New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-03-03
THE DEFENCE OF A PAClFlST
Professor Muzzev Explains Why Too Dgnd and Too Cognzan
Responsibility to the Fight

2
especially because believe that newer Ideals
Of Justice and conduct among peoples must
ever be devised by this nation which is found
cd on faith in the peaceful and harmonious
cooperation of men OF various races ana
creeds. To keep that faith would waive
many right, and to defend that taith
would make every sacrifice. We should think
more of our duties and less of our rights.
have no quarrel with the man who honestly
believes that It is our duty 10 fight now for
an IDEAL ! nave no sympathy with the man
Who maintains that it is our duty to hght
row for our rights. From an ethical point oil
view the latter contention is a contradiction
in terms.
Waive Our Rights at Sea
There remains the question of sacrihce OF
American lives by the covert act" And IN
urging my point here | know that shall lay
,,vself omen to violent contradiction. Inc
folIov,inQ fact however, seems clear TO me:
Germany has not aimed at a single American
life and does not want to take a single
american life. The hackneyed analogy OF
the man Shaping my wife's face on the street
is beside the point. The real analogy should
be my wifes getting nit by the elbow oil
man lighting another man on the sldewaiS'
f Won answer that the sidewalk is no place ior
mon 10 be lighting, and that you and your
wife have a perfect right to walk 'hele'
Quite true. But would you and your "'le
actually walk there under the circumstance
am not defending Germanys rlght 20 ihaHe
zone of the high seas unsafe. protest
against her action as inhuman and Daroarous'
J am only arguing that 1t IS her enemy '"a1
she seeks in that zone, and not US one eve"
nrov,dod a path OF safety through the zone,
nj
the British frigatc Leopard lowered oil the
Virginia shores in the summer OF leOr lying
in wait for American vessels. and fired SOLID
shot into the Chesapeake. killing or woundng
twcnty-one American citizens, we did not go
to war over it-but am citing precedentS.
There need rot be single neutral American
life sacrificed in this contest If American
citizens vii! waive the right of sailing
through the war zone on ships loaded with
. German defined contraband, as they have
waived the right of sending ships loaded with
English defined contraband through the North
Sea to Germany. This seems TO me small
rrce to pay for the inestimable boon OF pre-
serving our peace. for, although there may be
"worse things than war" they arc pretty
hard to name.
But would go even further. It is con-
vention Of national "honOr" that the whole
armed force Of country shall he put IN
motion 10 avenge the loss Of single IRE.
Obviously. il Is not the life that is so vaua-
BILE. or il would be the acme of folly to spend
thousands Of other lives in ayenglng that one.
II is for an ideal that the country fights.
Now. matching ideal with ideal. which Is
/ higher. the avenging ideal of the duelist
Who fearing TO be called a coward, meets
aFront with counterfront, or the transcendent
- ho se "
say too proud" but too dgnifed. too emanci-
pated. TOO cognzant Of his responsibility TO
the civilization of the future to resort TO the
Ter toEOnis? Rut. you say. this conduct can
rot be practised between nations. You mean
that it never has been practsed between ma
ttions Where on the face Of the globe is the
country half so favored by its situation, its
wealth. its power and its prestige as these
United States of America to make the belated
beginning of the practice Of this ideal?
A Pestiferous Pacifst
/ This is my conviction in the present crisis.
1t is not dictated by fear or cowardice. The
epithots of "whte- blooded," Craven" "ef-
Terminate" as though a woman's courage were
rot the noblest in the worldD pass me by
like the idle wind. | care not a whit whether
am classed as "pacifst" or even as one Of
Theodore Roosevelt's "pestferous pacifists.'
The reformer has always been "pestiferous,'
Mr.. Roosevelt, as you yourself were when
YOU were doing good work. Ny position is
not Tolstoyan non-resistance. 1t is as unfair
/ to class with the peace at-any-price advocates
the man who sees in this particular crisis
I better reasons for keeping the peace than for
entering the war as * is TO class with the
+ war-at-any- provocation advocates the man
who honestly but regretfully thinks that We
ought 10 enter this war now. Unfortunately,
we cannot escape the facile and superficial
+ concentrations that heated public opinion
and a persuasive press encourage just at
those critical moments when judgments
should be kept most clear and impartial.
am not Tolstoyan non-resistant. | believe
/ Belgium did right in defending her soil and
/ France, and Germany. if she was attacked by
/ Russia treacherously, as she claims. | be-
/ ieve England did right in entering the war
/ to check the encroachment of Germany on
/ the neutralized soil of Belgium that is so
/ important to her own safety on her Channel
base. And if this country were invaded. if
/ its ideals were threatened with destruction,
/ if it were in danger Of being wiped out as a
/ great experiment station for free and peace
/ ful democracy, would rise with all my fell
! low Americans to defend il.
! DAVID s. MUZZEY.
Columbia University, Faculty OF Political
Science
New York, Feb. rs. 1917.