The Hastings Standard Published Daily. FRIDAY, OCT. 30, 1896. THE JINGO SPIRIT.

Hastings Standard, Issue 159, 30 October 1896, Page 2

The Hastings Standard Published Daily.

FRIDAY, OCT. 30, 1896. THE JINGO SPIRIT.

I'or the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrongs that need resistance, For the future in tHe distance, And the good that we can do.

Onk of the most remarkable phenomena of the present time is the development of jingoism in the European nations. Those who believed that the adjustment of political boundaries on racial and linguistic lines would ensure lasting peace are destined to be undeceived shortly. A period of calm has existed, and during that brief span the intellectual nations have bred discontents, political and social, which sooner or later will spend themselves in actual strife. There is a growing desire for a change from the existing state of things, and this desire is modified only by circumstances. For instance, the Prohibitionists insist that by prohibiting the sale and manufacture of all intoxicating drinks the millenium will soon be reached; the Vegetarian assures us that all diseases to which man is born heir may be swept away under a strict vegetarim diet; the Socialist endeavors to persuade us that our salvation depends upon reversing the existing order of things and substituting community of land and community of goods. Another set puts before us as an antidote for the evils of to-day, free love and free marriage. Another set of reformers engage us with the merits of a dual standard of currency —two metals instead of one, and then comes ! peace, plenty, and prosperity. These are all violent changes, and all pregnant with the warlike spirit. There is a combative wave disturbing the popular mind, and its force will compel the ruling classes into war. It was a similar spirit that forced Britain in

1855 into the Russian war, ancl the same weariness of monotony and desire for change threatens to launch the principal nations of the world into a bloody combat. And to add to the dangers of the hour the European nations are armed to the teeth, and the trained soldiers and sailors are like so many dogs in the leash anxious to be off. A verylarge percentage of jingoism dominates the Governments of the principal countries, for each year the expenditure in war material appears to increase, weighing down the nations until some of them—like Italy, Spain, and Greece —are either bankrupt or on the verge of bankruptcy. How much longer will the governing classes be able to withstand the pressure of public opinion'? Such incidents as the celebration of the anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar and the whs at the Imperial Institute indicate the proportions to which jingoism has grown. The war spirit is gradually but surely finding a level even among the statesmen and crowned heads of Europe. \\ e are familiar with the bouneeful outbursts of the German Emperor. French statesmen are continually declaiming against England in Egypt. The Yankees talk lighting over Cuba, and they did blow hard about Venezuela, but found it unprofitable. There is no mistaking the grip jingoism has on the people of the earth, and there can be only one outlet for this, and that is war. In times of peace disturbing elements are apt to accumulate until their elimination becomes almost certain without the aid of gunpowder. Such elements have apparently accumulated, bat the time for their elimination has still to come.