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The Commoner
MAY, 1914
21
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ERRORS OF PEACE AND WAR
People are justified in speaking of
the mistakes of Mr. Wilson's Mexi
can policy, if a mistaken policy is
one which does not go like a bullet
straight to its aim. Delays, disap
pointments, irritations, petty humil
iations at the hands of a Hucrta or
a Villa, injuries wrought to Ameri
can lives and property, have marked
the administration's policy. Instead
of flying straight to its aim it has
fumbled, stumbled, retreated, sought
roundabout ways let us put it as
severely as any critic of the presi
dent may be tempted to. But when
people find themselves chafing at
the delays and setbacks of a policy
which has for its great aim the main
tenance of peace, does it ever occur
to them to compare the tribulations
of a peace policy with the tribula
tions of its alternative a war policy?
For, that matter, in what field of
human endeavor in legislation, in
industry, in scientific research, in lit
erature, in art is there a' line of
progress that marches straight to its
aim, that has not its postponements,
its burning disappointments, its half
successes, its compromises? If peace
between neighboring nations is
worth preserving, if it is worth while
to take measures against plunging
this country into the perilous new
problems that lie in the weeks of a
war of conquest; if to put it speci-fically-i-the
things -that Mr. Wilson
is trying to get are worth striving
for, why dwell upon the mistakes of
a policy which -are infinitesimal in
comparison with the inevitable mis
takes of its only alternative policy?
People who speak so easily of arm-
ed intervention in Mexico must be
wjherishing some such mental picture
pis this: A powerful statesman, who
rhas planned out every move ahead.
I who lias deteranined just how. far .the
war snouia carry mm ana not an
inch further, no matter what
happens; a' Napoleonic commander-
in-chief who has figured out every
battle- and every skirmish and every
life that will be lost, and has deter
mined that the lives lost will be the
exact price for the purpose to be at
tained armies marching smoothly
towards their objective cities and
fortresses falling by schedule; food
and ammunition trains working with
mathematical precision-r-no over
sights', no surprises, no blundering
the triumph of mind over circum
stance. This was the holiday spirit
in which England set out on a few
weeks! drive against the-Boers; this
vwas the spirit of '.vhich the Russian
bureaucracy went to war against
Japan; this, in a fashion, was the
enthusiastic spirit of the north when
it set out to capture Richmond in a
few weeks of fighting. The wars in
which there have been no mistakes
are few or none. Even a Moltke
probably found that things did not
go altogether by schedule.
A statesman leads his country into
war. The die is cast. The nation's
honor is engaged. He blithely sends
forth a couple of divisions on what
lie considers an easy 'undertaking.
'And within two weeks the game may
be out of his hands. The fortnight's
campaign develops into a war of
months and years. Of course, there
is no stopping it. The nation pours
forth its lives and its wealth unhes
itatingly, with a fiercer spirit'of ven
geance and determination as the task
grows more difficult. Already the
price paid surpasses the value of the
object stricken for, surpasses any
thing that the country imagined it
would have to sacrifice. The coun
try may recognize that a mistake has
teen made, rut that will -not alter the
Situation. The issue must be fought
out, even though the object of the
war ha'a been lost sight of. National
honor must be vindicated and what
if mistakes have been made mis
takes which have been paid for in
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fiinnaonric nf lives, in enormous
waste of wealth, in an aftermath of
misery and hatreds and harrassing
internal problems. People reason
that war is war, and there is no in
clination to go into the bookkeeping
of deaths and injuries, widows and
orphans, national debts and crush
ing taxes.
But such is human nature that,
whereas the st .tesman who seeks to
further the interests of the country
by war will not be called to account
for ten thousand deaths, the states
man who seeks to further the inter
ests of his country by the mainte
nance of peace will be scolded and
called to account for every bandit
outrage, for every secret assassina
tion. A statesman may waste a hun
dred millions in a useless war with
out suffering anything like the oppro
brium that falls on the man who
spends a million dollars for peace.
Take war. If a Bulgarian statesman
had stood forth and declared that the
war was not necessary, how savage
ly he would have been criticised for
every mistake in his policy! Every
order incident would have been cited
against him, every move by Greece
and Servia would have been charac
terized as an unbearable affront. So
Bulgaria went to war, and the "mis
takes" of that policy cost her the
greater part of Turkish conquests,
cost her the slaughter of tens of
thousands, cost her untold misery
extending over the years.
There is a' ready answer, of course.
No nation considers any price too
high for the defense of its honor and
its ultimate destiny. But how if a
policy of peace is the policy dictated
by national ; honor and our true
destiny? How many people in this
country desire the over-running of
Mexicc ? On the other hand, how
many people in this country fail to
recognize that war with Mexico would
mean the opening up of vast and
dangerous problems which we are in
no condition to attempt. Yet recog
nizing all this, people chafe because
Mr. Wilson's "mistakes" have cost
admitting that Mr. Wilson is respon
sible the lives of a score of Amert
can citizens and tho loss of some Mil
lions in property. Mr. Wilson, work
ing for a great purpose, Is censured
for "mistakes" that have cost less'
than nations have gladly expended
In a week's campaign against some
petty barbarian chieftain in Africa.
New York Evening Post.
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DEMON
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FIRNlSHED
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MIMIBKJIT
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