The Washington herald., 1916-08-09
CIVILIANS HIT
BY WAR WAVE
Nordau Says Treatment Of
European Noncombatants
Is "Abominable."
By MAX NORDAU.
lInternat tlOnaI NekNs SerXIcel

aDomlnable feature of the present war
rich as 1t Is in atrocities of all kinds, is
the treatment of unarmed civil popula-
tions by the belligerents. 1t is current
talk to speak of the bankruptcy of civil
ization, of the relapse into old and oldest
barbarism. But those who use these
terms are perhaps unaware how deep
they must dive into the past in order to
meet an example OF the cruelties that are
at present systematically committed.
All the nations at war are guilty, al
though not in the same measure. Some
have invented refinements of tortures
Itoppings of violence, while others limit
themselves to lenient limitations. But not
one has consented to respect the most
elementary human rights and the dignity
of personality
The war broke out suddenly and sur
prised hundreds of thousands of foreign
crs in countries where Unexpectedly, from
one day to the other, they found them
selves reduced to the condition of enc
mics.
We must try to realize the state OF
Europe at the beginning of the twentieth
century. Civilized man has ceased to be
a zoOphyt or a tree rooted in the soil
and bound to live and die on the spot
where it is born. He has become accus-
toned to consider freedom of movement
one of his fundamental privileges.
Degree of CosmopoIitanism.
A certain degree of cosmopolitanism
which is not necessarily opposed to at
tachment to the native country and tc
loyalty towards the own people, forms
part Of the modern view OF the world
Sure enough. only unpTinCipled villains
proclaim: "Ubi bene, ibi patria," where
live snugly, there is my country" But
nobody denies to himself the right t.
look out for a favorable place where he
may hope to employ to the greatest ad'
vantage his capacities, and to harvest
the richest fruits of honest labor.
True: the frontiers are far from be-
ing abolished; however, they are low
cred everywhere and interrupted by
doors opening in them. Travelling is
favored and rendered easy. Every eff
fort is being made for developing in
ternational traffic. The growth OF
international exchange of commodi-
| ties is everywhere exalted ma
| tional triumph. The current of goods
and capital streaming from one Coun-
try into the other carries necessarily
large numbers of men along with IT
These strangers. retained in the land
partly by their economical interests
but partly also by their sympathies
settle there, found a home. marry per
haps a native. Children are born tC
them for whom the place where their
father is merely a host. has become
the mother country. the only one that
they know and cherish. Its Ian
guage becomes theirs. its school where
they receive their education, breathes
into them the national soul, the love
of the country, all its manners OF
thinking and feeling, even its preju-
diCes.
Conhding Immigrant Unsuspecting.
In many cases the immigrant seeks
and obtains naturalization. he merBcs
into his new Countrymen, and the war
changes nothing in his legal position
although it may possibly expose him
to heartbreaking conflicts OF sentI-
ment. But more frequently he neg
lects this measure of preCaution, he
preserves his original nationality, and
lives without misgivings in the for
eign country where he feels himself
in plain security, trusting the inter
national treaties which in all civilized
countries permit the foreigner to es-
tablish himself and extend to him the
protection of the general law.
The legendary COlchis of antiquity
is the only land of which tradition
tells us that it massacr"d the stranger
coming to it's weird shores. Even the
most inhospitable the most stranger
hating empires of historical times, the
old China and Japan, before they
threw wide open their doors, set apart
for foreigners at least certain sea
ports or quarters of towns where they
were allowed to dwell undisturbed
and to follow their pursuits. How
could stranger dream that all the
time, in the very midst of civilized
Europe, he was living in fools par
ho, a under hi :
feet?
The war burst upon the foreigner and
in every belligerent country he had shud-
dcringIy to learn that he was a marked
prey, that he was an outlaw, that over
night he had become a rightless slave.
In France and Russia the harshest treat
lnent was inflicted on enemy aliens. Ger
many and Austria Hungary established
ICategOries among them, allowed some 10
20 unhurt, and robbed others of their
liberty. Only England and Italy were for
many months regardful of them, and
even when later on the excited public
opinion forced the hands Of the govern
ments and obliged them to take Coerci-
tive measures, they limited these to the
smallest possible extent and softened con-
siderably their worst hardness.
It would have been understood if the
authorities everywhere had expelled the
enemy aliens. Nowhere has civilization
reached such a development as to
acknowledge the natural rights of men,
as to respect a brother in every creature
bearing a human face, as to grant his
peace to the foreigner also as long as he
abides TO all laws of the country. The
Bible prescribes to the Israelites: THE
stranger living within thy gates shall be
as a brother to thee" This was the law
of Moses. made imperative to his people
more than 5000 years ago, but up to this
day it has remained a dead letter to