296 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



WAR AND PEACE 



A League of Peace 



THE futility of war as a means of producing peace between nations 

 has often been dwelt upon. It is really the most futile of all 

 remedies, because it embitters contestants and sows the seeds of future 

 struggles. Generations are sometimes required to eradicate the hostility 

 engendered by one conflict. War sows dragons' teeth, and seldom gives 

 to either party what it fought for. When it does, the spoil generally 

 proves Dead Sea fruit. The terrible war just concluded is another 

 case in point. Neither contestant obtained what he fought for, the 

 reputed victor being most of all disappointed at last with the terms 

 of peace. Had Japan, a very poor country, known that the result 

 would be a debt of two hundred millions sterling loading her down, or 

 had Russia known the result, differences would have been peacefully 

 arbitrated. Such considerations find no place, however, in the fiery 

 furnace of popular clamor; as little do those of cost or loss of life. 

 Only if the moral wrong, the sin in itself, of man-slaying is brought 

 home to the conscience of the masses may we hope speedily to banish 

 war. There will, we fear, always be demagogues in our day to inflame 

 their brutal passions and urge men to fight, as a point of honor and 

 patriotism, scouting arbitration as a cowardly refuge. All thoughts of 

 cost or loss of human life vanish when the brute in man, thus aroused, 

 gains sway. 



It is the crime of destroying human life by war and the duty to 

 offer or accept peaceful arbitration as a substitute which need to be 

 established, and which, a3 we think, those of the church, the universities, 

 and of the professions are called upon to strongly emphasize. 



If the principal European nations were not free through con- 

 scription from the problem which now disturbs the military authorities 

 of Britain, the lack of sufficient numbers willing to enter the man- 

 slaying profession, we should soon hear the demand formulated for a 

 league of peace among the nations. The subject of war can never be 

 studied without recalling this simplest of all modes for its abolition. 

 Five nations cooperated in quelling the recent Chinese disorders and 

 rescuing their representatives in Pekin. It is perfectly clear that these 

 five nations could banish war. Suppose even three of them formed a 

 league of peace — inviting all other nations to join — and agreed that 

 since war in any part of the civilized world affects all nations, and 

 often seriously, no nation shall go to war, but shall refer international 

 disputes, to the Hague conference or other arbitral body for peaceful 



