also in other lands. We can afford to see such men decorated and commemorated as an inspiration to youth. After the American occupation of Cuba in 1898-1902, General Gorgas attained distinction for his notable services in ridding, first Havana, and then all of the island, of yellow fever. These successes led to his appointment as Sanitary Director of the Panama Canal Zone. He banished from the Zone the disease-bearing mosquito. His remarkable administration of this great task gained for him new laurels. His advice was sought by the British Government, under whose auspices he made a trip to South Africa. From 1914 to 1918, years which included the stirring period of America's participation in the World War, he served as Surgeon General of the United States Army. As soon as he retired he entered the service of the International Health Board and began energetically to organize an international fight against yellow fever. Just before he left for London, he receivced an invitation from Peru to become the public health leader of that country. The last days of General Gorgas in Europe brought him new honors. At the International Hygiene Congress in Brussels he was awarded the Harben gold medal in recognition of his services to public health. When the General was ill in the Queen Alexandra Hospital in London, King George called upon him and conferred the Order of St. Michael and St. George. It was the hope of General Gorgas "to write the last chapter of the history of yellow fever." He was almost in sight of his goal when he died in London, July 4, 1920. An able and gallant soldier in a campaign against disease, he laid down his life on the field of battle. He was on his way to the west coast of Africa when the end came, and from his death-bed he gave directions for the prosecution of the work to which he was so loyally devoted. After General Gorgas died, the British Cabinet ordered an official state funeral in St. Paul's Cathedral in honor of this great American soldier who had devoted his powers not to destruction but to the protection of human life. His career is inspiring the men upon whom have de volved the duty and privilege of seeking to realize his noble purposes. A fine shaft has been erected in Panama City to the memory of General Gorgas. Across the line, or in other words, across Fourth of July Avenue in Ancon, the corner stone for the Cathedral of the Protestant Episcopal Church has been laid. This Cathedral will also be a memorial to General Gorgas. Teaching Children to Hate War and Prize Peace When there was foolish talk of war between the United States and Japan, the school children of Tokio sent a greeting to the school children of the United States which was in part as follows: In view of our teachings at school and home, that the American people are the foster-mothers of Japan's present progress and prosperity, we, the public school children, in convention assembled, with permission of our fathers, brothers, and teachers, passed the following resolution: "Resolved, that we, the pupils of the Imperial public schools, shall never raise our swords against, but shall emulate, the pupils of the public schools of the United States as perfect examples of brotherhood and sisterhood." Everywhere the expensiveness of wars; the wholesale destruction of property; the withdrawing of so many men for long periods from productive industries; the cruel sacrifice of human life; the turning loose upon the community of a host of disabled men, and the piling up of an enormous war debt and pension lists, should be properly portrayed in school histories and by other means. Every boy who admires Napoleon's forceful though selfish personality, should be told that he described war as "the trade of barbarians." And General Sherman's briefer phrase, "War is hell," should be laid beside it, as the confirming word of another great general. Schiller's more beautiful but no less condemnatory picture of war in a poetic reference to Napoleon is equally descriptive of every general who fought less from motives of sincere patriotism than for military glory, and should be put in the memories of children to make them see war as it is: "From rank showers of blood And the red light of blazing roofs Most of all, the young women should be reminded that war not only breaks women's hearts, usually for commercial ends, but also deprives a generation of young women—if the war be a great one-of their natural partners in marrige, killing many of them, wounding others, corrupting others. This objection to war was strongly expressed at the Congress of Eugenists, in London, 1912, by Professor Vernon Kellogg, of Leland Stanford, Jr., University. "Militarism," he pointed out, "is eugenically disastrous through the direct selection for war purposes of the most sturdy individuals in the community. At the close of the Napoleonic wars when the families of France were no longer drained of a great part of their able-bodied males, a new type of children began to be born, who grew to a stature an inch greater than that of the earlier generations born in war time. Let us get the peace argument before our youth by enlisting the cartoonists and humorists. The youth of the United States and other lands are eager students of "the comics" of the newspapers. They turn first to the comic page and then to the sporting page. Only by faithful efforts of parents and teachers can they be drawn to the supremely important pages of world news that will so seriously affect their future. Let the folly of war be unveiled in pictorial satire. For example, how could the sophistry that "the way to preserve peace is to prepare for war" be laughed out of court more effectively than by personalizing it by picturing a group of "peacemakers" in the Kentucky mountains, with bowie knives in their boots, and pistols on their hips, and rifles in their hands, "prepared for war?" With such a cartoon there should be a racy article showing that every reason that has led individual men to refer their quarrels to the courts, instead of idling around with war clubs and spears and guns, as men formerly did, leaving industry to their wives, is an equally good reason why nations should cease to load themselves down with implements of war and military taxes beyond the needs of internal policing. The wittiest of humorists should be enlisted to show up Captain Jinks and Commodore Jingo as another "Mr. Dooley" might do it. Syndicate plates and matrices should be sent free to the thousands of papers that would use such popular propaganda. Here it is appropriate to quote a profound editorial in the World's Work (September, 1912) which expresses a personal sentiment that every home should help to make international sentiment: "In a large view of civilization, in the view which a few years more is certain to be an accepted commonplace, England and Germany have no more right to stop the current of world's traffic, inconvenience and injure other people dependent on their good behavior, than two bad boys have to start a fight in the middle of the street, to the annoyance of everybody. Has the rest of the world nothing to say as to whether two members of the family |