December 11, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



819 



dare dream them in public is already a 

 very hopeful sign. There was a time when 

 even the most radical philosophers of 

 Greece could not conceive a nation without 

 chattel slaves and it is not so long ago that 

 the question of slavery whenever touched 

 upon in this country brought forth ridi- 

 cule and violent opposition. 



The people of the United States by put- 

 ting in their waste baskets the old solemn 

 formula of the "Divine Right of Kings" 

 have done much to abolish war. But this 

 country did more by showing to other na- 

 tions that a great, happy, prosperous com- 

 monwealth can be built up quicker and 

 surer by the power of higher ideals and of 

 honest work than by war and conquest. 



It is a current idea that to be prepared 

 for war is to avert war. This may be quite 

 true, but the main question remains to de- 

 termine what you call ' ' being prepared for 

 war. ' ' I very much believe that if we had 

 had no navy we should never had had a 

 war with Spain and we should not now be 

 burdened with a "Philippine Problem." 



Let me remind you of the fact that there 

 are $180,000,000 invested in our fleet that 

 is now in the Pacific which costs the people 

 of this republic a sum of money which 

 would irrigate permanently 6,000,000 acres 

 of arid land and transform it forever into 

 a bountiful, rich agricultural district that 

 would provide permanent, prosperous 

 homes for 120,000 families of good, self- 

 respecting, independent citizens. It would 

 build 60 to 100 great electric power plants. 

 It would utilize some of the natural re- 

 sources of this country, make them avail- 

 able for transportation, light, heat and 

 power to all citizens of this republic in- 

 stead of leaving them to be exploited for 

 private gain. 



Every battleship which now goes to the 

 junk pile after a few years of parading, 

 costs a sum of money which would enable 



us to build, equip and endow every time, a . 

 splendid university or technical school that 

 would rank with the very best of the 

 world's institutions and the benefits of 

 which would be increasing and everlasting. 



Yet I know there are many among my 

 friends who believe that the surest way to 

 avert war is to make it so horrible that no- 

 body dares to engage in it. If the con- 

 servative military class had been left to 

 themselves they probably would still be 

 fighting with bows and arrows, but scien- 

 tists and inventors have been encouraged 

 to give them their support. Whenever a 

 new invention appears, the question is 

 raised immediately. How can it be used in 

 war? Napoleon's interest in Fulton's ship 

 was exclusively inspired by the possibility 

 of using steamships in his war with Eng- 

 land. Even nowadays balloons and flying 

 machines receive their main encouragement 

 from those who concentrate their attention 

 on war and its engines. 



Let me tell you that this attitude of 

 mind is practically the same as if every 

 time our friend, Professor Bogert, dis- 

 covers a new synthetic product with a 

 never-ending name, somebody would come 

 around and pay him to make a ripping and 

 killing poison out of it. 



The intervention of science and engi- 

 neering has not only made war more hor- 

 rible than before, but has shorn away its 

 pieturesqueness which used to inspire the 

 Don Quixotes whenever worms killed other 

 worms. Furthermore, the gods of war no 

 longer are influenced by the ofi'erings or 

 sacrifices or clamoring prayers of long- 

 robed priests. They do not even take into 

 consideration the so-called righteousness of 

 the cause. On the other hand, they seem 

 to have become very decidedly partial to 

 the nation whose artillerists do not forget 

 their logarithms during the heat of battle 

 or whose explosives are best nitrated. In- 



