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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
July, 1935
These last words were uttered several years ago. Since then, Mussolini has decided he cannot even wait until a young man “ grows up” to place in his hand “ a first-class gun with plenty o f cartridges,” to create in his heart a long ing for battle, and to make his “ ruling passion . . . combat.” Recently, he conscripted eight-year-old boys fo r military training! The peace of the world hangs on a slender thread in deed, when it hangs on men of this type. Rev. Fred B. Smith, chairman o f the Executive Committee of the World Alliance for International Friendship through the Churches, after touring Italy several years ago, came home to write in his report: His [Mussolini’s] every action is based upon police and armed force. He does not put trust in religion or education, though he believes in both. . . . He belongs to no peace movement. He tolerates none. There is a single peace society in Italy, but it can hold no meetings; it can print no literature; it can write no letters; it can make no appeal. Mussolini, whose ideal has been declared by himself on many occasions to be Julius Caesar— Mussolini is the very personification o f the spirit o f violence. In spite, o f some seeming overtures Mussolini has made toward Protestant Christianity, the writer has not changed his opinion in the least as to this sword-rattler. Mussolini has frankly de clared to the whole world, time and time again, that per manent peace is a dream— that peace is not a natural condi tion for humanity— that war is man’s destiny. Even as we write these words, while sitting in a hotel in Everett, Wash ington, the evening paper comes to the door with the head line: “ ‘STAND BACK ,’ IL DUCE W ARN S HIS NEIGHBORS .” “ I taly W ill B rook N o H indrance in B uilding E mpire , H e T ells B lacksh irts .” Then we are told that only yesterday he said to 15,000 members o f his army: W e pay no attention to what is said across our fron tiers. . . . W e are responsible for our future—We and no one else. . . . The Italian people are ready to spring to their feet like a single man when it is a question of the power and glory o f the country (The Everett News, June 8, 1935).
The tyranny of Soviet Russia seems to be getting worse rather than better. Monstrous things are being done. The Stalin massacre . . . was as ghastly as any thing our bloody age has known. Doubtless Dr. Holmes’ “ brethren” will accuse him of selling out to John D. Rockefeller or Henry F ord .. Never theless, for once, at least, the famous religious radical is ab solutely right—nothing in the whole history o f the great northern bear, even in the days o f Ivan the Terrible, has equaled the cold, calculated cruelty of the tyrannical and bloody reign of Russian Communism. Noting the salu brious effects o f a trip to the lair of the Russian bear, on Dr. Holmes, we fervently wish Dr. Holmes could persuade some o f his brethren to take the same trip. What a prophy lactic effect it would have, for instance, upon Columbia University, if, bag and baggage, that institution could be transplanted for a while to a place within the Russian Utopia! We o f the Pacific Coast, or, for that matter, we o f the whole United States, need not be informed that wherever the Communist sets his foot, we need expect no persuasive method to be used save the method o f the clenched fist. Communism is nothing more nor less than an international —world-wide—attempt o f the illiterate masses o f the earth to establish class government in their favor, through vio lence. And their only god is “ the God o f forces.” F a sc ism ? A S pirit of V iolence ! The outstanding recognized exponent o f the principles o f Fascism is none other than the Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini. The world needs not to be told that he wor ships at no other shrine than the bloody shrine of “ the God o f forces.” His methods from the beginning have never been other than those o f violence. His chosen emblem, the fasces— the emblem that gives his party its name—was the emblem o f the bloody Caesars—a battle-ax surrounded with rods. Assassination, pillage, fire, and castor oil are all in his tool box. “ A good Fascist,” says this modern Caesar, “ cares nothing about elections and parliaments.” Mussolini’s speeches abound with the spirit o f violence. W e quote statements from his speeches that have been pub lished to all the w orld : I judge the future by the past. In the history of
tions, every serious dispute be tween one nation and another has been settled by the arbitra ment of the sword. Violence is not immoral. On the contrary, it is sometimes moral. What constitutes the State? The police 1 All your codes, all your doctrines, all your ordinanc es are as naught, if at a given moment, the police, by sheer phys ical force, does not make felt the inescapable weight of the law. Order comes before culture; the policeman is more important than the professor. Every young man, as he grows up, gets two things from me: an appointment in the ranks o f the blackshirts, and what is infinitely more important, a first- class gun with plenty o f cartridges. I am not satisfied with soldiers who fight only when they are or dered. I want a more aggres sive spirit in my army. I want men who fight for the sake of fighting—men who are longing for battle and whose ruling passion is combat and the encounter with the enemy. W e are ready now with an army o f five million men.
THREE UNCLEAN SP IR ITS L IKE FROGS’ REV. .16 A3 In a gigantic game of leapfrog, the whole world has joined. The three frogs, Socialism, Communism, and Fascism, with their eyes upon Washington, have already leaped from continent to continent. What will be the next move? This suggestive cartoon was drawn by Mrs. B. B. Burch, a member of the First Brethren Church of Long Beach, Calif., where Dr. Bauman, author of this series, is pastor.
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