It is widely argued, however, since our aim is peace and a world-court of justice to settle the disputes among the nations, making general disarmament possible, should not one great nation, fortunately free from the quarrels of Europe, occupying the major portion of a continent, its shores washed by two great oceans, with peaceful friendship on the north and weak anarchy on the south—­should not such a nation take the lead, disarm and set an example to mankind?  It is a beautiful dream!  Would that those who really believe in non-resistance to evil would be logical, and apply it to internal as well as external policy.  What is a police force?  It is a body of men, trained, employed and paid to use force in resisting evil.  If you wish to try out non-resistance, why not let some city apply it?  Let Chicago do it:  abolish its police force and set the example to the rest of the benighted cities of the country.  What would happen?  As long as there are criminals in all cities of the land, how they would flock to that fat pasturage.  What devastation of property, destruction of life, injury to innocent women and children!  Until the best men of Chicago would get together, form a vigilance committee, shoot some of the criminals, hang others, drive the rest out; and Chicago would get back to law and order, with courts of justice and a regular police body, composed of men trained, employed and paid to use force in resisting evil.

The example of Canada and the United States is cited, and a noble example it is:  three thousand and more miles of international boundary, with never a shining gun or bristling fortress on the entire frontier.  A glorious example, prophetic of what is coming all over the world, perhaps more quickly than we dare hope to-day; but what made it possible?  Agreement in advance, and that at a time when one of the parties was too weak to be feared.  Canada is getting strong:  she has at present four hundred thousand trained men at the front or ready to go.  Before the War closes she will have over a half million.  Now suppose Canada fortified:  we would be compelled to, there would be no other way.

Thus one nation cannot disarm while the others are strongly armed, and among them are those whose autocratic rulers and imperialistic castes are watching for signs of weakness in order to perpetrate international claim-jumping.

It is true that, on the frontier, in the early days, there were individuals who went about unarmed among the gun men, did it successfully, and some of them died peacefully in their beds:  Christian ministers—­sky-pilots, they were called.  Please note, however, that the sky-pilot never had any money.  He had no claims to be jumped.

We are not sky-pilots—­far from it.  As to money:  the wealth of the world has been flowing into our coffers in a golden stream, to the embarrassment of our financial institutions, to the exaltation of the cost of living to such a point that, with more money than we ever dreamed of having, we find it more difficult to buy enough to eat and wear.  As for claims to be jumped:  they are on every hand:  Panama Canal, Hawaiian Islands, Philippine Islands, ports of New York and San Francisco, vast reaches of unprotected coast.  No, we are not sky-pilots, we cannot claim exemption on that ground.