The Washington herald., 1915-11-21
THE OPEN FORUM
In Which Readers of The Herald Give Their Views
on Current Topics.

Editor OF The washington Herald:
Peace at any price might mean peace
at 50 great a price as to sacrifice
every essential element Of true man
hood to false peace. II peace AT
any price had governed men and ma
tfons since the advent of Christianity.
the Christian world today would be
in a doleful condition. Picture the
state OF Europe and America had re-
sistance never been made, by small
and weak states against the monstrous
pretentions of their powerful and IN
scrupulous aggressors- There would
be no such thing as a free govern
ment: IL is safe to say there would
be no such thing as a small nation.
for the despotic would have subju-
gated the popular governments and
the large would have absorbed the
small states.
Peace at any price, would have
caused Belgium to become a part of
the German empire without resist
ance. France would have been de-
prived of her valuable northern prov
inces; England would have calmly
looked on while such outrages were
perpetrated. She would have refrained
from making preparation and as a
consequence reduced to a second-rate
power, which would have been the
ultimate price paid under the policy
of peace at any price"
BeIsium's Place In History.
II a nation pays its independence
for peace. IL has paid too much; If II
pays its national honor, IL pays too
much. Better devastation and all the
horrors of war than peace at an
ignobIe price. Little Belgium. suffer-
ing as she Is today. is better OF than
she would be. with her Industries un-
disturbed, her palaces intact and her
grand cathedral rising in its splendor.
and the flag Of conquering Germany
flying over all. She has lost much,
she has suffered much. but with all
her losses and amidst her sufferings
she has gained the respect Of the
present and will be aR object of ad-
miration to all future ages.
There would not be a small indie
pendent state in Europe today. IL they
had paid any price for peace, for each
and every one would have paid its
national autonomy for peace. All his
tory shows this not to be an exagger-
ated statement Spain would have con-
quered Holland, which preserved its
independence only by one of the most
desperate and heroic wars Of history.
Austria would have subdued Switzer-
land, which maintained itself against
Austrian invasion by a struggle sim
liar to that fought by little Holland
against all the power Of Philip of
Spain. II willing to pay any price for
peace our own Revolutionary fathers
would have submitted to Parliament
airy oppression and there would have
been no revolution and no United
States. II governed by the same pol
icy the South American Spanish prov
inces would have preferred subsection
with peace rather than independence
with war. and still remain Spanish
colonies and not independent Ameri-
can republics. Had all peoples. of all
ges. in all quarters of the earth main
tanned the policy of peace at any
price," and paid any price to avert
war. there would be no small nations:
all would long ago have been absorbed
in the few great military despotisms
who not believing in peace at any
price or in peace at all had subdued
and divided the civilized. and as far
as that goes. the uncivilized world
among themselves.
W. A FOSTER