"_That we dencunce with all the earnestness of which we are capable the concerted attempt now being made to force this country into still further preparedness for war. We desire to make a solemn appeal to the higher attributes of our common humanity to help us unmask this menace to our civilization._" * * * * * They have made the grave mistake of using the expression for _war_ in place of the expression _against war_. The pacifist propagandists, the army and navy men, and all their friends and supporters, are alike agreed that it is wise to make efficient preparations _against_ war. None of us wants war, but when we, who believe in armaments, speak of them as preparations _for_ war, then the pacifists are in immediate disagreement with us. Let us, therefore, in future substitute the phrase _against war_ for the phrase _for war_. Among the organizers of this so-called party are women of national prominence. They are sincere in their purpose, their aim is high. They are emulating the dictum of Emerson, for they have hitched their wagon to a star--Dr. David Starr--(never mind the Jordan). They solemnly make this pledge: "_We do hereby band ourselves together to demand that war should be abolished._" It is well to note that they have used the word _should_ instead of _shall_. The greatest difficulty in teaching truth is to remove the bias of false learning; for a firm conviction, once established in the mind, gives the mind a fixed set in a certain direction. This is strongly exemplified by the fact that persons who have been proselyted to a certain religious creed can seldom be made to change their faith. We are what our opinions are. Our opinion shapes our destiny to its own bent. In short, a man is absolutely at the mercy of his opinion. We have very little to do, however, with the shaping of our own opinion. That is mostly shaped by others. We go to church to have our opinion bent, or its present bent stiffened. We attend a lecture and get a new kink put into our opinion; we converse with our friends, and they dent our opinion; we read books and newspapers, learn something, and are swerved in the direction of our learning, especially in the direction of public opinion. Always and always, while we think that we are shaping our own opinion, we are having it shaped by others. The estimable ladies of the Woman's Peace Party are merely parading like sandwich men, disporting a legend written on a board by the man higher up, with whom they believe it is most creditable to agree. At the present time, the false teachings of the peace-propagandists have so proselyted public opinion that every public speaker, aspiring to popular favor, finds it easy, even with a weakling voice and a halting speech, to get his audience with him, and to win a reputation for eloquence and wisdom by prating the bromidial spielings of the peace-propagandists.