| OCR Text |
Show 27.: 273 in oratory between five representatives of educational institutions in the Middle \Vest. On the program you have the names of the speakers and the institutions from which they come. The judges on this occasion are President David Starr _lordan, of Leland Stanford, Jr. University, Miss Jane Addams. l'rniewir Nathaniel Under. Mr. Jesse A. llaldwin and Mr. Frank- how the duel replactd murder and ambush and assassination; lin ll, Head. The first contestant whom I have the honor to introduce is Mr. M. L. Lowery, of Denison University, who will speak upon "The Significance of 3 Permanent Peace Congress." (Applause) (Mr. Lowery is now in Japan and it has been impossible to secure his manuscript in time for publication.) PROFESSOR VINCENT: The next speaker is Mr. Levi T. Pennington, of Earlham College, who will speak on "The Evolution of World Peace." (Applause) _ ‘Qoww how courts of law replaced the duel. The dreamer saw the day when personal combat should be no more; the thinker refuted all the arguments in favor of the duel of men; the constructive statesman of that early day instituted courts of law and equity. Men who had a difference insisted that it was their quarrel and they alone could settle it; but reason saw that two combatants inflamed by passion are l'ast titted of all men to see where justice lies. Many held that where honor is involved, no one can adjust the difficulty but those most directly concerned; but reason saw that a man's honor cannot be vindicated by killing his enemy or being killed by him. Men said, "If personal combat is abolished, courage and strength will perish from the earth." But reason saw that personal combat in a selfish cause does not bring out the highest type of courage, and that there are opportunities enough for the exercise of the highest and best moral and physical courage to keep valor alive forever. It was finally urged that there would be no power to enforce the decree, if personal differences were left Might made right, and the winner in to the adjudication of others; but reason said, "That power will come with the need for it." So courts of law and equity arose, based on the need of humanity: and when one man wronged another, that wrong was settled in court, by the power of the whole people, and not in personal combat with the bludgeon or the knife. For similar reasons wars between states and tribes have ceased; and face to face with the inevitable logic of past prog .ss stands the world today. Though humanity has been slow to see it, the truth has begun to dawn in the hearts of men, that inter- national wars are no more to be justified than civil strife. tribal warfare or personal combat. Gradually the omnipotent power of right is overcoming the inertia of humanity. and the world is moving, One by one the awful truths concerning war are forcing themselves upon the consciousness and consciences of men. The mighty power of fact is beating down the opposition to world any controversy was he who had the heaviest club, the strongest arm or the thickest skull. Man's inter-relationships multiplied as humanity advanced: with each new relation came new causes for quarrel: and for a time advancingr civilization brought but an increase in murders and assassinations. \Ve know the process by which personal combat ceased; peace. Men have begun to realize the terrible cost. the unbelievable wastefulncss, of actual war and the preparation for possible war. When we read that the armed peace of Europe the past thirtySeven years has cost $111.000,000,ooo. nearly as much as the aggregate value of all the resources of the United States, the "Wt" The Evolution of World Peace MR. Lian T. PENNINGTON. In the progress of the world the dream of yesterday becomes the confident hope of today and the realized fact of tomorrow. As old systems fail to meet new conditions and new ideals they are discarded. and into the limbo of worse than worthless things is passing the system of human sacrifice to the Moloch of inter- national warfare. For centuries world peace has been the dream of the poet, the philanthropist. the statesman and the Christian. That dream is becoming a confident hope. This generation should see it an accomplished fact. There was a time when individual prowess determined the issue of every difference. |
