The Detroit times., 1916-07-15
Has Pacifism Broken Down?
~ Or. FRANK CRANE
Copyright. 1916. ny Frank Crane)

This war has not made Hague confer
ences ridiculous. Everybody is not for
preparedness and big army and navy.
And we are not about to arm all the
little boys in school with rifles and teach
the girls to throw hand grenades instead
of bean bags.
On the contrary, every step the world
is making is toward the final abandon
ment of war.
If people have any sense at all they
must see, by the appalling example of
carnage and cruelty now going on in the
fields of France, that war is an expen-
sive, absurd, revolving, manacal, and ut
terly damned method of settling dis
putes between nations. 1t is inconceiv-
able that when Europe leaves the flower
of her manhood bruised and broken in
the trenches and finds herself saddled
with nightmare debt for many years
to pay for this orgy-it is inconceivable
that she will not have head enough to
think a bit, and at the conclusion of her
thinking, be it ever so brief, to swear by
that they will permit such gigantic folly
NEVER AGAIN.
Europe would not listen to the paci-
fists. When this war is over there will
be none but pacifists. The people will
then have TO go to work and do, after
the war, precisely what the pacifsts
urged them to do before the war: i. e.
CD Establish Hague Court permanent
ly; (2) back it up by military arm
strong enough TO enforce its DEGREES, and
CD abolish excessive ornaments for in
diyidual nations.
There's no other way to do. They
will HAVE to do that. 1t is as sure to
come as 1918. No thinker on earth ever
conceived any other way than this to
insure the permanence of our civilization.
But Europe had to kill few million
folks first. and burn up several billion
dollars worth of property. Because Eu-
rope was in the grip Of the Past. 1t
was chicken by the Ghosts of dead Ideas
| And those Ghosts never let go without
spilling blood.
Europe had to learn in the bitter and
expensive school of Experience what she
could have learned for nothing in the
school of Common Sense.
Pacilfsm means Americanism, because
! it means running a world by Federation,
settling quarrels by delegates, courts, and
responsible representatives, and not by
guns. And Europe is finding out by
hard knocks-which is the only way
proud stubborn and traditon-bound
minds can find out anything-that the
only salvation for Europe is to Ameri-
canize it. For if they don't establish a
United States of Europe over there
pretty soon the United States of Ameri-
ca will gobble up all the trade, all the
sturdiest population, and all the moral
force of the world.
The Empire bugaboo drives these
things away. The Federation idea at
tracts them.
This country is not hell bent for mill
tarism. 1t looked that way awhile. Shall
low thinkers were stampeded. But
there's no danger. The u. S. A. has too
much horse sense to jump into the same
ditch where Europe wallows.
The heather rage of course, and the
people imagine vain thing.
The people of this country have out
grown the poppycock and infantile
bumptiousness of war, and you can't put
grown man back to the boys point Of
view.
The people of this country do not in
tend to make war on Mexico. The pa
thence and forbearance of our present ad-
ministration, characteristic of conscious
strength and intelligent purpose, is over
whelmingly approved by vast majority
of us. We don't propose to send thou
sands of our picked young men into
lneighboring state to annex or gain
GLORY" by conquering it,
We don't care for glory" thank you.
All we want is justice, order and peace.
We will fight willingly enough to attain