FUNDAMENTAL CAUSE OF WAR 337 



inimical to the ruling powers in the monopoly and military-ridden 

 countries of Europe. Eents, debts and taxes became unbearably high; 

 that is why, in my opinion, there is now, in Europe, the greatest and 

 most hellish war of all time. 



The crowned heads of Europe, and particularly of Germany and 

 Austria, saw economic and political disaster ahead. Their only hope 

 of continuing in power lay through warfare and the capturing of sur- 

 rounding territory on which tribute could be levied. In no other way 

 could wholesale repudiation of debts be much longer avoided. 



Discontent, widespread political discontent, and anarchy, are the 

 forerunners of strife and wars, just as surely as happiness and content- 

 ment are the harbingers of peace and good-will. 



Political discontent is the result of political or economic injustice. 

 This injustice results from special privileges. If, then, we abolish 

 privilege and establish political and economic justice, so that every man 

 will have full political rights and will get and have no more and no less 

 than his fair share of all that is produced, we shall have removed the 

 cause of discontent and, therefore, as I believe, that condition of society 

 that makes wars not only possible but probable. 



As chimerical and Utopian as this proposition may sound, it is, in 

 my opinion, not only eminently sound and practical, but will soon be the 

 working formula for governmental action throughout the civilized 

 world. It is, in fact, already dimly recognized by numerous of our 

 most advanced governmental groups, such as those of New Zealand, 

 Switzerland, Oregon and western Canada, and its principles are making 

 some headway in the United States and Great Britain, and even in 

 China, Japan and Mexico. The " New Freedom " of Woodrow Wilson 

 means, and can mean nothing else than, the abolition of privileges and 

 the establishment of political and economic justice. Gradually and not 

 very slowly are our governments getting away from the feudal, hered- 

 itary class, and war-like theory of society and are being reorganized on 

 the theory of equality, freedom and peace. This process may be ex- 

 pedited as a result of the present European cataclysm. 



The Two Kinds of Special Privilege 



There are two distinct kinds of special privilege — political and eco- 

 nomic. The first relates to franchise rights and the second to property 

 rights. When one man has a greater voting power than another, he 

 has a political privilege. When one has greater property rights than 

 another, he has a property privilege. Both forms of privilege are con- 

 ferred b)', and can, therefore, be abolished by governments. 



Some of the worst forms of privilege were abolished by the Revolu- 

 tion in England, in 1688, by the Revolution in France, in 1789, by the 

 Revolution in America, in 1776, and by the Civil War in the United 



