IN PRAIS OF WAR.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume XL, Issue XL, 3 December 1909, Page 1

IN PRAIS OF WAR.

" The World-State and* the Peace Problem," a; remarkable book, designed to popularise war is about to be published in Berlin. The author, Baron von Stengel, a distinguished Barvarian jurist, was one : of Germany's delegates to the first Hague Peace Conference. The preface declares that the book has been called forth by the conviction that ' the growth of the peace movement involved a national peril. • A. chapter, entitled ' The Significance of War for the Development of Humanity," make's the striking statements —"War has' moire often facilitated than hindered human progress/ Athens and Rome, not only in spite of, but just because of their many wars, rose to the zenith of civilisation. Great States like Germany and Italy are w«lded into nationalities; only through blood and iron. Storm purifies the air and destroys the frail trees, leaving the sturdy oaks standing. War is . the test of a nation's political, physical and intellectual worth. The state in which there is I much that is rotten may vegetate for i a while in peace,but in war its weakness is revealed.''

" Germany's preparations for war have not resulted in economic disaster, but in unexpmpled economic expansion—unquestionably because of our demonstrated superiority over France. It is better to spend money on battleships and armaments than on luxury, motor-mania, and other &ensual living." '