1 82 Declining Effectiveness of Force 



lent policy. It is, or should be, the policy of every 

 nation prepared to play a great part in history. 



In America President Roosevelt has repeatedly 

 emphasized the fact that the belief in the effect- 

 iveness of force to advance a nation's moral or 

 material interests may make war an imperative na- 

 tional duty. In his message to Congress Decem- 

 ber 4, 1906, President Roosevelt said: 



It must ever be kept in mind that war is not merely 

 justifiable, but imperative upon honourable men and 

 upon an honourable nation when peace is only to be 

 obtained by the sacrifice of conscientious conviction 

 or of national welfare.^ 



The relation between the belief in the effective- 

 ness of military force used for aggression and the 

 inevitability of war has been clearly stated by a 

 distinguished Belgian author, Dr. Charles Sarolea, 

 whose work The Anglo-German Problem, has won 

 the highest praise from the King of the Belgians 

 and others in close touch with political condi- 

 tions in Europe. Dr. Sarolea summarizes the 

 relation as follows : 



Both the English Imperialist and the German 

 Imperialist believe that the greatness of a country 

 does not depend mainly on the virtues of the people, 

 or on the resoiirces of the home country, but largely 

 on the capacity of the home country to acquire and 

 to retain large tracts of territory all over the world. 

 Both the English Imperialist and the German Im- 



' Quoted by Bernhardi, Germany and the Next War, p. 52. 



