, but to splendid
spiritual enlargement; where "every nation that shall lift again its
hand against a brother, on its forehead will wear forevermore the
curse of Cain"; and where, in the realization of a vast, racial
brotherhood, is fulfilled the prophetic angel's song, "Peace on earth,
good-will to men." Ruskin, the modern bard of peace, has sung:

Put off, put off your mail, ye kings, and beat your brands to dust--
A surer grasp your hands must know, your hearts a better trust;
Nay, bend aback the lance's point, and break the helmet bar--
A noise is in the morning winds, but not the noise of war!
Among the grassy mountain paths the glittering troops increase--
They come, they come!--how fair their feet,--they come that
publish peace.

[1] The Hague Conference of 1907 is referred to.

[2] By the courtesy of President Roosevelt the official call
for the Second Hague Conference was issued by the Emperor of
Russia. Forty-four nations were represented.--_Editor._

THE UNITED STATES AND UNIVERSAL PEACE

By GLENN PORTER WISHARD, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois

First Prize Oration in the National Contest held at DePauw University,
Greencastle, Indiana, May 15, 1908

THE UNITED STATES AND UNIVERSAL PEACE

Political and religious reforms move slowly. We change our beliefs and
at the same time hold fast to old customs. Farsighted public opinion
has declared war to be unchristian; sound statesmanship has stamped it
as unjust; the march of events has, in a majority of cases, proved it
to be unnecessary--and yet we continue to build mammoth engines of
destruction as if war were inevitable. Truly, the millennium is not at
hand, nor is war a thing of the past; but whereas war was once the
rule, now it is the exception. This is an age of peace; controversies
once decided by force are now settled by arbitration. Europe, once the
scene of continuous bloodshed, has not been plundered by conquering
armies for more than a generation, while the United States has enjoyed
a century of peace marred by only five years of foreign war. The four
notable conflicts of the last decade have been between great and small
powers, and have been confined to the outposts of civilization; while
during the same period more than one hundred disputes have been
settled by peaceful means. The willingness to arbitrate has been
manifest; the means have been provided; the Permanent Internation