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.”