IL LMFR ALASKA._CAP.L RASMUSff?” EDITOR.
Published every Friday at Palmer, Alaska,for the Matnnuska Valley
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RHP CROSS ACTIVITIES MAY SUPPRESS WAR
The cause of wars has caused many a debate and while thihlcc rs hove
g■ . ->n their reasons, which do not always coincide, the subject is still
c en for discussion and it is important because war can only be stopped
when its causes ore well known so that measures can be taken which will
eradicate the things that bring wars on.
War for many centuries was called the "Sport of Kings". Kings were
the ones who received the most benefit. The common man, who did the
fighting, was well described by Tennyson in the poem, "The Charge of
thj Light Brigade" where he says: Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not
to reason why, Theirs but to do and die, Into the Valley of Death.
War was glorified by the Alexanders and Napoleans and poets wrote
s Irring odes to the victorious heroes, but done very little of the
f hting. Women knew nothing of war, except by description, i nd it was
£■ -• erally accepted as inevitable by the mass of the people. A Chival
rous code was usually followed in the waging of v/ar and helpless people
e unharmed so that war did not affect so many people in the combatant
countries.
Modern war subjects everyone to its horrors bombing and strait ing
hills or maims everyone who gets in its wav. Whole nation0- ; re subject
to starvation so that the totnltarian armies can get food for their
soldiers and war workers. Women, children and the helpless aged are
often treated to more horrors than the fighting men.
Men foster and wage war. Women have always been opposed tt it but
were unable to prevent it because men dominated ns the ruling class
forced the issues of war without any consideration for th •' other
half of the human race. Slowly and surely women have wrested certain
rights and privileges that would,enable them to prevent war if’ they
wore fully informed ns to its horrors and were determined to outlaw it.
The fragile, helpless female of the Victorian Age has developed into
strong reliant woman of the present, many who serve their countries in
capacities that would have been unthinkable a hundred years r go. It
rry prove to be one of the most progressive steps to prevent war that
has ever been taken. When the Nurses, Red Cross Workers and other womer
get right up the front line and see what war is really like then it may
possibly start a movement that will be strong enough to retir the war
mongering politician to obscurity. It may prevent the war contractor
from getting rich at his countries expense and obliterate the interne
ts enal profiteer from his benefits from war.
It should be remembered that these same young women will be the
Mothers of tomorrow and that they have the power to prevent the horrors
th>t their sons have to face when a country goes to war. A study of
h'story will show that women had a larger part in the abolisl ing of
human slavery and other inhuman practices than men did and that they
cj and will follow through v/hen they become convinced that a certain
tt’ng is right. War is bred in darkness, deceit and human selfishness,
and when it is thoroughly exposed to the light of human reasoning, it
will be abolished from the earth. We predict that women will have to
step in and do the ground work for its suppression.
//bile we must take care of the cripples of war by our support of
th agencies that do this work, we still should try to eradicate the
causes that make these cripples.