IDEALISM NOT PRACTICALLY POTENT
In spite of this fact, there are idealists like Former Secretary Bryan who, while insisting that the United States should set up as a sort of moral mentor for the world, nevertheless contend that we should not increase our armament. They proclaim themselves advocates of peace at any price. This may be correct as a mental attitude, but in these strenuous times, when the most powerful nations are appealing to physical force to adjust questions which might better have been settled by diplomacy, the still small voice of moral suasion, though coming from potentially powerful America, is not likely to be heard, above the din of battle. We can record our protests, of course, but so far as any practical measures to enforce humanity are concerned, we are quite powerless. Our government should either keep out of the mess, and wait for returning reason, after the war is over, to pave the way to universal peace through Judicial Settlement—or, we should immediately proceed to place ourselves in a condition of preparedness for war.
GERMAN SOCIALISTS FOR PEACE
Utterances of various Socialist leaders and newspapers in Germany in favor of peace have recently filtered out of Germany, and have aroused considerable interest. The German Socialists differ materially from the Socialists of many other countries, in the fact that they constitute a recognized and responsible political party which has a large representation in the German parliament. The idea has widely prevailed that the German people were absolutely united in favor of carrying on the war to the point of “world domination or downfall,” but now we find men and publications of influence deprecating the idea of conquest and annexation of territory, or an invasion of the liberties of other peoples. They declare that the mass of the German people want peace, and that Germany’s military victories place the German government in a position to negotiate peace with justice and honor.
Whether these utterances represent any deep or widespread sentiment in Germany, we have no means of knowing. But their publication serves to inspire a hope that the implacable purpose of Germany to carry on a war of conquest has been exaggerated, and that discussion of terms of peace might not be premature even now, if some feasible plan were presented.
EDITORIALS
“The World Court” makes its début to-day. It supplants the magazine formerly published by the International Peace Forum, entitled The Peace Forum but as will be observed, it undertakes a much larger and far more vastly important work in its ambition to further the creation of a World Court. As a magazine, an effort has been made in this initial issue to give it all the veneer and finesse of the latter-day periodical. As the months proceed, every effort will be made by the men of letters associated with it and its contributors to further its value as a publication of world wide importance. The necessity for such a magazine was made patent at the recent World Court Congress. The delegates and many men of affairs who participated in that epochal Conference realized the enormous importance of an organ to voice the sentiment for this great project.
During the past few months, the work of the International Peace Forum has been specifically directed to the project of furthering the institution of a true International Court of Justice, which was adopted in principle by the forty-four nations composing the Second Hague Conference (1907), including Germany and Great Britain. The suggestion has also met the approval of many State Legislatures, leading Chambers of Commerce and other representative civic, industrial, educational and religious bodies. It received a mighty impulse and enthusiastic endorsement at the recent largely attended World Court Congress, at Cleveland, Ohio.
This project is thus no chimerical scheme or iridescent dream, but a well matured plan which if properly sustained will prove a powerful factor in insuring the future peace of the world. Such a tribunal as is contemplated would not only be able to adjudicate specific disputes but would gradually build up a body of International Law as potent in preserving the peaceful relations of nations as the body of domestic laws is in preserving peaceful relations among the citizens and states of the several nations.
In becoming more specifically the organ and representative of this world-wide movement, this magazine broadens its field and adopts a name more expressive of its larger mission.