Secretary Hughes, in the course of his famous speech, May 15, which,
whether intentionally or not, cut the ground from under “Defense Day,”
said, “There is only one avenue to peace. That is in the settlement of
actual differences and the removal of ill will. All else is talk, form,
and pretense.”
After speaking of the settlement of differences through “institutions
of justice,” he went on as follows: “Between friends any difficulty can
be settled. There is no substitute for goodwill. There is no mechanism
of intercourse that can dispense with it.”
I am convinced of the correctness of Secretary Hughes’ conclusion. We
must be better men if our race is to survive. A civilization shot
through with hate cannot continue long after it is fully equipped with
poison gas and airplanes. Even for self-preservation we must cultivate
goodwill――goodwill between classes and religions and nations and races.
We must subdue in our own hearts the swiftly rising prejudice by
nursing, often by an effort of the will, the kindly thought that
follows tardily. We must seek to know and understand those we hate;
for then, as Charles Lamb discovered, we cannot hate them. Cooperation
must replace isolation; progressive world organization must replace
international anarchy; and, above all, the spirit of the team must
replace “grandstand playing” and national egotism.