THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE 



3°9 



posed to peace. In the United States 

 no mob spirit of war was stirred by 

 the president's invasion of .Mexico, and 

 the sympathies of our people are 

 against the aggressor in the wanton 

 war of Europe. There we may look for 

 a second Napoleon the little rather 

 than for a second Napoleon the great. 

 Never again will there be a thirty 

 years ' war, destroying over half the 

 population of a great nation. Slowly 

 but surely the energies of men are 

 turning toward peace on earth and good 

 will among its nations. 



THE SACES OF THE EUROPEAN 

 NATIONS AXD THEIR NAT- 

 URAL INCREASE 



The official German justification of 

 the mad and wanton European war is 

 that it is a defense of the Teutonic cul- 

 ture and people against the semi- 

 Asiatic and barbaric Slav hordes. The 

 verdict of history will probably be that 

 it was a war of calculation for caste 

 and national aggrandizement and a 

 war of miscalculation. The German 

 emperor and his bureaucratic military 

 entourage probably held that the time 

 was ripe for an extension of German 

 influence in the Balka.ns and towards 

 Asia Minor, with an increase of its 

 African possessions at the expense of 

 France. But it is by no means clear 

 why, if the serpent was prepared to use 

 its fangs, it did not show its alleged 

 wisdom. If after the rough ultimatum 

 and attack of Austria on Servia. Ger- 

 many had waited in preparation, it 

 would apparently have been in far 

 better position. If Eussia had at- 

 tacked Austria on behalf of Servia, 

 Germany could have gone to the defense 

 of Austria and had its will in the Bal- 

 kans. If France had then attacked 

 Germany, Italy could only have avoided 

 war on France by breaking its treaty; 

 Great Britain and Belgium would prob- 

 ably have remained neutral. 



The calculation in Berlin was prob- 

 ably that the time had come for the 

 use of its perfected military machine 

 for its glorification at home and 



abroad. They knew that the Balkan 

 states were at odds with one another, 

 that there were internal disorders in 

 Russia, which was improving its mili- 

 tary system and would have four 

 dreadnoughts ready in the autumn, that 

 France had made large appropriations 

 for defensive works and armaments and 

 had increased the period of military 

 service, that England was on the edge 



; of civil war; they assumed that they 

 would have the support of Italy and 

 Turkey, that Japan was not in question, 



i that Belgium would permit the use of 

 its territory, that Great Britain might 

 submit, that a quick and crushing at- 



I tack on France would give them a war 

 indemnity and new possessions in 

 Africa and that they would then be able 

 to turn the whole force of their arms 

 on Russia. In so far as this was the 



! calculation at Berlin, it has in part, 



! miscarried; the rest lies on the knees 

 of the gods. 



A glance at the accompanying map 

 shows roughly the distribution of the 

 races in Europe. National sentiment is 

 somewhat dependent on racial origin, 

 on language, on religion and on other 

 institutions; but only in a temporary 

 and limited way. All the nations of 

 Europe are composed of peoples of com- 

 plex racial descent. Switzerland main- 

 tains admirably its national homogene- 

 ity with diverse races and languages. 

 Protestant Prussia has united with 

 catholic Bavaria. Austria is a complex 

 of nations, languages and races. New 

 York is a collection of cities of diverse 

 nationality, race, language, religions 

 and institutions. In the present war 

 there can be no real conflict of Teuton 

 and Slav, when the Austrian population 

 is more Slav than Teuton and German 

 dominion has already encroached on 

 Slavic population to the east. There 

 may result a change in national bound- 

 aries, but scarcely of racial dominance. 

 Germany has already as an evil inheri- 

 tance from Bismarck a small French 

 population on its west. It can only 

 annex the northern coast of France and 

 Belgium at an untold cost for a future 



