Read Ebook: The World Court (Vol. I No. 2 Sept. 1915) by Various

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, SEPTEMBER, 1915 ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? WORLD COMMENT 59 THE UNITED STATES NOT A "TENDERFOOT" MUTUAL OBLIGATION GERMANY'S MATERIAL ADVANTAGE A SLANDER OF BRAVE MEN THOMAS A. EDISON DRAFTED DR. DILLON ON THE FIRST PHASE OF THE WAR A KINDLY VOICE FROM GERMANY WAR--BUT NOT FAMINE STRIKES IN WAR TIMES AN INTERESTING FORECAST PRESIDENT WILSON'S LAST GERMAN NOTE "PEACE BY COMPULSION" THE RED SEA, BY FRANCIS BOWLER PRATT

EDITORIALS 67 THE LAW OF NATIONS THE WAR PATH OR THE WORLD STATE CHINA AND JAPAN ACTION VERSUS WORDS ENGLAND AND THE DISINHERITED THE UNCERTAINTY OF FUTURE EVENTS THE DUTY OF THE HOUR THE ARISTOCRACY OF LABOR

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THE WORLD COURT

Published Monthly by the

INTERNATIONAL PEACE FORUM

NEW YORK CITY

WORLD COMMENT

THE UNITED STATES NOT A "TENDERFOOT"

In the old days when the "bad man" flourished on our western frontier the gunmen would occasionally suspend their slaughter of each other to have fun with a "tenderfoot." An inoffensive easterner landing from the stage would be surrounded by a crowd and would suddenly receive from some one in the crowd an order to dance. If he remonstrated or failed to comply instantly with the demand, a revolver bullet would strike close to his feet, the order would be reiterated, and the poor fellow would be compelled to lift his feet and gyrate to the crash of bullets from a "45" in the hands of a noted desperado, until he was exhausted.

It begins to look as if some of the belligerent powers of Europe would like to make us dance to the crash of diplomatic notes and unjustifiable war measures. In any street row it is usually the innocent bystander that suffers most, and the belligerents evidently don't care how much this neutral nation may suffer if they can have their own way.

But if we are not mistaken in our guess, Uncle Sam will distinctively and decisively decline to play the r?le of "tenderfoot" for the amusement or profit of European gunmen. The people of this nation will insist upon full recognition of their rights as neutrals--and not only that, but on their privilege to carry on their accustomed activities of travel, trade and industry in accordance with the universally recognized rules of international law. In so far as the administration at Washington insists upon the assertion and exercise of these rights and privileges, in so far will it be backed up by the public sentiment of the nation. In so far as it falls short of maintaining the full height of the dignity of American manhood, in so far will it fall short of its duty and the demands of our intelligent and responsible citizenship.

The people of this country do not want war with any of the belligerent nations, nor do they expect that we will be drawn into the war by the manly assertion of our rights. But dreadful as war is, they would prefer it to seeing our country and our flag made a ridiculous spectacle of pusillanimity and helplessness.

On the other hand, no reasonable citizen wants our government to be bumptious and insulting, or to invite reprisals by exceeding the measure of our just demands. Nor is it likely that a firm and reasonable attitude assumed by the Washington administration will draw us into the war. It is not at all probable that any of the great powers arrayed against each other on European battle fields or the high seas want war with the United States now. On the contrary, any one of them would undoubtedly make sacrifices to avoid it. We do not, however, ask of any of them any sacrifice beyond the observance of the recognized rules of international law and the dictates of humanity. If any nation would declare war against us because we call a halt upon its savagery so far as our own citizens are concerned, we could fight with a good conscience and with a confident trust in the God of justice and mercy.

The United States is not called upon to go to war to protect any of the nations of the Eastern Hemisphere, or the rights and immunities of their citizens. We are not called upon to take sides in the conflict now raging; but we are called upon to protect our own citizens in their lives, their immunities and their world-rights, and if we fall below the measure of this duty history will judge us as a pitiful and decadent race.

MUTUAL OBLIGATION

The obligation of our foreign-born naturalized citizens and of our government is mutual. The naturalized citizens owe loyalty to the United States and the United States owes them protection. The foreigner, taking out his citizenship papers, forswears allegiance to the country of his birth and specifically to the ruler or rulers thereof, and swears to be a true and faithful citizen to the country of his adoption. With this oath upon his soul, any divided allegiance upon his part is treasonable. Politically he stands precisely upon the basis of a native-born citizen. So do his children, whether born in this country or not. His minor children, born abroad, if they have come to the United States with him, become citizens through his naturalization.

While the naturalized citizens thus owe the same undivided allegiance to the country of their adoption that her native citizens owe, the country of their adoption owes them precisely the same protection that it owes the native-born. It owes them and their families the same protection of the laws, the same opportunities for a vocation, the same right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Our government also owes them the same protection while traveling or temporarily sojourning in foreign countries.

Having exacted from the naturalized citizen the forswearing of his allegiance to the country of his former domicile and its rulers, the United States perhaps owes even a more punctilious obligation to him to protect him in his rights of American citizenship. For if the native country of the naturalized citizen does not recognize his right of expatriation, and insists upon holding him, for instance, to military service, the United States should be ready and able to protect him in his right of exemption from such service. A country that cannot protect its own citizens, whether native or naturalized, has no right to independent existence. In these times the bearing of this point upon the physical power of this government to assert itself and to command respectful attention to its just demands, needs no extended discussion. It is a time when no virile nation can afford to leave itself denuded of defensive power and helpless.

THE AFTERMATH

The United States cannot satisfy all the people of the belligerent countries by its neutrality. The people of Europe are so wrought up by the present deplorable conditions that most of them have come to believe that all who are not for them are against them. There is irritation both on the part of the Teutonic allies and the Anglo-French allies because our government has not shown more decided sympathies with one side or the other, and taken a more decisive stand for or against the conflicting contentions. When the war ends there will doubtless be anger against us in all the belligerent countries. Should the war end in anything like a draw, leaving one or more great nations with a veteran and still formidable army and navy, such an army and navy would be more than a match for any force that the United States now has in being. Should one of the nations, thus relieved from peril on its own continent, see fit to call this country to account for some fancied failure in neutral obligation, or to demand from us a large indemnity, the countries formerly at war with it might not see fit to make any intervention in our behalf. They might all say to Uncle Samuel: "You left us to fight our own battles and were not moved to interfere even by the dictates of humanity. Now we will leave you to fight yours!"

It is useless to say that at the end of the war all the countries, and notably England and Germany, will be so exhausted that they will be unable to engage in another great war. History does not so teach. At the end of a long war a country has its forces mobilized and equipped and the military spirit at its height. At the close of our four years' exhausting Civil War, the United States was the most formidable military power in the world, which it is very far from being to-day. It is no time for our people to imitate the ostrich and hide their heads in the sand. There are perils ahead for us whether the war ends soon or late, and however it ends. And besides that, if we desire to promote the world's peace, we must be prepared to speak with a strong voice. Idealistic notions are valuable in their place, but they are about as potent in the storm of war, and the aftermath of a great world-war, as the twittering of sparrows in a storm. If our country lies helpless it will simply be a temptation to some of the now warring nations to recoup themselves from our wealth for their enormous losses.

GERMANY'S MATERIAL ADVANTAGE

Germany enjoys one material advantage in this war, aside from her superior organization, that has so far proved a potent factor in enabling her to maintain her position on all the battle fronts. Germany's normal output of iron and coal is twice that of the British Isles. In addition Germany has, since the early days of the war, controlled the large iron and coal product of Belgium, and four-fifths that of France. It is difficult to exaggerate the importance of iron and coal and iron and coal products in creating and operating the machinery of war. Besides this command of war material, Germany has better command of labor to work the material into war munitions. We do not hear of any labor strikes in Germany. Industrial Germany is as much a unit as military Germany. Of the allies, the British people do not seem to realize what a terrible antagonist they have in Germany. We still hear of British political dissentions and British labor troubles. If the allies expect to win, if the Great Britain expects to preserve the British Empire or even to save the British Isles from invasion and German occupation, then British people will have to drop their internal dissensions, summons all their resources, and fight and work as one man for self-preservation.

THE WILL TO PEACE

In this world-crisis the American people need to search their hearts and determine whether their ideals of peace are based on softness, effeminacy, disinclination to exertion and sacrifice, love of ease and pleasure, or upon absolute principle. In either case, we must arouse ourselves and cast off sloth. Peace is not to be had except with righteousness. The will to peace must be buttressed in strength, and not in weakness. In the present temper of the world, international friendship doesn't seem to count. The nations have lapsed into sheer materialism. Each one is seeking its own aims and interests. Such alliances as exist are made because each member of the alliance believes that its interests will be better served by that combination than by any other. Every one of the lesser states of Europe not already engaged in the war is striving anxiously to determine on which side its bread is buttered--that is whether continued neutrality or active participation on one side or the other will best serve its turn.

The proper policy of the United States is neutrality, but we will gain nothing by toadying to one belligerent or another. Our treatment by the victor in the war, if the war ends in victory for one side or the other, will not be gauged by the friendship we have displayed, or the disappointment which our conduct has occasioned, but by our strength or weakness. We will have to rely upon our own resources and not upon anybody's favor. Our aim as a nation should be, first to preserve our standards of honor and independence. We should truckle to no one. Next, to do absolute justice and to uphold the standard of humanity. We may not be able to prevent any modification of international law or changes in international rules of warfare, in view of vastly changed conditions, but we can insist upon the respect due to us as a great nation.

The United States has a legitimate "place in the sun," and it must maintain that place morally also physically if need be. It is a time of human convulsion when any display of weakness and timidity will invite destruction.

A SLANDER OF BRAVE MEN

The story brought back from Europe by Miss Jane Addams about the "doping" of charging soldiers, naturally amazes all who have had any experience on the firing line. She said in her speech at Carnegie Hall, on July 9th, that in the present war, in order to get soldiers to charge with the bayonet, all nations are forced first to make the men drunk. "In Germany," she said, "they have a regular formula for it. In England they use rum, and the French resort to absinthe. In other words, therefore, in the terrible bayonet charges they speak of with dread, the men must be doped before they start."

This outgiving shows the folly of sending an hysterical and credulous woman to the front to get reliable information of war conditions. It is quite probable that the story was told to Miss Addams as she relates it, but that a woman of her intelligence should accept it as true and retail it on her own authority is to be regretted. It gives a misleading picture of war conditions and is an insult to the best manhood of all the nations engaged in the war. Denials have come from all the nations and friends of all the nations, but these denials are hardly needed by those who know about war.

Whatever may be thought of the war, and much as we may deplore its horrors nobody can truthfully deny the courage and hardihood of the men engaged in it, whether they are Germans, English, French or other nationals. It requires just as much courage to endure the wearing danger of the trenches as it does to participate in a bayonet charge. In fact, most soldiers would feel it as a relief to substitute the excitement and activity of an attack for the grinding peril of lying still under fire. If the men would need to be doped to get them to charge, they would need to be constantly doped to endure the sodden and bloody carnage of the trenches.

The work of war requires, more than any other, physical and mental fitness as well as resolution of soul. Every military commander knows that strong liquor would impair the physical strength and endurance of men for the time being, if not permanently. When a line of men start upon a bayonet charge they need every ounce of strength and endurance they possess to give them any chance of success. To send a line of doped men upon a bayonet charge would be to invite their almost certain destruction and the failure of the movement. Even if commanders were brutal enough to adopt the dope tactics specified by Miss Addams they would not be such fools.

Richard Harding Davis, in commenting on Miss Addams's amazing "revelation," says: "I have seen more of this war and other wars than Miss Addams, and against this insult, flung by a complacent and self-satisfied woman at men who gave their lives for men, I protest."

There is enough material for genuine and truthful indictment of war without resorting to silly falsehood. How would the descendents of the men who gave up their lives in our civil war from a sense of imperious duty and patriotism like to have the slander placed upon their graves that the only way they could be induced to go into battle was to stupify them with intoxicants? Our war was a small one as compared with this twentieth century war, but it was just as perilous to the men engaged in it as this is to the soldiers of the present. An eminent military authority recently published a statement to the effect that in our civil war the casualties, in proportion to the number of men engaged, was ten times greater than the proportional casualties now. We do not know that this estimate is accurate, but we do know that our casualties were proportionately greater, in spite of the superior effectiveness of the modern machinery of war. The science of defense has kept pace with the science of destruction. Our war required just as much courage and hardihood and endurance on the part of the men engaged in it as this war does, and we know that it was not necessary to dope our men with strong liquor, on either side, to get them to fight.

THOMAS A. EDISON DRAFTED

The acceptance by Thomas A. Edison of a position as the head of an advisory defense board of civilian inventors and engineers for a bureau of invention and development which the Navy Department is to create, is an important step in the adoption of a rational national policy. The submarine, the airship and many other of the appliances which have made modern war so terrible and effective are of American origin. American invention and ingenuity have given the world the locomotive engine, the steam boat, the magnetic telegraph, the telephone, the phonograph, the sewing machine, the reaper, the harvester, the steam traction plow, the automobile, and other appliances which have changed the face of modern civilization. American ingenuity has reigned supreme alike in inventions of peace and of war, but our country has not profited to the full from the genius of our inventors. Men of other nations have seized upon American ideas and perfected them to their own profit. This is notably the case with the warlike appliances. The European nations now at war have developed the submarine and the aircraft to the point of astonishing efficiency, while the United States has lagged behind. In case of war, our submarine and aircraft service would, in its present condition of development, be vastly inferior to that of either Germany, England, or France.

The United States either wants to be prepared for war, or it does not. If it does, it wants the best preparation. Mr. Edison has been invited to head the advisory board because of some views in regard to national defenses expressed by him several months ago. He stated at that time that he would establish vast reserve stores of arms and ammunition, and would count rather upon automobiles than upon the railroads for quick transportation. He would also build many aeroplanes and submarines, and would keep our battleships and battle cruisers in dry-dock--practically in storage--but maintained in perfect efficiency, ready for use in case they should be needed for defense. He said he thought an army of 100,000 men, well trained men, backed by an efficient militia, and ample stores of munitions and weapons and other equipment, would be sufficient, but he would also have 40,000 drill sergeants selected and trained to instruct quickly a vast number of soldiers.

This, it will be seen, is a purely defensive military policy. Mr. Edison's ideas may be more or less valuable, but his inventive genius and practical skill are undoubted, and his presence on a board composed of mechanical and scientific experts will furnish an assurance that the best methods to insure the nation's safety from hostile attack will be adopted.

Perseverance is more prevailing than violence and many things which can not be overcome when they are together yield themselves up when taken little by little.

DR. DILLON ON THE FIRST PHASE OF THE WAR

"The first phase of the world-conflict has closed with the bitterness of exploded illusions, the alarming growth of the spectre of destruction, the quick materialization of the danger that threatens the noblest possessions of the human race, and the primary necessity of unanimous sacrifices before that danger can be displaced. Taking stock of the present situation just as this war is about to enter its second phase, we cannot but see that the central fact which calls for recognition is the amazing strength of the German nation. After ten months of warfare against Russia, Britain, France, Belgium and Serbia, it continues not only to live its own life, drawing from its own resources, but is able to send reinforcements of all kinds to Turkey and Austria, to achieve new conquests, plan grandiose operations, and win noteworthy victories over the allies."

If England had realized the actual and potential strength of Germany from the outset, and made her dispositions accordingly, there might be a different story to tell. France seems to have girded up her loins from the start and to have accomplished wonders with her comparatively limited resources. Russia has made a gallant fight under the handicap of poor preparation and an immobile population. This is a war in which masses do not count against organized and trained efficiency. Great Britain alone has had the requisite resources and has failed to utilize them to the point of the utmost efficiency.

The only hope of the entente powers is in a long drawn out war. If given time, Russia may train her undisciplined hosts. France will make continuous sacrifices. Great Britain may focus her resources and bring them to bear at the point where they are most needed. If the entente allies can continue to hold substantially their present lines for another year, it would seem that Germany must begin to show signs of exhaustion. Any hope the entente allies may have had of invading Germany and crushing it must at the present time seem far from alluring.

A KINDLY VOICE FROM GERMANY

That all Germany is not given over to the doctrine of hate is shown by the following extract from an article by Prof. Ernst von Troeltsch in the Frankf?rter Zeitung:

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