serious and honest
study of how to preserve peace and how to avoid war cannot help but
bring good results. This is the purpose of Senator Norris's
lecture. For a further study of this most important subject, the
reader is referred to Sumner's great oration on "The True Grandeur
of Nations," to various speeches and monographs by Andrew Carnegie,
and to numerous other publications, recently issued, regarding the
patriotism of peace.

The greatest disgrace of the present century is that war between
civilized nations is still a possibility. That such a barbarous
condition should exist in the civilized world is painful to every lover
of humanity and to every believer in the great brotherhood of man.

Every civilized country of the world requires its subjects to submit
their differences and disputes to tribunals and courts that have been
organized under the forms of law for their settlement and yet these same
nations violate the principle of law which they compel their subjects to
obey. The citizen must maintain his rights and settle his grievances
before tribunals organized according to law, upon principles of justice
and of right. Kings and rulers settle their disputes upon the field of
battle without regard to right, without regard to justice, and upon the
erroneous and barbarous theory that might makes right. It is to be
regretted that the great advance that has been made from barbarism by
the different nations of the world by which the disputes and
controversies arising within each nation are settled according to forms
of law upon the principles of justice and equality, has not extended to
the settlement of disputes between the nations themselves. Why is it
that rulers, who are able to settle all controversies within the
countries they control are not able to settle controversies between
those countries?

Humanity is broader than nationality and embraces within its scope the
entire world. The measure of human happiness will not be full, the
heights of national glory will not be reached until we can look over the
world and in the words of the scripture, truthfully say of every citizen
of every civilized nation--"Is he not after all, my brother?"

Why then should there be war? I know that it can truthfully be claimed
that this cruel and heartless demon has settled many questions of
world-wide importance, but it never settled one on any principle of
equity, morality, or justice. In