Editors’ Table: The Great War

Editors' Table

The Great War

It would not be at all surprising if the present great war, now spreading terror over the nations, should end in upsetting and changing the forms of government now in vogue in Europe so as to grant more liberty to the masses. The time appears ripe for a change that shall take the power of declaring war from the single monarch or war lord and give it to representatives of the people. Many have expressed themselves that the day of the Republic is about to dawn over eastern and middle Europe. This war will go far in determining that question. One thing is certain, the doctrine of peace by armed force, held to so long

and tenaciously by czars, kings and emperors, is a failure, and should without question forever be abandoned. It has been wrong from the beginning. That we get what we prepare for is literally true in this case. For years it has been held that peace comes only by preparation for war the present conflict should ;

prove that peace comes only by preparing for peace, through training the people in righteousness and justice, and selecting rulers who respect the righteous will of the people. The dispatches report a common soldier of the German army as saying, "This is not a people's war, it is a war of the leaders." But as one writer has aptly said : "Out of this sacrifice will come a resolution firmly taken to have no more wheat-growers, and growers of corn, makers of wine, miners and fishers, artizans and traders sailors and store-keepers, offered up with prayer to the Almighty in a feudal slaughter, armed against one another, without hate, or without cause they know, or, if they know, would give a penny which way it was determined." Each of those who are responsible for the decision of war in the present European horror, expressed himself at the beginning of the war, as expecting that the Lord would be on his side and would work victory for him. Each commended his subjects to God. "Go to church and kneel before God, and pray for his help for our gallant army," the Kaiser is reported to have said from his balcony to the people in the street. And to his soldiers he is reported to have said : "Go with your hearts to God, and your fists to the enemy." And so with the Czar and the Em- — peror of Austria both commended their subjects to God. At the Kremlin, Emperor Nicholas prayed "God be with :

us." But is it because they believe in their righteous cause

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that these rulers call upon God, or is it done to appease their own ambitions and the religious feelings of their subjects, the better to spur them on to war and carnage to suit the rulers' purposes? The Lord has little if anything to do with this war. He will overrule things so that good will come out of it, but he will not heed the war lords who have transgressed his laws, changed his ordinances, and broken the everlasting covenant and arrogated to themselves authority which has never been conferred upon them. The true religion of Christ, which teaches peace on earth and good will to man, and which would prevent them from engaging in war and slaughter, they have never adopted. While they seemingly acknowledge allegiance to the Christian religon, they are not touched nor influenced by its teachings, for these are fundamentally opposed to war and discord, and look to a final gathering of all mankind into one great brotherhood ruled by love. These leading, so-called Christian rulers of the nations pretend to pray to the God of peace and love, and yet with all their might make preparation to fly at each others' throats, even as the uncivilized heathens do who have never heard of Christ. Some are inclined, therefore, to consider their course an indictment against the gospel of Christ, because it has had no influence on their lives. It is not so much an indictment against the gospel as against those professing Christian rulers "who draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me they teach for ;

doctrines the commandments of men having a form of godliness, ;

but they deny the power thereof." Many of them do not even pretend to live up to those teachings in their daily lives. There is only one thing that can bring peace into the world. It is the adoption of the gospel of Jesus Christ, rightly understood, obeyed and practiced by rulers and people alike. It is being preached in spirit to all nations, kindreds, tongues and peoples of the world, by the Latter-day Saints, and the day is not far distant when its message of salvation shall sink deep into the hearts of the common people, who, in sincerity and earnestness, when the time comes, will not only surely register their judgment against a false Christianity, but against war and the makers of war as crimes against the human race. Not long hence, and the voice of the people shall be obeyed and the true gospel of peace shall dominate the hearts of the mighty. It will then be impossible for war lords to have power over the life and death of millions of men as they now have, to decree the ruin of commerce, industry, and growing fields, or to cause untold mental agony and human misery like plague and pestilence to prevail over the nations. It looks much as if after the devastation of wars, as promised in the scriptures, (and who shall say that it may not follow this war?) the self-constituted mon- archs must give way to rulers chosen by the people,, who

1076 IMPROVEMENT ERA shallbe guided by the doctrines of love and peace as taught in gospel of our Lord. the There will then be instituted a new social order in which the welfare of all shall be uppermost and all shall be permitted to live in the utmost liberty and happiness. In the presence of the appalling combat now going on, whatever may befall, we can only pray that peace may speedily come to the afflicted nations, and that the Lord will open the way for the gospel of peace, liberty, and spiritual and temporal salvation that it may be espoused by every nation, kindred, tongue and people. Joseph F. Smith.

Austria and Servia

The conflict now progressing in Europe promises to deluge the warring nations with blood, and to destroy untold billions of material wealth, the loss of which sooner or later is sure to be sorely felt throughout the whole world. While the immediate cause of the trouble between Austria and Servia was the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, on June 28, the real cause, as has been pointed out by Dr. Tanner in this number, dates back to 1878, and even farther. Bosnia and Herzegovina, in which states more than half of the Servian people live, were then placed in the power of Austria, which country some thirty years later formally annexed them. The trouble between Austria and Servia has two roots, one economic and the other national. The first pertains to present day needs, the other to pride in their past history and national hope for the future. One can readily understand the first, as pointedly stated in the New York Independent, by placing oneself in the Servian's place Imagine a country about the size of Maryland, but with twice the population, though without Maryland's mineral and maritime wealth; a mountainous country, four-fifths of it uncultivated, much of it oak forest. It is a decapitated country, the upper classes killed off, driven away or proselyted during the Ottoman occupation, no princes of either the monarchical or mercantile kind, few capitalists or great landowners such as dominate neighboring Roumania. It is a land of peasant proprietors; "A Poor Man's Paradise," the scribbling tourist is fond of calling it, although it is doubtful whether the poor man enjoys living in such a country as much as he does where there is more money going, even though he does not have so much of it as some others. The people are Slavic by race, Asiatic in culture, four-fifths of the adults illiterate, Greek Orthodox by religion, frugal, hard-working, independent, democratic and patriotic. Given such a people in such a country what are they to do for a living? Obviously not much except to grow grain and meat for export. Hogs can find their food in most of the oak woods and be fattened on the corn of the fields, but where can they be sold? Not to the southward, for the Mohammedans of Macedonia and the Jews of Salonika

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do not eat pork. But to the north just across the Danube is a big, rich country inhabited mostly by Catholics who have no aversion to swine-flesh except on one day of the week. Austria-Hungary is then the natural market for Servian products, and here they mostly go. But whenever Austria wants to annoy Servia or to please Hungary all she has to do is to raise the tariff rates on trans-Danubian produce or prohibit the importation of Servian pigs or poultry by quarantine rules on the ground of some suppositious disease. By the practice of such tactics, called by the German writers, "Schwein-politik," Austria has reduced Servia to a condition of economic dependence from which Servia is striving to free herself by securing an outlet to the sea and so to the wide world market. But so far Austria has checkmated this endeavor. Last year, at the sacrifice of some seventy thousand men, Servia cleared the way to the Adriatic, but now finds herself shut out from the sea by the interposition of the Albanian principality manufactured for the purpose.

But the frustration of her national, which includes her social, rather than her industrial, development, thinks the Independent. is the chief grudge which Servia has against her neighbor, Austria.

Looking back some six hundred years, the Serbs remember when Steffan the Daring conquered nearly all the Balkan peninsula, and combined in one ruler the glories of both ancient Greece and Rome. They still dream of a Servian nation and kingdom. They dreamed of it in 1878, when they sought to throw off the Turkish yoke. They dreamed of it in 1913, when they succeeded in throwing off that yoke, and in making their way to the sea, but Austria, in both instances, stepped in and prevented them from obtaining the richest portion of the reward for which they fought. Austria, they think, has stood in the way of the possibility of a Servian empire, or a Greater Servia, of which they dream, or even of one country of the Servian race alone. It was Austria who insisted upon the establishment of the new principality of Albania when, upon all just grounds, that portion of the country in the recent adjustment of the Balkan states, should have fallen to Servia. Whether the Servians are better off under the Austrian rule than their more independent neighbors across the Danube is a question under dispute. Tourists report that Bosnia is more prosperous and progressive than Servia, but the contentment of a people is not to be measured by commercial statistics. The Independent continues

The Serbs in Bosnia complain that taxes are much higher than they used to be under the Turkish regime, that they are being strangled by the red-tape of the Austrian bureaucracy, that the schools arc under the control of Catholic priests, that they cannot sing the old songs, that their press is muzzled, and that the Government discriminates in various ways against the Orthodox Serbs and in favor of the Catholic Croats. This accumulated resentment against Austria resulted in the tragedy of June 28, when a Servian student, lately returned from Belgrade, aflame with racial fanaticism, assassinated the Austrian heirapparent and his wife in Sarayevo, the capital of the annexed province

1078 IMPROVEMENT ERA of Bosnia. This is the method used by the Serbs in their own country for getting rid of unpopular rulers, so it is no wonder that it should have been adopted in the case of the Austrian. In a hundred years Servia has had eight rulers, of whom three have been assassinated and four deposed by revolution or the threat of one. It does not yet seem likely that the present King Peter will prove an exception to the rule and complete his reign by a natural death. He owes his throne to the officers of the army, who, eleven years ago, entered the palace by night and murdered King Alexander and Queen Draga as well as the premier, the minister of war and two of the queen's brothers. The outrages inflicted on their bodies by those who both before and afterward held high office in the state, make quite credible the reports of atrocities committed by the Serbs on unarmed Bulgars and Albanians in the late war.

The Great War of the Nations

This paragraph is quoted from a stirring editorial on the great war of the nations, which appeared in the Glasgow (Scotland) Herald, August 3. On that date the war was impending. Today it is engulfing Europe in blood and tears,- and filling the whole world with terror :

"It is done." In apocalyptic vision the opening of the seventh seal saw the nations gathered together to Armageddon. "And there came a great voice * * * saying. It is done." The calamity by which men have been fearfully attracted or terribly repelled for a generation is upon us, and who shall say that before the world has exhausted its horrors the language and imagery of religious prophecy, so often employed to describe the possibilities of the day of universal trial and suffering, will exceed the grim realities? Four of the great military powers of the Continent have appealed to the vast engines of destruction, on which for more than a generation they have expended countless millions, to determine their quarrel. From the Danube to the Seine a state of war prevails. Hundreds of thousands of combatants are already in motion; the movement of millions of armed men is impending. Europe is shaken by the tread of its embattled hosts. The bonds of union constructed by trade and commerce have been dissolved, and civilization has shrunk behind walls of bayonets and the instruments of slaughter. The reason on which we had depended to avert the tremendous conflict has been dethroned, and the religion which ought to have prevailed for the benefit of humanity has been claimed by the combatants to redeem what, on one side or the other, must be the worst of causes, each appealing confidently to a tribal God. So be it. The means have brought the tragic end. For decades Europe has groaned under the tyranny of the armed peace. Progress has been mocked by the conditions which a triumphant military system imposed. The fine dreams which enchanted the nineteenth century reformers and inspired so many heroic actions fled before the reality of liberty achieved for the sole end of magnifying a military despositsm. As somebody has said, German and Italian enthusiasts fought for Paradise and found a parade ground. The conditions have proved to be intolerable. The structure poised on bayonets has toppled over, and in its

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fall threatens to crush to the dust the nations beneath, and to paralyze for incalculable periods of time activities which the world can ill spare.

Their Verdict of War

Gecrge Washington: My first wish is to see the whole world at peace, and the inhabitants of it as one band of brothers, striving which should most contribute to the happiness of mankind. Abraham Lincoln: With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive * * * to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations. Emanuel Kant: The method by which states prosecute their rights cannot under present conditions be a process of law, since no court exists having jurisdiction over them, but only war. But through war, even if it result in victory, the question of right is not decided. William Ellery Channing: The doctrine that violence, oppression, in humanity, is an essential element of society, is so revolting that, did I believe it. I would say. let society perish, let man and his works be swept away, and the earth be abandoned to the brutes. Better that the globe should be tenanted by brutes than by brutalized men. Robert E. Lee: But what a cruel thing is war, to separate and destroy families and friends, and mar the purest joy and happiness God has granted to us in this world to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors and to devastate the fair face of the beautiful world. Victor Hugo: A day will come when the only battlefield will be the market open to commerce and the mind opening to new ideas. A day will come when bullets and bombshells will be replaced by votes, by the universal suffrage of nations, by the venerable arbitration of a great sovereign senate, which will be to Europe what the parliament is to England, what the diet is to Germany, what the legislative assembly is to France. A day will come when a cannon will be exhibited in public museums, just as an instrument of torture is now, and people will be astonished how such a thing could have been. A day will come when these two immense groups, the United States of America and the United States of Europe, shall be seen placed in presence of each other, extending the hand of fellowship across the ocean.

Suspicious

Last spring the associate editor was appointed to visit a conntry ward near Salt Lake City. Arriving- at the meeting-house a little early for the meeting, no one was present except a boy who was standing in the yard watching with curious interest the new arrival. Having twenty minutes to spare, the editor determined to spend them with his voting friend. After passing the time of day, they began to talk about the new schoolhouse a lovely building, two stories high, built of brick, airy and clean.

1080 IMPROVEMENT ERA "What do they call it?" "Oakwood," said the boy. "Why?" "I don't know unless because there was once some oakbrush where it stands." "What is that other unfinished building over there ?" "That's the new ward meetinghouse." Then thev leisurely walked over to inspect it. The visitor learned that the boy was ten years of age, not yet old enough to be a scout, but was going to be one when old enough. He was specially interested in the new house, and told the visitor that "it cost a good deal of money," but a man had promised to pay for a large colored window, at the gable end of the building, and that would "help a lot." Returning, they continued the conversation, and being interested in vocations for young men, the editor said "What are you going to work at when you grow up?" "I don't know." "Are you going to be a farmer?" , After a pause, the boy said, "If there's one thing I don't like, it's farming — too many weeds." "But it's good business," said the visitor, "healthful and a pleasant. I You ought to see my garden. I have onions, like it. beets, carrots, peas, cucumbers, beans and corn, and not a weed in the whole lot." Another long pause. The young man looked up with a suspicious twinkle in his eye "Do you do the hoeing yourself, or do you make your boys do it?" Luckily the bishop greeted them at the steps of the meetinghouse at that moment, and the answer was postponed, but the incident taught the good lesson which all men need to learn, that embarrassment is sure to come to him who allows himself to carry unearned honors.

Messages from the Missions

In a letter to James Dwyer, Allan S. Tingey, of Salt Lake City, writes from Augsburg, Germany: "The longer I stay over here the more I realize how blessed I am in being born in the tops of the mountains and of good 'Mormon' parents. Here are many poor people groping about in gross darkness for some one thing to grasp hold of, through which to earn a salvation in God's kingdom. They are sincere, and I believe at times that our merciful Father in heaven looks down upon them saying: 'My children, my children, how oft would I have gathered you under my wings as a hen gathereth her chicks, but

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you would not.' The people are so firmly imbedded in their belief that itseems almost impossible to make them see the light. Day after day. I am turned away from their doors because their preacher has told them to have nothing to do with us. However, I am not discouraged, for I really feel that some day, perhaps, an elder will come here and be able to reap a harvest from the seeds which I have scattered here and there. We must remember that Rome was not built in a day, aad neither can these people be brought to see this gospel jn its true light in a single day, or even in a single year."

President Ray Finlinsonof the Montana Conference,- Northwestern States Mission, writes, July 1: ."The work in this conference is prospering, and the spirit of enthusiasm accompanying the labors of

the elders aids them materially in placing the truth before many people. Elders laboring in the Butte branch, top row, left to right: Ray Finlinson, John Q. Dutson, Oak City; Henry Williams, Vernal, Utah; Logan Brimhall, Taylor, Arizona."

Elders James A. Loveless, Jr., and Marcus L. Robbins, Lancashire, England, June 14, 1914: "The city of Nelson is perhaps a town having more Socialists, in proportion to its population, than any other town in the United Kingdom. It is in the great cotton-weaving district of Lancashire. Weaving-sheds and smoke-stacks are numerous, and attract the visitor, and particularly the 'Mormon' elder who comes from the clear atmosphere of the mountain valleys. A thriving branch of the Liverpool Conference of the Church is located at Nelson. It is one of the four in the district, each about five miles apart. The people treat the elders well. Much street work is done; even during last summer when men openly opposed us on the streets, slandering our leaders, we were able to continue our work, due to the fairmindedness of the people who gathered to listen. The people here are inclined to love pleasure more than religion, but we think persistent effort is sure to bring forth fruit. Elders who have labored in the Nelson Branch, Liverpool Conference, during the past year, stand-

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ins:, left Marcus L. Robbins, Salt Lake; Oscar J. Hendry, to right: James A. Loveless, Jr., Provo; C. Leroy Madsen, Wellsville; sitting, Salt Lake; Reuben J. Owen, Springville, Utah.

Charles I. Wilson, Dun- dee, Scotland, June 4: "The people here receive us and accept our literature very freely. They seem to be finding out that there are good things in 'Mormon- ism.' The main industries here are the manufacturing of jams and there are also a great number of jute mills which give employment to many young people. El- ders in the picture, left to right, standing: George G. Howarth, Nephi; Evan G. Evans, Union, Oregon; top row: Charles I. Wilson and William H. Keysor, Salt Lake City.

W. Clarence Smith, York, England, July 3: "The Saints in the York branch, in the Hull Conference, are earnest and energetic workers in promulgating the gospel. This has caused many investigators to come out to our Sunday school and sacrament meetings. have We a well attended Sunday school. A portrait of the members is given herewitht. Several shows have been playing here in York, such as "A 'Mormon' and His Wives," misrepresenting the Latter-day Saints, and these have caused some little strife. On the other hand, we have many friends who otherwise would not have listened to our preaching. The elders visit the Adult Bible school, not of our faith, regularly, and have had interviews with some of York's most prominent business men and ministers. Elders, middle row: Alex. Orgill, presiding

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elder; Ray TA Nichols, president of the Hull Conference; front row, WT Clarence Smith, superintendent of Sunday school. The elders named wear buttoniers.

Elder R. Leo Rallison, Broken Hill, New South Wales. Australia, June 15: "Elder S. Glenn Merrill and arrived in this city on April 3. I

last. This city, is located about three hundred and thirty-five mile's north of Adelaide and has a population of about 35,000. Lead, silver and zinc are mined here, and it is said that about one-fourth of the world's lead is produced here. It is called the harrier. and rightly named, too. because it is; stir rounded on all three sides by a vast,, ster- ile desert. The rainfall during the year is about four or five inches, very irregu- lar and uncertain, and keeps' the people in constant fear of drought. The rain that falls is preserved in reservoirs and tanks from which it is used at the mines and for culinary purposes. This is a new field of labor and upon our arrival the people knew nothing of 'Mormonism' ex- cept the false reports they had read in magazines. A very few had ever seen a 'Mormon' before. We obtained permission to speak on the streets and have held some very successful street meetings and have met with exceptional success in tracting. Upon our arrival we found a friend in Mr. R. H. Trezise. a local Methodist preacher, and an investigator of our doctrines, who assisted us in many ways to obtain a start. We now have a number of friends and investigators and many have confessed that they had very erroneous conceptions of the Latter-day Saints and that they cannot get away from the plain and simple truths they have heard in our testimony.

1084 IMPROVEMENT ERA The truths of 'Mormonism' must appeal to the honest in heart everywhere."

Elder J. Arthur Wood, Norwich conference, England: "The work of the Lord is prospering in this locality. The elders feel encouraged and hope to accomplish much in delivering their gospel message to the people, during the summer. We have a number of earnest investigators who attend our meetings, and we hope to increase the number considerably through open air meetings. We meet with some opposition and ridicule, but have a good attendance at our meetings. We consider opposition necessary for advancement, and believe it makes us more determined and causes a stronger feeling of unity among those who have affiliated themselves with the great latterday work. The people are less prejudiced against us now than a year

ago. l£he ridiculous accusations are beginning to be considered by the people as so much wilful fabrication. In Ipswich, where we had so much trouble and persecution last year, the bitter feeling towards us has decreased considerably. We have many friends there at present, and our meetings are increasing in attendance. Elders, back row, left to right: J. G. Bullock, Provo; Wm. Werrett Jr., Silver City; F. L. Bentley, Parowan; J. B. Stewart Jr., Salt Lake City, Utah; Joseph R. Pendry, Paris, Idaho; F. E. Nelson, Logan; C. W. Tonks, Morgan, Utah; center row: J. R. Standage, Mesa, Arizona; J. Arthur Wood, Clerk of the Conference, Salt Lake City; James D. Thorne, conference president, Pleasant Grove, Utah; J. L. Nelson, Lorenzo, Idaho; Benjamin Ward, Richfield; front row: Henry Yates, Brigham City; R. Fay Facer, Hyrum, Utah."