nd found wanting.
The fruitless slaughter of the millions is not to be forever nor for
long. Let us hasten the day when the rolling war drum will be hushed
forever, the bugle note no longer call to carnage; when "nation shall
not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any
more." Love shall take the place of Hate, and Justice sit on the
throne instead of Greed. Some day in the not distant future the
nations that have all these centuries bowed before the god of war
shall own eternal allegiance to the Prince of Peace. And "of the
increase of His government and of Peace there shall be no end."

THE WASTE OF WAR--THE WEALTH OF PEACE

By ARTHUR FORAKER YOUNG, Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio

First Prize Oration in the National Contest held at the University
of Michigan, May 13, 1910

THE WASTE OF WAR--THE WEALTH OF PEACE

In the worship of Mars, Herodotus tells us, the ancient Scythian
erected an old scimitar at the summit of a huge brush heap. To this,
as a symbol of the great god of war, he offered not only the produce
of the land but also human life in sacrifice. We shudder as we picture
the priest standing over his victim, his hands wet with the blood of
his fellow man. We cry out in horror as we think of the lives these
peoples sacrificed. We call it an inhuman glorification of a pagan
deity. We call it a ruthless waste of wealth and human life. These
practices we pronounce to be the result of a popular delusion--a false
sense of obligation to the spirit of war. Yet from the time the
Scythian drew the blood of his victim in homage to the great war god,
even down to our own day, the nations have paid homage to Mars.

Though we boast of our progress in civilization, history reveals the
fact that we, too, have been the victims of the Scythian's delusion.
Is it not a fact that one of the most terrible customs of savage men
counts among its followers to-day all the nations of the earth? The
subtlest skill of the scientist, the keenest intelligence of the
statesman, vast stores of the world's resources, are devoted to
maintaining great armies and navies, to inventing new means of attack
or defense, to enlarging and making more deadly the enginery of war.
What is our boast of civilization, while we tolerate this devotion of
so many men and so much of wealth to war? Is this not a sacrifice
essentially pagan in spirit? Are we not still paying unrighteous
homage to Mars?

Why,