19103 My Letter to Andrew D. White 



extension, completion, and compacting. The civilized nations 

 of today, except the United States and Canada and certain of 

 the smaller nations of Europe, are virtually in the hands of 

 their creditors. The interest on the war debt of Europe is 

 annually scarcely less than the whole gold reserve of the world. 

 This debt and its dues grow by leaps and bounds, as well as by 

 compound interest. The story of its origin, the frauds, blunders, 

 and crimes it covers, is almost unknown to the public. The 

 criminal uses of the deferred payment and the indirect tax, the 

 rise of the "Unseen Empire of Finance" and the crushing of 

 the peasant under constantly growing war burdens, need to be 

 fully studied and explained. Here, too, comes the final argu- 

 ment against war (3) the reversal of selection due to the 

 destruction of the young, the strong, the bold, the soldierly 

 elements, the parentage of the nation being left to those war 

 cannot use. The latest historian of Greece, Otto Seeck, dis- 

 cussing the end of the Peloponnesian Wars, says: "Only 

 cowards remained, and from their blood arose the new genera- 

 tion." The same story in one form or another has been repeated 

 by all the civilized nations. For two thousand years this has 

 been the most terrible fact in the history of Europe, the hidden 

 cause of the downfall of empires, the basis of the problems of 

 the slums, the basal cause of apathy, inefficiency, sterility, and 

 the "drooping spirit" of modern Europe. This matter needs 

 most thorough and accurate investigation, and no scientific 

 problem of the day surpasses it in interest and importance. 



A minor study is that of the standing army, its relation to 

 militarism, to education, and to the spread of venereal diseases. 

 Other studies involve the moral evils of war, their effects on 

 society, on politics, and on the individual life. 

 3. The development and extension of the code of international 

 law is a most useful line of possible work. 



Peace is the persistence of law, and bankruptcy armed to the 

 teeth is not peace. I believe with Leon Bourgeois, that "pour 

 nous approcher de la paix, la route veritable nest pas celle du 

 desarmement qui semble courte, mais que barrent des infranchis- 

 sables obstacles, mais bien celle du Droit, tongue, aride et rude, 

 mais qui seule pent conduire au but. II y a dans le sentiment du 

 droit, une force incalculable." 



4. Every year upward of two hundred world congresses of one 



n 341 3 



