The Dominion. SATURDAY, PEBRUARY 20, 1915. A GREAT PEACE FESTIVAL

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2390, 20 February 1915, Page 6

The Dominion. SATURDAY, PEBRUARY 20, 1915. A GREAT PEACE FESTIVAL

The Panama-Pacific International Exposition is to be opened at San Francisco to-day. One cannot help feeling the grim irony of the fact that this great exhibition of the arts of peaoe 6hould be held, while the most gigantic war in'the world's history is being waged. The Exposition is planned to last from February 20 till December 4, 1915, but it is quite possible that before that period is completed America bersolf may have been drawn into the strugglo. The war certainly shorn the San Francisco festival of much of its interest, and must placea very effectual check upon the influx of visitors from other countries. The idea of the Exposition is to celebrate the opening of the Panama Canal which, by providing a waterway' between the Pacific and Atlan-, tic Oceans through the American Continent, must have a far-reaching influence on the commerce of the world. The distance by sea between New York and the Pacific ports of the United States has- been reduced by over eight thousand miles, and these ports have been brought over six thousand miles nearer to Liverpool. The distance from Sydney to Now York, has been shortened by 2400 miles, while 2750 miles can be out off the journey from Wellington to Now York if the Panama route is taken. It does not, however, follow that the bulk of the trade of New Zealand will pass through the canal. Some of it may in time be diverted to the new route, which will facilitate the opening of the new markets on the Atlantic coast of Canada and the United States; but the principal customer for our produce is Great Britain, and tho canal does not make much difference in the mileage between New Zealand and Britain. The distance between Wellington and Plymouth, via Cape Horn, is only nine hundred miles longer than via Panama, and it is doubtful whether the saving in mileage would compensate for the extra cost in the way of.dues and possible waiting time at the canal. But whether the Panama Canal affects our trade much or little, its construction is a splendid engineering triumph and its opening well deserves to be fittingly 'celebrated. The Exposition is also intended to commemorate the 400 th anniversary of the discovery of the Pacific, while the hundred years' peace between Britain and the Unitod which was ushered in by tho Treaty of Ghent, signed on Christmas Eve,' 1814, is another event which is sure to have a prominent place in the thoughts of those who will be taking a leading part in to-day's ceremonies at San i rancisco. International exhibitions are naturally associated with the idea of peace and plenty and of goodwill among the nations," The belief in a golden age of universal peace seems to be a permanent ■ possession of mankind. Though it finds little justification in tho facts of history it cannot be altogether suppressed. It received a rude shock when the present conflict broke out, but already we aro being told that we arc engaged in a war to abolish war The feeling, that tho age of peace was at hand was very strong at the time of the Exhibition at the Crystal Palace in-1851. Ex- ' ,hibitions on a more restricted scale had hwh hclri twd (,tw* " Wftfia to lw'£4r. ?uid tam wadex- '

I ful displays of a similar character; but the great show of 1851 was the first international exhibition on a really extensive scale, and, as Justin M'Carthy remarks, the impression which it made "upon the ordinary mind was like that of the boy's first visit to the play—an impression never to be equalled, no matter by what far superior claim of spectacle it may in after years again and again be followed." People thought at that time that thoso who mot in such friendly rivalry could never, again meet in war. The Exhibition was described a? a festival which was to inaugurate the long reign of peace. But the dream was a brief one, and a rude awakening was in store for the dreamers; Judged in the light of subsequent events the Hyde Park fete might "as a mere matter of chronology"—to again quote McCarthy's words—"be called without any impropriety the festival to celebrate the close of the short reign of peace." The Coup d'etat in France closed the year.' The Crimean War began in 1853. Then came the Indian Mutiny, the war between France and Austria, the Civil War in the United States, the Neapolitan enterprises of Garibaldi, the Mexican intervention, the war between Austria, Prussia, and' Denmark, the conflict between Austria and Prussia, the Franco-Ger-man war, and the struggle between Russia and Turkey. "Such were, in brief summary, the events that quickly followed the festival of peace in 1851." Little did the promoters of that famous Exhibition think that sixty-four years after the inauguration of the era of universal pearce- the very building in which their celebrations took place would be placed in the hands of the military authorities for use in connection with the greatest war in the hjstory of the human race. After Napoleon had been crushed, an exhausted Europe hoped and- believed that the sword had been finally sheathed; in 1851 people again dreamed the same dream; the hope was once more revived when the first' Hague Conference met; and in the midst of the present struggle the pacificist are assuring us that after the conflict is over nation shajl never again , fight against nation, but that they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.