Will the Golden Age of Peace Ever Come?

BY JOHN F. MILLER, OF POCATELLO STAKE, IDAHO

In the days when man fought against .man, city against city and ruler against ruler when the air was continually shaken by ;

the clamor of war and the rumors of war, then it was that the war-wearied ones best loved to sit at the feet of the poets and hear of that time when there should be peace over all the world when men should tend their flocks and reap their harvests, un- afraid, and youth watch the silver moon rise over the sweet smell- ing orchards ; when the ear would not be afrighted by the screaming fife and groaning drum when the song of the ;

nightingale would make pleas- ant the night, and the hum of the busy bee make restful the golden noon. Peace always speaks of gladness, rest, abundance and safety. War always bespeaks hardship, waste, sorrow and death. But the fabled Golden Age of Peace has only been a poet's dream. Will the dream come true ? Man lives by his dreams. His thoughts are all that en- dure. When the work which he erects today in wood and stone has fallen to decay, the dreams of Columbus, Fulton. lOIIN F. MILLER Stephenson and Edison will still be bright and glorious. Through all the infinite ages past, man has kept himself alive, not by his strength, but by the dawn of what we call mind. In eating, drinking and fighting, man is common brother to the brutes. In physical strength they surpass him. By thought alone he has come thus far, and by thought alone he will continue to progress still farther. Alan has but one predominant passion, the will to live. From

*This oration took first place in the grand finals of Advanced Senior nublic speaking contest, M. T. A. ronferen.ce, June, 1915.

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thisis born his two vital ideals — freedom and peace. He crave freedom that he may live his life in his own way, and develop hi individuality after his own desire. Freedom is part of the instinc to live. He craves peace that he might enjoy life, and drear those dreams which sooner or later he makes come true. Peac is also part of the instinct to live. In the past centuries he ha never failed in the accomplishment of the ideals which were vit; and necessary to him which were part of his instinct to live an ; ;

peace is surely the basic instinct of life. Therefore, I believe the universal peace will come, as surely as the heart continues il action in the breast of man. Peace is the pervading hope of the human soul. It is in ever philosophy, in all poetry and religion. The heaven of the Amei ican savage, of the fierce Viking, of the poetic Greek, of the imag inative Mohammedan — every heaven born out of the longings c man's heart is an abode of peace. He that thinks man has nc struggled very far on the road to his ideal knows very little c human history. Whether one turn to Asia, Africa, Europe, c even to our own beloved America, he can find within the period c history that time when every stranger was an enemy, when ever country was held by numerous feudal chiefs engaged in constat warfare, when every city was a walled fortification, and ever province was hostile to its neighbor. Picture that day, and this ! Then property was insecure an trade stagnant. Cities were swept out of existence, the inhal itants massacred or sold as slaves, and their goods confiscate* You will see without argument that not only has there been steady, tremendous insistence on peace, but that the greater a( vancement of mankind has been due to the greater peace of tl world. Why cannot the nations of the earth advance to still great* peace ? If the trial by combat between private individuals has falk into disuse because of its folly, why cannot the trial by combat b tween nations be abandoned, because of its greater folly? The: is no dispute settled by war but what could better be settled 1:

peaceful means. The old theory of right triumphing by trial erroneous. Might is not always right. The law forbids the strong to trample on the weak, with the nation. What a precious blessing law is! But why, in tl name of justice and reason, should the law not forbid the stror from wronging the weak, outside of the nation! If there we world-wide law as there is now national law, if each natic elected representatives, according to its population, to an inte national legislature, as our states elect representatives to the n tional legislature, and if these representatives had authority regulate "the affairs of the various nations, according to law ai

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Order, the clash of resounding anus, and the sighs of untold thou- sands, would not be coming to our ears from across the mighty deep, at this hour. he trouble with our present system is this: I A nation, like an individual, becomes agitated over a proposition. Under pres- ent conditions, it is a law unto itself. There is no general law In canst- it to stop for a moment and coolly consider matters. Pas- sion takes the place of thought, and revenge crowds out reason. So in a moment of hot anger some act is committed which finally ends in destruction, suffering, and the death of the flower and youth of the nation, lost on the battle-field. Only a short year ago there was almost world-wide peace. Prosperity, progress, and plenty were everywhere felt. The sages and philosophers were contemplating means whereby man could better his condition. Treaties were being arranged, through which peace could be assured. Inventions were never before so fre- quent. The shuttle of industry was singing its song of joy and gladness to a happy world. Mankind was fast becoming Godlike in his love of peace. In far-off Austria a disordered brain conceived a murderous plan which the hand put into action. A trigger presses, a steel missile speeds on its way, carrying the death billet to an unsus- pecting soul. Because of no general law, the killing of an Austrian Prince by a Servian subject, precipitates the death of hundreds and thousands of the very best men in the various nations of Europe. In a few short hours, happy, peace-loving, God-like mankind is transformed into a writhing, struggling, beast-like horde. The plow is forgotten, and the reaper left idle. The artist no longer pursues his course, nor the tradesman his way. The croon of the shuttle is lost in the groan of the wounded and dying, and the buzz of industry is drowned in the wail of the widow and orphan. Oh is man so deprived of reason that he must revert to !

brute force in order to settle his differences? Has he forgotten that mind is superior to muscle? Has he fallen completely from his ideal? No! True, the clouds of war hang dark and low, and its thunder rumbles loud; but remember that the darkest hour is always just before the dawn, and after this hideous night of despair will come the bright and beautiful dawn of peace. In conclusion let me briefly repeat the reasons why I believe it will come: First, man's predominant passion is to live, and peace is es- sential unto life. Secondly, peace is the pervading hope of the human soul. Thirdly, man has advanced from a time when every stranerer

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was an enemy, to the present, when there is national peace and safety. Fourthly, there is no reason why general laws should not be made, thereby insuring world-wide peace. And, lastly, the present great war shows most clearly trrt universal law and order is requisite to the best good of man. The peace of the nations means the uplift of the masses; it means that burdens and shackles will fall from those who are weary and oppressed it means that the human hives, undisturbed, ;

will hum with industry, investigation and a wholly new inspira- ;

tion will be given to the life of man. New dreams will arise within him. There will be other and greater poets, other and greater heroes, and a higher uplift toward the true Godhood in man. Nation will join hand with nation, until the world will be encircled by the nations, each finding what is best in each, until there will be such an acceleration of human progress that no imagination can picture the glorious outcome. With the countless ages yet before him with his race fairly ;

begun ;with the leaden fetters of war and destruction shaken from his feet with all the world mingling in amity and striving in ;

peaceful rivalry with all the powers of nature subdued to his ;

bidding; and palaces, like visions of heaven, and fields, like fairy- land, arising under his touch, man will be indeed a God, and life to all men beautiful.

M. I. A.