The Washington herald., 1914-11-17

! no more to confess than he had
! before the declaration of war.
! In no real sense is his lecture
i confession II is a powerful
- statement of the forces that lie
behind the ghastly situation in Europe forces that
he recognized and warned the world against long ago
He quotes Norman Angels saying: We were not
successful We were merely right" He has not less
but more reason for quoting it with satisfaction
account of its being literally and fguratively
untrue The present war is the greatest triumph
ever won by the advocates of peace 1t has clarified
the air of the wreched can't spread by the lovers
defamers of peace. Never before has been so
detested as it is now. Never before has its folly
been so ruthlesy exposed and never before has the
world been so eager to find out just what the
of war are and just what to do to make them in
operative and finally to drive them of existence
little story that DR.. Jordan tells seems to me
to be the most significant feature of his talk, the
GEM At railway station French soldier, taking
al afectonate farewell of his mother. happened to
fall under the eye of German soldier The Ger
man was surprised to find that the Frenchman had
sympathetic human qualities exactly like his own. He
had been taught to regard Frenchmen as monsters.
He had gone through the training that Dr. Jordan
points out as one of the most effective of i'll
feeling among the. nations the enforced military
service dividing great masses of fellow beings into
hostile groups
After a long tour in Europe DR.. Jordan has be-
come all the firmly convinced that raee-hatred
is largely mythical The races hate each other only
as they have been subjected to hate-breeding nAu-
ences from outside Both in France and Germany
there have been groups persstently working against
the hostility between those nations and trying
to bring about understanding In Germany there
have been two parties around the Kaiser, the mill
tary arstocracy clamoring for war and the leaders
in great constructive enterprises clamoring for peace
What DR. Jordan rests his faith on is democracy.
Apart from the warning nations stands the United
States free from the control of those whose interest
it is TO participate war In every audience he looks
out representatives of nearly all the nations peace
fully living side by side What he breads most is the
sowing OF suspicion which breeds the iwill leading
to The worst foes to peace those who go
about spreading stories of imaginary danger.
There is so much that DR.. Jordan has to say on
the subject OF war that for complete expression, he
would need several lectures For war as he makes
plain radiates back into the life that we regard as
peace, finding its roots there and deriving the nour
shmen that in the present conflict, is appalling
and yet so inconceivabe. He has much to say for
example, the effect Of competition encouraged
in our educational life In England where such COM
petition thrives by of prizes and scholarships
he has lately been sounding his warnings
There are those who call this war war of fear
and those who call it trade war 1t is both 1t is
also special interest war the special interest belong
ing to the gun manufacturers. According to DR.
Jordan they have developed elaborate system off
agents for influencing legislation in favor of and
for melting and spreading trouble. War is remun
erative to the Krupps that they have been known to
hide their real prosperity under the pretense of
pary twenty per cent dividend. If we could only
get the Krupps and their kind to speak out in their
own defense, what interesting revelation they
would make of the human instinct to Justify all it
does for the sake OF advantage They would prob
ably be able to offer impressive arguments. |
Among other things they could say that they were
engaged in enterprise that the world considered
perfectly legitimate enterprise, in other words,
sustained by public opinion for the purpose of meet
ing what the world considers great need.
In the brief space of lecture DR.. Jordan cannot
give elaborate consideration to plans for resisting
the spirit of and cultivang the peace spirit He
does, however point out the Importance of our ceas
ing to regard as glorious thing and celebrating
war victories with gIoating. Already we are begin
ming to recognize that have made war heroes
altogether too conspicuous in the minds of the young
and have not sufficiently played up the peace heroes
the constructive workers, the real forces for progress
The more clearly we recognize the nature of war
with the infamous human qualities it develops and
lets loose on the world the ready we shall be !
to put it in the category where belongs among the
shames of blundering civilization.
In listening TO this peace advocate one living in
this part of the world has reason to feel proud He
represents the finest type of Californian. As a
speaker, he might be taken a model for all speak
ers He shows that he thinks, not of himself but
of what he has to say And what he has to say !
comes out of an abundant mind 1t gives the impress
sion that there is much more left unsaid that one
would like to hear. 1t fairly pours out And the
manner, in its freedom, apparently takes care of
itself 1t is colloquial and yet dignihed. Together
words and express that large humanity which,
instead of being over-refned weakened by culture,
has grown richer through insight and sympathy The