Nationalism is a precious product of the centuries. The world has paid
a tremendous price to widen the political unit until its boundaries
include continents. It has been an equally difficult task to weld the
spirit of diverse peoples into a homogeneous whole. And the story of
this development constitutes a heritage not soon to be given up. The
tales of victory and defeat are held even more dear to a united people
than life itself. Rightly will any nation jealously defy him who dares
advance to plunder its possessions. And it is well that men do not
wish to surrender it upon slight provocation. That has been a good
diplomacy that sought to protect the nation by war. By the extension
of political unity peoples gain moral and physical strength. Thrift
becomes more common and moral courage greater when a people strike
forward with common aims. And in proportion as the nation as a whole
enjoys these advantages and opportunities, the individual widens his
horizon in peaceful association with fellow men and receives a benefit
beyond computation.
But, good as nationalism has been in the past, a gradual change seems
to be overtaking the world's politics. National diplomacy hesitates
where a century ago it was firm. Forces which once drove the nations
apart seem now to be drawing them together. The discord of disputes
seems to be disappearing in the harmony of coöperation. It is no
longer possible to determine easily what a nation's interests really
are. And it is of the forces that are bringing about this change in
the policies of nations, of this new nationalism and its bearing upon
the peace movement, that I wish to speak.
Within the last two centuries economic forces have worked a mighty
revolution. Continents have been converted into communities. The
prosperity of our eastern industries controls the activities of the
West, and a disturbance from any section throws a tremor over all.
Tribal barter has developed into a world-wide commerce until the most
distant nation may easily acquire the products of another. Steel rails
weave a web of commercialism among the peoples, and the cable welds
them in a mighty network which, responsive to every flash of news,
brings all the nations into a mutuality of interests. So
interdependent are the nations and so vital are their relations that a
single fluctuation in the most distant market finds a response in our
own. A slight disorder in Wall Street strains the whole financial
world. And thus through intercourse in commerce, industry, the press,
Christian missions, and scholastic research a system has been
developed that holds no place for the selfish policy of exploiting
backward peoples. We no longer consider the advance of alien peoples
in wealth and prosperity as a menace to our own. There is being
developed a strong international public opinion which realizes that
anything that destroys the well-being of one member is the concern of
all.
In the light of these facts, future world-politics can have no place
for the settlement of disputes by force. A declaration of war by one
of the large powers to-day would be more terrible than it has ever
been in the past. The man of business, of education, of philanthropy,
of civic advancement cannot reasonably advocate a policy that would
ruin business, stagnate education, increase poverty, and turn progress
over to the ravages of manslaughter. Industry cannot continue when the
shoulder that should turn the wheels of industry grows weary beneath
the weight of the musket. Education cannot proceed when libraries and
lecture halls are deserted for the camp and fortress. A Tolstoy with
all his power of vivid presentation does not overdraw the picture. The
moral fiber and physical strength of a people must forever afterward
bear their scars. A struggling people can never rid themselves of the
evil effects of the conflict, although they may rejoice in the valor
of their heroes. Nations cannot afford to become the theaters of
carnage and bloodshed and the rendezvous of commercial and moral
pirates and civic grafters.
Why, then, do nations throw away their strength in the building and
equipping of armies and navies? The advocates of militarism tell us
that we need a navy to protect our commerce. Possibly it is true that
under the present system of international law this is somewhat
excusable; for although private property on land is exempt from
confiscation and the old forms of privateering have long ago been
abolished by an agreement of the powers, yet the policy does not apply
to maritime warfare. Enemy's goods in enemy's ships are still subject
to seizure. But while this argument does hold for the present, the
condition could easily be remedied. Because a man with foreign capital
operates ships instead of factories, why is there any special reason
for exposing his property to depredation? In the light of common sense
such a policy seems absurd. And it should be one of the first aims of
our diplomats to eliminate all possibility of this licensed robbery,
for as long as it exists there will always be the cry for extravagant
expenditure in order to preserve international peace.
But even if we should not need a navy to protect our commerce, again
the opponents of the policy of settling international disputes by
arbitration say that we need armies and navies to preserve our honor.
They tell us that there are certain questions which cannot be
submitted to any tribunal; that a nation must reserve the right to
submit only those questions it sees fit. Surrender this right, and
prestige and self-respect are gone and we become a nation of
"mollycoddles" whose patriotism has no virile qualities. It is true
that the independence and security of each nation is essential to
international life. It is self-governing nations, not subjugated ones,
that make possible a strong international life. But the converse is
equally true. An international life made up of independent,
coöperating, and mutually helpful nations is the best security by
which national life can be guaranteed. Those who say that questions of
national honor cannot be submitted to a tribunal have a wrong
conception of the essence of national life. Love of country means more
than a mere willingness to serve as a target for the enemy's guns. We
would not deduct one iota from the respect and honor due those who
have served the nation on the field of battle. But what a service they
might have rendered if they had been spared that life to live serving
their fellow men and contributing to the vigor of the race! None of
us will give up his firm resolve to defend his own country with all
his strength. But theirs is a cheap patriotism which depends for its
expression upon the thrilling note of fife and drum. The great test of
patriotism is the everyday purpose to deal justly with one's neighbor.
Let him who would be a patriot and serve the nation put his life into
the work close at hand, and, with a civic temper and moral courage
that can grip the scourge, rid our social life of its damning
influences. This is the spirit of true national honor. This it is that
makes of a nation a real nation. The call to arms is but another
signal of the defeat of the underlying principles of civilization.
Only slowly will any large number of the people accept these new
conceptions. But there are already hopeful signs. The growing
sentiment is rapidly crystallizing. The developing code of
international equity as expressed by the establishment of such an
institution as the Hague Court is a step in the right direction. The
peaceful settlement of the Venezuelan boundary dispute was an honor to
the nations involved. And the work of the International Commission of
Inquiry in the Dogger Bank episode between Russia and England is
significant of the trend. Again, a modern innovation was wrought when
the International Conference in 1906 settled the conflicting interests
of Germany, France, and Spain in Morocco. Within the last century the
powers ratified over two hundred treaties, each providing for the
peaceful settlement by tribunals of specified international disputes.
It is true that most peace treaties have dealt almost exclusively with
legal questions. The nations have hesitated to submit all
international differences to a court of arbitration. But the spirit
for arbitral settlement is widening. And this spirit is not for a mere
avoidance of war, but seeks the substitution of a better method than
war for determining justice between nations. Each nation has its own
individual problems to deal with, and in this respect all cannot
proceed according to set rules. The movement does not mean the
extinction and obliteration of nationality and national rights. The
individual has not been minimized because he consents to submit his
differences with his fellow men to a court for settlement. And this
must be the ultimate attitude of nations whose honor we have a right
to guard jealously.
What, then, shall be our program? Whatever attitude is to be adopted,
most people agree that the day of universal peace is far in the
future. The Balkans and Mexico remind us of the difficulty lying
before the coming generations. But the numerous peace societies whose
purpose it is to circulate authentic documents, that the great mass of
citizens may be brought into sympathetic touch through accurate
information, are doing much for the cause. The erection of the Hague
Court gives something lasting and tangible to work from. And, above
all, the nations will rise to higher standards principally by adopting
the ideals of the individual. As man has risen above his barbaric
ideals, so will the nations throw their military expenditures into the
coffers of public welfare as they come more and more to judge their
successes, not by victories in war but by achievements in education,
commerce, industry, and artizanship. And, proceeding with such aims,
the established international court must be the medium through which
all differences will be settled. We shall discover that our internal
policy of dealing with the individual can be more easily applied to
international relations than was at first supposed. And having reached
this point in the evolution of international peace, there must be
added to the international court a world-wide police force. As the
system develops and our prejudices are abandoned, a method of policing
must stand as an enforcer of international law. Until then there is
little hope that military expenditures will radically diminish, for we
cannot reasonably abolish our present methods unless we have something
secure to substitute.
Perhaps such a system will not abolish the utter possibility of war.
Only the future can tell us what heights of success the policy will
reach. There are those of us who have high hopes because we believe in
the good sense of the American people and of our great contemporaries.
By the past we are made confident of the future. But if the goal is to
be reached, it is for us as individual citizens to contribute our
influence toward developing the attitude of peace among our fellow
men. For our international welfare and for the honor of the newest of
great nations, may we in this issue throw our influence, as a united
people, on the side of a higher international morality! May the united
peoples of the world abolish the prejudices of misconceptions and,
drawn together by common interests, resolve that the priceless
heritage of centuries shall not be imperiled by war! And thus over a
warring humanity the breaking day of peace shall be hastened, at whose
high noon there shall be heard not the clashing of arms but the
increasing hum of prosperity under the sway of the new and better
national life.
MAN'S MORAL NATURE THE HOPE OF UNIVERSAL PEACE
By VICTOR MORRIS, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon representing
the Pacific Coast Group
Fourth Prize Oration in the National Contest held at Mohonk Lake, May
28, 1914
MAN'S MORAL NATURE THE HOPE OF UNIVERSAL PEACE
Two thousand years ago the coming of a Prince of Peace, the Prince of
Peace, inaugurated the fulfillment of the prophetic promise that
"peace shall cover the earth," and that "man shall learn war no more
forever." From the time of Jesus until now men have passively accepted
the idea, but have failed to do their part in its fulfillment. To-day
there are few indeed but believe that it would be desirable to abolish
war. Many also feel in a way that war is brutal. But here our feelings
on this great question largely end. We are not aroused to talk, and
work, and fight against war as inhuman, as economic folly, as
unreason, and especially as an immorality and a sin. Now we are not
here to harangue about the physical sufferings wrought through war,
but we are here to inquire and find out what we can do about it. How
are we going to attack the war problem in order to bring about action,
instead of simply talk and discussion? In considering this war problem
it is well to bear in mind the fact that war is a resultant of a
deeper cause, the war spirit. The war spirit is the spirit of him who
first made war in heaven; the war spirit--ambitious, aggressive,
covetous and revengeful, rampant through the centuries, never
conquered by force, in war subdued only by exhaustion. This war spirit
still exists to scourge the nations with war, to stagger with its
problem of war the brains of statesmen believing in peace. How are we
to attack this stupendous problem? What appeal can we make to the
nations that will be strong enough to do away with the war spirit?
In order to overthrow this mighty evil, certainly every possible force
must be enlisted. The thought which I wish to bring to you is this:
While such appeals as those to economy and to reason are of value,
they are not in themselves strong enough to cause the nations to
abolish war; and hence, in view of the real inner nature of the war
spirit, man's moral nature, working through a developed conscience
upon war, is the only force strong enough to effect universal peace.
Against war peace-advocates appeal with force from a business
standpoint, on grounds of economy and financial expediency. The vast
system of international trade and commerce calls for world peace. The
prosperity of world-industries and business requires good will and
brotherhood between the nations. So heavy, also, have the burdens of
war and militarism become that three fourths of our own expenditures
go for war purposes, past and present, and in Great Britain two thirds
are so spent.[1] Every German citizen, it is said, carries a soldier
on his back. By the testimony of financiers and ministers of state
themselves, nothing but financial ruin and bankruptcy await the
nations if the present military tragedy continues. But has this
obvious condition of affairs affected the race for armaments? Not
unless it has accelerated it. To every appeal to economy the reply is
that the outlay is necessary if we are to exist at all. But even
suppose that for a season the economic motive should lead us to
abolish war, as soon as financial advantage was apparent to a nation
through war it is evident that all restraints would be removed and war
ensue again. The same motive used to abolish war would bring war once
more. Again, when we remember that it is the deeper cause, the war
spirit, that we must quench, we can understand why this appeal is
often made to those who bear not. So far as the great mass of men is
concerned, purely economic considerations cannot change the spirit and
impulses of the soul. History reveals no great uplifting of humanity
or change in ideals as having arisen through purely economic or
financial considerations.
[1] The percentages as a matter of fact are not so large, but
the argument is not impaired by the fact.--_Editor._
The peace plea has also been based on grounds of reason. Clearly has
it been pointed out that reason demands that no person shall sit in
judgment on his own case, yet this we do in a resort to arms. War is
not arbitrament by reason, but arbitrament by the sword. Every plain
argument of reason condemns war and militarism. The arguments of
reason have, indeed, been strong, and have attracted much attention,
resulting in the settlement of many disputes by arbitration. But as
concerns the final wiping out of war and the surrendering of heavy
armaments, reason alone cannot present a permanent powerful appeal,
for it is easy in times of stress to plead that reason and justice
demand the war. Never was there a fight but the contending parties
claimed they were justified. But the chief fact that seems to put
reason in the category of impotent appeals is the fact that it is an
appeal to the mind, while the war spirit can only be removed by an
appeal to the heart, wherein it resides. We may reason with nations
all we please, but when the war fury arises, then all the reasoning
proves to have been in vain, the appeal to the mind turns out to be
too feeble.
Appeals to economy and reason, then, are appeals we must make, but
they are too weak in themselves to make a permanent impression against
the war spirit. We must then look for some additional, some more
compelling, force.
Let us examine the real inner nature of war, for this ought surely to
throw some light upon our problem. War is not economy; it is not
reason. Is war, then, morality? Is it virtue? It would hardly seem
necessary for us to answer this question, for modern civilized nations
long ago recognized blood feuds with their kindred as contrary to real
morality, as nothing but murder; but they seem unable to recognize
that war is just the same--nothing but legalized, organized murder.
From the use of violence in settling our international disputes arise
all the deadly passions of the soul, such as treachery, insolence,
revenge, and a murderous spirit, with the accompanying fruits of
robbery, misery, and blood. Surely, O nations! nothing which bears
such fruits can be anything but corrupt, for a good tree cannot bring
forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Look also at its relationship to civilization and citizenship, and its
effects upon theme. "War and civilization," said one of the great
English ministers, "are contradictory terms, even as Christ and Mars."
Particularly damaging is the effect of war upon citizens. For does it
not blunt the sensibilities, harden the heart, inflame the mind with
passions, and deaden the consciences of men? Said the same great
English preacher, "The sword that smites the enemy abroad, also lays
bare the primeval savage within the citizen at home." And again, "War
is not so horrible in that it drains the dearest veins of the foe, but
in that it drains our own hearts of the yet more precious elements of
pity, mercy, generosity, which are the lifeblood of the soul."
What now must be our conclusion about war? Had we ten thousand voices,
surely every one would be in honor bound to declare war an immorality.
Every incident of war declares it such. Every result of battle hands
down the same decree. In the words of a famous Russian battle painter,
we too may define war as "the antithesis of all morality."
This clear idea of the real inner nature of war ought surely to enable
us to find our ground of attack. Since war is sin and war is crime,
the conclusion which we draw is, that if it is possible ever to
abolish war, man's conscience, his sense of right and wrong, is the
only force powerful enough to accomplish the result.
The great searchlight of morality must be turned on war--a searchlight
which is always bright and strong and which never has failed to reveal
the truth. To turn this on full and strong means to awaken the
consciences of men. It must be an individual proposition--not simply
the developed consciences of a few leaders who may be submerged by the
war spirit of the masses, but there must be developed consciences of
all the people individually. All our arbitration treaties and the
actual settlement of disputes by arbitration are of great value and
should be pressed as far as possible; but are these sufficient forces
to develop the consciences of men against war as an immorality and a
sin? What are the forces that have always come to our support against
an immorality and a sin?
How about our churches? Have they been doing their duty? Have they
made it clear that war is sin and war is crime? Has not the Church
been too easy? Has its voice sounded clear and strong on this
world-evil? Surely a duty rests upon the ministry to be insistent in
its characterization of war. What peace-advocates must do is to urge
this upon the Church and bring it to a realization of its duty. Church
members know the character of war and simply need to have the matter
brought home to their hearts.
What about our schools,--not simply the colleges and universities, but
all the schools,--which offer fertile ground to sow the seeds of
peace? Thus far in the history of our schools too much emphasis has
been laid upon military history, etc. Dates and events of national
wars have been thoroughly drilled into students, and the glory and
blaze of war brought out. We have actually made it a glory and a
virtue. One of the most encouraging signs of the times, however, is
the fact that many of our text-books are dropping out the prolonged
study of wars and centering more on the peaceful pursuits of the
nation and the commercial relations with foreign powers. How about
direct peace teaching in the lower schools? How much of it do we
include in the work? None at all. Many are the speakers who address
the schools on war reminiscences, but few indeed are the appeals made
for peace. Not until this movement is strongly emphasized in our
schools from the very beginning can we hope completely to drive out
the war spirit; for time is required to develop in the individual
conscience a full realization of the real nature of war, and such
development should begin with the plastic period of youth.
With Church and school lined up on the side of peace, the home
teaching will soon fall in line; and Church, school, and home combined
can develop so strong a conviction concerning war, can make so
forceful an appeal to man's moral nature, that the war spirit will
take its leave and be gone forever.
We always look to history for a confirmation of our beliefs, and let
us glance now to the records of the past and learn her teachings.
First of all, look at the duel as the mode of settling a personal
difficulty if peaceful settlement appeared impossible. First, it was
heartily accepted as a gentlemanly, honorable, and brave mode of
settlement. Then, tolerated and simply suffered to exist. Finally,
condemned by conscience as an immorality and a sin, it was banished
from civilized nations.
Look also at slavery. At first heartily accepted as a divine
arrangement. Then tolerated by the world as undesirable, yet not
necessarily wrong. Next its overthrowal attempted on grounds of pity
and of reason; until finally, recognized as an immorality and a sin,
it too was blotted from the pages of civilization.
No great uplift of humanity, no great movement in civilization, but
has found its path to success in the developed moral sense of man. No
great change in civilized institutions but has found itself produced
by the dynamic, moving forces of morality.
War must be abolished. Only the great powers of morality are vital
enough, are dynamic and powerful enough, to carry out our peace
program. These forces lie dormant, and simply need stimulation and
development. Recognizing the impotency of appeals to economy and to
reason, what are we going to do?