_Mr. Bryan on June 16 gave out the first of three statements about the
present war, and in it he predicts that a conference will be held at
the close of the conflict to revise the rules of international law.
The present rules, in Mr. Bryan's opinion, "seem to have been made for
the nations at war rather than for the nations at peace."_
_The statement contains a hint to President Wilson in the concluding
paragraph which says that "in all history no other peacemaker has ever
been in position to claim so rich a blessing as that which will be
pronounced on our President when the time for mediation comes--as come
it must." Its text follows:_
Washington, June 16, 1915.
I shall tomorrow discuss the origin of the war and the reasons which
led the nations of Europe to march, as if blindfolded, into the bloody
conflict which now rests like a pall over the fairest parts of the Old
World; today let us consider the war as it is and the injury it is
doing to the neutral nations.
The war is without a precedent in the populations represented, in the
number of combatants in the field, in daily expenditures, in the
effectiveness of the implements employed, in the lists of dead and
wounded, in the widespread suffering caused and in the intensity of
the hatreds aroused.
No class or condition is exempt from the burdens which this war
imposes. The rich bear excessive taxation and the poor are sorely
oppressed; the resources of today are devoured and the products of
tomorrow are mortgaged. No age is immune. The first draft was upon the
strong and vigorous, but the Governments are already calling for those
above and below the ordinary enlistment zone.
The war's afflictions are visited upon women as well as upon men--upon
wives who await in vain a husband's return, and upon mothers who must
surrender up the sons whose support is the natural reliance of
declining years. Even children are its victims--children innocent of
wrong and incapable of doing harm. By war's dread decree babes come
into the world fatherless at their birth, while the bodies of their
sires are burned like worthless stubble in the fields over which the
Grim Reaper has passed.
The most extreme illustrations collected from history to prove the
loathsomeness of war are overshadowed by new indictments written
daily; the most distressing pictures drawn by the imagination are
surpassed by the realities of this indescribable contest. Surely we
behold "the pestilence that walketh in darkness and the destruction
that wasteth at noonday."
Neutral nations cannot look on with indifference--the ties that bind
them together are too strong, the relationship too intimate. This is
especially true of the United States. We have a composite population,
every nation of Europe having contributed liberally to our
citizenship. These our countrymen, themselves born abroad or
immediately descended from foreign-born ancestors, cannot but take a
likely interest in the conduct as well as in the results of the war,
and a still larger circle shares the concern of those directly
connected. Not a soldier falls on either side but the sorrow expressed
in his home finds an echo at some fireside in the United States.
But, aside from sentimental considerations, neutral nations suffer
serious disturbances because of the war. Duelists, when dueling was in
fashion, were careful to select a place where they could settle their
personal differences without harm to unoffending bystanders, but
warring nations cannot, no matter how earnestly they try, avoid injury
to neutrals. As the nauseous odors of a slaughterhouse, carried on the
breeze, pollute the air in every direction, so the evil influences
emanating from these wide-extended battlefields taint the atmosphere
of the whole political world. War is an international nuisance. Nearly
every neutral nation finds new domestic problems thrust upon it and
old problems made more difficult.
No American citizen can note without deep concern the manner in which
war questions have intruded themselves into our politics--overshadowing
economic issues and stimulating agitation in favor of enlarged
appropriations for military and naval purposes. Business is deranged
and expensive readjustments made necessary, while commerce with
foreign nations is seriously interrupted. Fluctuations in price abroad
are reflected in the markets of the United States. A fall of one cent
in the price of cotton means tens of millions of dollars to our
producers and merchants. Added to this, freight rates and insurance
premiums have been increased to cover the greater risks incident to
war.
Scarcity of ships is one of the greatest commercial embarrassments
caused by the war. We have depended largely upon foreign ships to
carry our commerce, and we could not but suffer when the merchantmen
of one side were driven from the sea and a part of the merchant fleet
of the other side was withdrawn for Government use.
The neutral nations are put to a great expense to preserve neutrality
and are constantly in danger of being embroiled in the war without
intention or fault on their part.
The rules of international law seem to have been made for the nations
at war rather than for the nations at peace. It is almost impossible
to alter these rules during the war, because any material change,
affecting as it would the interests of belligerents, would be a
seeming violation of neutrality. As soon as peace returns there will
be a demand for an international conference on the subject. The
presumption should then be given to peace, for peace, not war, is the
normal condition. If nations are determined to fight they should, as
far as possible, bear their burden themselves and not be permitted to
transfer it to the nations which avoid war by resorting to reason
instead of force.
Under the stress and strain of the titanic struggle in which they are
engaged, each side has felt itself justified in encroaching upon the
rights of neutrals. The ocean highways, the common property of all,
have been to some extent appropriated for war purposes, and delicate
diplomatic questions are forced upon the neutral nations. Just at this
time, when these questions are most acute, the belligerent Governments
are least able to deal with them with the calmness and poise which
their great importance demands.
No wonder every neutral nation is increasingly anxious for the war to
end; but of all the neutral nations ours has the most reason for the
return of peace--most reason to set its face resolutely against
participation in this war. This nation, the head of the neutral group
and the sincere friend of all the belligerents, is in duty bound to
set an example in patience and self-restraint.
In all history no such opportunity has ever come to any other nation
as that which is destined to come to the United States. In all history
no other peacemaker has ever been in a position to claim so rich a
blessing as that which will be pronounced upon our President when the
time for mediation comes--as come it must.