newspaper of, say 10 years ago, and compare it with one of to-day. The Contrast Is Overwhelming, Appalling.
The Republican of Wednesday, June 25, 1890, was not so large as the paper of the present day, but it gave in compact form the news that was of most import. Much space was given to college commencements, several columns were devoted to the speeches of George M. Stearns and Attorney-General Waterman on the West-End Street Railroad case. From Washington came the news that Wyoming was soon to be admitted as a State. There was but one paragraph of military news, to the effect that appropriations for navy-yard improvements and for extra tools at the Boston navy-yard had been struck out by the committee of Congress! Tranquil domestic news was not lacking, and peace prevailed, even in the brief announcement that the men on the Canadian fishery protection cruisers were to be armed with batons, instead of cutlasses. The sugar trust was already making trouble, and Quay was pulling the strings for the Pennsylvania convention. A new record for baseball throwing was made, and John L. Sullivan was fined $500, no doubt very properly. The only item of old-world news which was sufficiently important to be given a place in a crowded paper, ten years ago yesterday, was a four-line paragraph to the effect that Mme. Sarah Bernhardt had accidentally taken an overdose of chloral. Nor did any of the editorials mention any foreign topic, except the action of Newfoundland in regard to the purchase of bait. How dull and disappointing such a day's news would be to the reader of to-day, whose appetite is whetted with daily horrors from all quarters of the world! To complete the contrast it is only necessary to analyze the contents of yesterday's Republican. The principal news page was given up almost exclusively to war—to four different wars. We read of "North China ablaze," of Minister Wu's opinions on the war, of the supposed safety of our people in Pekin, of the rise of the Boxers in Canton, of the rumored killing of a missionary, of the shipping of vast stores of ammunition to China, of the departure of marines from Washington, of the part of England and the United States in the war, and that of Germany and Russia, of the sailing of the 6th cavalry, of the killing of four Americans in an ambuscade, of the sailing of the cruiser Brooklyn, of the transfer of the headquarters of the Asiatic squadron, of the plans of the war department, of our ex-minister's views on the war, of the rescue of a missionary, of the sailing of a Russian cruiser, and the augmentation of the Indian army bound for China, of pressure brought to bear on Turkey, of England's war with the Ashantis, of General Buller's progress in South Africa, and the raids of the Boers, of the departure of Boer envoys, of the war with a mob in St. Louis, of General MacArthur's dealings with the Filipinos, and the movements of American garrisons in the island of Samoa. There is barely room in this appalling record of bloodshed for a brief statement to the effect that some 19,000,000 people are starving to death in India. There is much peaceful news, too, baccalaureate sermons, sermons from local pulpits, the happenings of the day—but the dominant note is war, one sensation topping another. Whatever views one may have as to the justice or necessity of any particular war, it must be agreed that the effect of living in a constant war atmosphere is not likely to be conducive to peace. It kindles the passion for fighting, and it makes war, instead of peace, seem the natural and normal thing. This effect has been vastly intensified by the multiplication of newspapers and the use of telegraphy, which plunges us all daily into the midst of every war going on. . . . A morbid appetite for horrors is developed, not unakin to that found in the amphitheaters of the Romans, and a day without a battle, a massacre, or an ambuscade at the very least, is disappointing. It is not hard to awaken the Primitive Passion for Blood;
the difficulty is in quelling it. . . . The contrast between the two snap-shots of the world in 1890 and 1900 throws a strong light on the pace at which the world has been moving. The view ten years ago showed a placid, smiling river; now we see the boiling rapids of a torrent Plunging Toward What Abyss No One Knows.
War has followed war with swift succession, the scene shifting from Greece to Cuba, from Cuba to the Soudan, from the Soudan to the Philippines, from the Philippines to South Africa, from there to China. What the next stroke will be, who shall say? . . . Yet the chief cause for disquietude among thoughtful men, who love the arts of peace, and look on war as wicked and hateful, is not that its baleful conflagrations are breaking out in so many places, but that so many reputable men should be found to pour oil on the flames, teaching the young that courage and manhood and honor decay unless they periodically go out and shoot each other, that it is the duty of strong races to crush the life out of weak and backward nations and reduce all civilizations to one type. What more efficient ally could the cold, selfish greed of commercialism find? What force could so aggravate the craving for war which the world's daily butcher's bill creates? It is easy to talk lightly of "pessimism;" are the millions of people who ten years ago hoped that the reign of peace had begun exactly satisfied with the situation since imperialism has got into the saddle? The record of ten years ago was dull and humdrum, but the world was moving steadily forward toward the ideal of the wise men of all ages. Can as much be said for the record of to-day? THE Boston Sunday Herald of July 1, 1900, says:—
"We are now possibly upon the eve of the greatest war the world has ever seen. It will be a war between giants, fought out to a finish. It will be replete with horrors, it will wipe out nations, and it will be short, bloody and decisive. So says Hudson Maxim, the well-known inventor of death-dealing machinery." This is a sad picture to look at, yet no other conclusion can be reached by those who read unbiased the events now taking place in the earth. Look at the enormous standing armies of continental Europe. Behold every nation straining every nerve to increase their already gigantic navy. New and improved engines of death are called for everywhere, and the man who invents a machine by which human beings, made in the image of God, can be slaughtered faster than ever before, will find a ready market. The nations are watching each other with jealous eyes, and are secretly mining their harbors as never before, fearing a hostile invasion. They are gathering their transports, preparing at a moment's notice to land an army on foreign soil. The feeling exists that they must strike now or never. Affairs in the "far East" have taken such a turn that no man can accurately foretell the outcome. Is it to be a universal conflict? What a dreadful scene will present itself when the flower of manhood of all nations, armed with the latest improved death-dealing weapons, meet on the field of conflict. But these things are speaking in thunder tones that the end of all things earthly hastens on apace, and that soon the heavens will be rolled back like a scroll and the Son of God will come to reap the harvest of the earth. "The nations were angry, and Thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged." Rev. 11:18. The next thing in order, dear reader, is the wrath of God in the seven last plagues! Are you prepared for this? The present warlike attitude of the nations is not confined to what are termed the "Christian nations," but the "Gentile" or heathen nations are waking up their mighty men of war and sending them forth into the conflict. How accurately has the prophet Joel described the scene:— "Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up; beat your plowshares into swords, and your prunninghooks into spears; let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about; thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe; come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision; for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision." Joel 3:9-14. Men may cry, Peace and safety, but there is no peace until the Prince of Peace shall come and destroy all the kingdoms of the earth and establish His own everlasting kingdom. Reader, are you an heir to the future, eternal kingdom? Rome, N. Y.
G. B. THOMPSON.