New-York tribune., 1909-02-28
SAVE WORDS ON PEACE.

Not many men are entitled to speak on the
making and maintenance of peace among lhe
nations as authoritadyey as Mr.. Root is, anu
not many have done SO with more me rea-
sonableness and convincing eioquence than ne
did at the dinner of the Peace Society III MS
honor on Friday night 1t was fitting that mat
society should honor him, since he has Tor years
been eminent and efficient in the pracucal at
tainmeut Of those ends which are the objects of
its desire. 1t was also lifting, and' we trust
will prove profitable, that he spoke with frank
ness even TO the extent OF saying some things
which probably did not accord with some of the
ideals of some Of his hosts. Upon nobody is IL
more incumbent to receive Hospitality all phases
of the truth and all intelligent and sincere e1-
pressions of Judgment than 1t IS upon the aGVo-
Gates of arbitration and universal peace anu
we may hope that Mr.. Roots well considered
words were welcome to the Peace Society, even
when he reminded 1t that SO long as there were
seIfshness and greed--so long, we may add III
paraphrase, as human nature is what it Is and
has ever been-there will be need of those IN
ternatiouaI policemen. armies and navles
Mr. Root did not largely dwell upon the unr1-
vailed work for peace which is inceSsantly being
done nv the diplomatic agencies Of the nations
though nobody could have done so with more
authority than he. and he might have done SO
without fearing any just reproach OK magnify
ing his own offices. But upon the converse OF the
same subject the responsibility OF undlplomauc
sneakers and writers and of the general public
for that international distrust. resentment ana
i'll feeling from which actual quarrels ana wars
most often proceed, he did touch with words
which we could wish to have engraved upon the
mind and heart of every American citizen. by
far the greatest cause Of war;" he said is that
suspicion of injustice, threatened and intended,
(which comes from exaSperated feeling And
he went on to show how such feeling makes real
causes or lack of causes for war Of no account
Questions which can easily be solved between
nations which are friendly are insolu0le between
those which are unfriendly. And the feellngs
which so strongly facilitate or hamper the pe-
neficent labors of diplomacy ARE the products OF
1.-The acts and the words Of the peoples OF the
countries themselves, not of their government
Insult contemptuous treatment, bad manners
arrogant and provincial assertion OF superiority
"are the chief causes of wer to-day
That is exactly true, and exactly true also IS
Mr. Roofs declaration that in America we are
far from being free from guilt for such provoca-
tions TO war The recent action Of legislators IN
California and Nevada amounted TO an 1nteTna-
tional insult such as would bring On private war
in any private relation in our own country Inc
same is 10 be said Of the insult TO neighborng
nation which was recently uttered on the noor
of the House of Representatives. These are the
things which make for war incomparably more
than anv military armaments. Mr.. Root spoke
with the authority Of knowledge acquired by
personal study when he said that two-thirds OF
the suspicion dislike and distrust with which
we were lately regarded by South America was
the result Of the arrogant and contemptuous
bearing of the people Of this country-in brief
our national bad manners and ignorance-and
the happy change which in the last four years
has been effected in the feeling and attitude Of
those countries toward us 'is the result Of the
"conspicuous substitution Of the treatment that
''one gentleman owes TO another for the treat
N''rnent that one blackguard pays to another"
Those are strong words, but they are just ana
they should be highly profitable in influencing
the people Of our own country, In Congress, in
the press, in the pulpit on the platform, and.
indeed, everywhere, to speak the words and
think the thoughts and do the acts which make
for peace and not for war, and to frown upon
and discourage the things which make for war,
and as Mr. Root vigorously urged punish the
men who are guilty of them until it IS under
''stood and felt that an insult TO a friendly for
"eign power is disgrace TO the insulter, upon a
sleveI with the crimes that we denounce and
"for which we infict dsgraceful punishment by
law" To do that is something which can per
haps best be done through such organizations as
the Peace Society, and it may be that the doing
of IL will be the most valuable service which
they can perform.