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MARCH, 1917r
The Commoner
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much to transport flour and nine timea as' much
to transport a bushel of wheat as it cost two
years before.
I mention these things to show the burden
that the war is throwing on neutral nations who
are not to blame for the fact that there is a war
In tho world today.
And besides this, every neutral nation is in
constant danger of being dragged into this war
while it lasts; our sensational papers have, time
and time again, led us up to the brink of thia
war and told us that wo were just about to
enter it.
This is the war that is going on in Europe,
and this is tho war that some people think that
this nation ought to enter. When this war is over
I hope that wo shall be able to so amend interna
tional law as to write it upon the .theory that
peace and not war is tho normal 'relation be
tween nations.
At tho present the rule seems to read that
nations at peace can attend to their own busi
ness only so long as they do not interfere with
tho fight. It ought to read that the nations that
fight must be careful not, to disturb the peace,
the commerce or the prosperity of the nations
that substitute reason. for force.
WONDERFUL APPEAL OF PRESIDENT
Now, this is' the war that is going on across
the sea. I have called' your attention to 'some
of its outstanding features and to the injury
that it is doing the neutral nations, and now I
call your attention to. that wonderfully eloquent
enj$al of the President to the nations that are
at war. He asked them to 'build peace upon a
foundation that is new to them. Why? Be
cause they built their hope of peace on a false
foundation over there-; Tlie only hope of peace
they have had rested on force and the exciting
of fear; they have piled up taxes on their peo
ple, trying to terrorize' each other into the main
tenance of peace. This is the false philosophy
that has made a slaughter-house out of the-Old
World.
And it is this philosophy that the President
has adked them to abandon. If you want to
know how false it -is apply it' to a neighborhood
and see how miserablyrit'wiir fail to preserve
peace. .-..
Go out into an algrlcultural community; you
may select the best that 'you have. Pick out
two men living side by side on farms, with
nothing but an' imaginary line between their
land. Pick out two farmers who are honest
and well meaning, and, to make it as strong
as you can, take two belonging to the same
church and sitting in adjoining pews under the
same interpretation of 'the Scripture. Suppose
they try to preserve peace on the European plan,
how long will they go at it?. One of them will
go to town and get the best gun he can find, and
then he will go to the newspaper office and put
in a notice like this! "I love peace, and I have
no thought of trespassing on my neighbor's
rights, but I am determined to protect my own
rights and defend my honor at-any cost, and I
now have the best gun that money will buy,
and it is only fair that my neighbor slibuld
Jnow that if he ever interferes with my rights
I will blow his head of in a. neighborly way."
And then suppose the next day the other man
goes to town and he4 got a bigger gun and with
the same frankness goes to the same news
Paper office and puts in a similar notice, and I
may pause to say. that that kind of a notice
would always be accepted and would appear in
a prominent place. He would say: "I love peace
as much as my neifchbor, and I have no more
thought of trespassing on his rights than he
says he has on mine, but I am just as deter
mined as he is to protect my rights and defend
my honor, and besides, I have a better gun than
fSp and T want him distfnctly to understand
Sm I Ue ever puts his foot across my line I
spirit"1 him fUU f ll0leS' In a CurIstian
Then suppose the first man got two guns, and
tne second man two, and the first man three,
winf tSecond man tliree; and suppose they
on ?nMbuyinS guns alternately, and-every time
noHnni ? bouSht a new gun he put a new
ninn m1the Wer saying how much he loved
mL hoyi ready he was for a fight,
in thll would happen? Every undertaker
aca ?W,n woula 1)e eoing out to get personally
rS?nB. tedtTWIth those two men, for buRinp
eons. Have ybu any doubt that is the' way
KSr Hon W?&W
inary lino between them? S n Ima
fnrndhy frl0nd8' If you had any doubt be
fore, how can you have any doubt now since
you have seen just how it has worked?
UfnLn w S?1? bu,ld a battleship and no
tify the world that it was ready to blow any
other battleship out of the water and a rivM
Sso thJUrd bU W a dreadaught, and adver
tise that a dreadnaught could sink any battle
ship afloat, and then the first one would build
?h!UPnr ,r'eadnaught and then thoy would go to
lL ? ary and l00k up Greek aud Latin
terms, to use as prefixes for ships, as they built
them bigger and bigger, and as they made guns
b gger and bigger, and as they collected armies
.bigger and bigger, all tho time talking about
how much they loved peace and boasting how
ready they were for war.
Now, my friends, that is exactly what has
been done in the Old World; if any philosophy
has ever been exploded it is the philosophy that
you can keep the peace of the world by being
armed to tho teeth.
If you want to know the kind of philosophy
upon which they have relied in Europe as tholr
only hope of peace, just go back to the time
when people carried concealed weapons in this
country, and they were just beginning to pass
laws to prohibit the practice. Did you ever hear
of a man advocating the carrying of a concealed
weapon for aggressive purposes? Never. It
was only that he might bo prepared to protect
himself. It was defensive only, to protect his
honor and his rights, and so today there is not
a nation in tho world that will admit that it
ever built a battleship or made a gun except for
defensive purposes only. That is their argu
ment. But in the case of the carrying of concealed
weapons it was found that the man who carried
a revolver, ostensibly for defensive purposes
only, carried 'with the revolver the disposition
to use It on Blight provocation, and a provoking
disposition to induce others to usp it. After
long and bloody experience we have abolished
in every state of this Union the false philosophy
that preparedness preserves peace.
Unless there is a moral philosophy that ap
plies to nations that is just tho opposite of the
moral philosophy that applies to individuals, we
must conclude that as the pistol-toting man is
a menace to the peace of his community so the
policy of pistol-toting among nations is a menace
to the peace of the world.
PEACE WITHOUT VICTORY
Now, the first proposition that the President
presents as the basis of peace is the ono that
shocked the belligerent nations. It was that it
must be a peace without a victory. Why? Be
cause, if the peace of Europe can only be re
stored by the victory of one side over the other,
it can only be preserved by the same display of
forco that won tho victory.
The President is a student of history, and he
knows that you can go back to tho beginning
of time and that you will find that now and
again some nation, at the zenith of its power,
has thought that the peace of tho world depend
ed on its victory, and on its domination of the
world, but the path of history is lined with the
wrecks of the empires that were built on phy-
sical force.
If the world needs a lesson today, it is the
lesson, that the President has tried to teach
them, that an enduring peace can not be built
on forco alone. Thero stands back of tho doc
trines enunciated by the President one of the
great laws of tho Almighty. God never left
the vindication of His law to depend upon the
strength of the victim who was injured by its
violation. No. The laws of God work out their
punishment in the victors, not in the vanquished
Why do we tell a child not to steal? Is it
because we are afraid that some poor person
will lose9 Have wo in mind the person from
whom the child will steal? No. Wo tell the
child not to steal because wo love the child and
we do not want tho influence of theft on the
character of the child.
So if we are to have a future that will be
peaceful and peaceable we muse noi j -1
af n tho mere physicaKpower of
ono nation over the other. If this war onds
In tho complete triumph of one side, to that it
can dictate the terras of peace and compel a
vanquished foo to accept those term, prostrate
on tho ground, wo muit consider the effect of
prldo and arroganco on tho victor as well as re
venge on tho part of the conquered.
Napoleon, ono of the greatest of soldiers un
derstood this. Ho said: "Peace ought to bo the
result of a system well considered, founded on
tho true interests of the different countries, hon
orable to each and OUGHT NOT TO BH
EITHER A CAPITULATION OR THE RESULT
OF A THREAT."
RIGHTS OF LITTLE STATES
Tho Presidont aBked thorn to respect tho
rights of littlo states, and that, too, is a doc
, trlno that has not been fully accepted as yot by
those ongnged In this war, and yet it is a doc
trine that is Just as necessary to the world pcaco
as tho doctrine that tho safety of a human being
must depend upon his rights and not upon hia
size or his ability to onforco his rights.
And another: That thero must bo a recogni
tion of tho doctrine that governments derlvo
their Just powers from tho consont of tho gov
erned. ,
That doctrine has not yot boon entirely ac
cepted by the belligoronts on either sldo, and yot
it b the end toward which tho world Is moving,
and I believe that we can help tho world more
by sotting them an example and showing them
what people can do for their own protection than
wo can In any other way.
When people suggested to mo that wo ought
to join these people of Europe in enforcing peace
In Europe, my answer has been that the empha
sis placed on force turns tho thought away from
the only basis upon which a permanent pcaco
can rest, and that is love and brotherhood and
the spirit of co-operation.
My friends, I believe that wo have learned a
lesson which we ought to apply to our own peo
ple. When this government was formed wo
were admonished by the experiences ot tho Old'
World not to leavo tho cxecutlvo in control of
tho war-making power, and therefore our con
stitution took tho right to declaro war out of
tho hands of the president, tho oxecutivo, and
put it in tho hands of congress.
The president In this country has charge of
diplomatic relations, but when diplomatic re
lations cease, and we are confronted by war, the
sceptre passes from the White house to congress,
and the people's representatives therein deter
mine whether wo are to have war or not.
I have confidence in our President. I believe,
my friends, that wo have never had a president
more anxious than he to do not only what Is
best for the country, but what tho people of tho
country believe best for them.
But Institutions are not made for individuals;
they are made for mankind, and I am glad that"
our forefathers put the power In congress rather
than In an executive, no matter how good that
executive may be. But I believe the time has
come to go a step further than our forefathers
went. We now have more faith than they had
.in the intelligence, of the masses of our country.
And the masses know more today of what Is go
ing on day by day than our most prominent lead
ers did when that power was given to congress.
Since our constitution was written wo havo
tho railroads; wo now can carry a citizen from
ono part of tho country to another in less than
a week, and wo havo tho telegraph line that can
carry the news In an instant, and wo havo tho
telephone that binds our shores together, ana
wo have now universal education, a thing un
known in tho ages past. Today" I believe tho
time is rlpo for an amendment to tho constitu
tion, giving to the people, except In case of ac
tual Invasion, a referendum on a declaration of
war.
It is becoming Increasingly necessary to sub
mit to the voters of even our smaller cities the
question of Issuing a bonded debt; it is becom
ing increasingly necessary to submit to the
voters the question of selling ar-franchlse in a
city. And, my friends, If we feel It necessary to
submit to tho voters the question of selling a
franchise In a city, or the Issue of a few bonds,
is It not time to consult the voter on a question
that may involvo his life and the taxes that he
must pay for a generation?
My friends. I have more faith in tho commom
.people of this country than in anybody selected -
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