To THE SCHOLARS, WRITERS, AND ARTISTS 

 OF GREAT BRITAIN AND GERMANY 



DURING the past weeks various documents signed by distin- 

 guished writers, scholars, and artists have come to this country 

 from Great Britain and Germany setting forth the British 

 and the German attitude, respectively, towards the appalling in- 

 ter-European war. We may refer more specifically to the declara- 

 tion of British authors, signed by fifty-four leading writers, 

 the widely published statements of the departments of History 

 of the Universities of Cambridge and of Oxford; the detailed 

 statement of the German side issued by a committee which 

 includes the names of distinguished men and women in public 

 life in Germany, the appeal of the German theologians and the 

 answer of the English theologians, both documents issued in 

 the names of the most eminent representatives of religious 

 thought of all shades in the two countries, and lastly the 

 "Appeal to the Civilized World" signed by ninety-three of 

 the most distinguished representatives of literature, scholar- 

 ship, and art in Germany. The main purpose of each of these 

 documents, apparently, is to secure the sympathy and good 

 will of the American people for the side represented. In view 

 of this and of the prominent positions occupied by the signers 

 of these documents, we, representing various phases of literary 

 and scientific activity in the United States, deem it proper to 

 set forth, as our reply, some part of what we have reason to 

 believe is the American point of view toward the war. 



We deplore the outbreak of hostilities among the cultural 

 nations of Europe and regard this dreadful war as a crime 

 against civilization. We believe that "a war between civilized 

 peoples is as insane as it is foul and evil." We wish most em- 

 phatically to voice our bitter disappointment that the ex- 

 pressed provisions of the second Hague Conference have been 

 passed by with scarcely a suggestion as to the possibility of 

 submitting the differences to the Hague Tribunal. In so far, 

 we consider that the nations involved failed in their primary 

 duty in the interests of humanity to avoid the horrible carnage 

 which is resulting from the methods actually pursued. 



Waiving all discussion of the causes of the war and of the 



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