The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-12-11
!. TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORM ALTON
BUREAU
FREDERIC J. HAaKIN. Darsetos
THE NOBEL PRIZE.
Warrington, d. G

THE NOBEL PRIZE.
Washington, d. c., Dec. s.-A fea-
ture of President Wilson's trip to Eu-
rope will be the awarding of the No
bel peace prize. of which he Is the
winner for the current year. Accord
ing to NobePs directions. the prize will
be ceremoniously presented by a COM
nittee OF five persons elected by the
Storthing-the parliamentary body Of
Norway.
It is a stipulation Of the conditions
| on which the peace prize Is awarded
that the winner appear at Chrtstiania
within six months after accepting it
At another time. this requirement
| would undoubtedly be entirely with
drawn in Mr.. Wilson's case. But as
the president is to be IN Europe when
especially invited him II como to
Christiania, IL possible. and believes
that he will consider the Nobel prize
, an international honor Of sufficient
| importance to keep to the traditions
surrounding the award.
Besides the honor of being pro-
claimed the person who has best adj
| vanced the interests of peace, the
prize winner receives q gold medal
and sum of money amounting to
about $4,000.
Alfred Bernhard Nobel, the founder
Of the peace prize that bears his name.
was a Swedish chemist who from boy
hood worked with instruments OF de-
struetion; AS a boy: he saw his
yzed by the explosive result Of a high
| ly successful experiment with nitro
glycerin. Yet he continued to work
| with nitro-glycerin until he secured
more powerful explosive than dyna-
mite.
With his trunks packed with this
explosive instead of a wardrobe, he
came to New York to market his in
vention. As no hotel would take the
| risk of harboring enough powder to
blow up q city square, he soon left for
| San Francisco where he started a fac
| tory to manufacture high explosives
according to the formulas he had per-
| fected. He later evolved the smoke
| less powder known as ballistite. and
thru this and his other explosives
| gained a large fortune.
The incongruity Of the inventor of
| the most powerful explosive that ever
added to the terrors OF war being the
founder of a prize to promote peace
would not have been apparent to
Nobel. It was not until the last years
of his life that he was won over to
| the doctrines OF peace, but even then
he viewed his inventions as instru-
ments which would make for peace.
His argument was that by making
| war unbearable, it would become an
that in modern times makers of war
| usuallytake part in fighting by proxy.
and also that given a motive suffi-
| GENTLY strong the apparently unbear-
able is borne.
Possibly NobeTs attitude was as
| sumed as justification for his position
| as inventor and manufacturer of a
| material so clearly related to war and
destruction. Certainly his endow-
ments were an attempt to prove his
| desire to promote civilization rather
than impede its progress. AS 1t was
NobeIs firm belief that a fortune in
herited was curse, and not a bless
ing, it was inevitable that he shoEis
dispose of the sum of $4,000, 900 which
made up his fortune at the time OF
his death, by bestowjng it upon some
institution already in existence, or to
be founded.
His will ordered that the eight mil
| lion dollars should be invested and
| the interest divided each year among
| five persons, without reference to ma
tionality, who had made most prog
ress in medicine. physics. chemistry,
idealistic literature and promotion of
peace. This direction has not been
literally carried out, as Nobel institutes
never dreamed of by Nobel himself
| have absorbed part of the principal
in their buildings and upkeep. The
reason given for the existence Of these
libraries and laboratories is that it is
necessary for the judges to investigate
the claims of the candidates in order
| to distribute the awards more fairly.
More of the principal has been used
in salaries and general administration
| expenses. AS a result of this lessen
ing of the fund the prizes are only
about half of what they might have
been if incidentally had not crept in.
| In some years. too, when no suitable
candidate is named for one of the
prizes, the prize money can be used for
administration purposes according to q
provisions of Nobel's will.
Even tho the bequest is smaller than
would be expected, $4,000 is a gift of
sufficient size to enable the person re-
n ceiving it to add to his achievements.
This was Nobeps idea in bestowing the
money. and he attempted to insure his
plan being carried out by limiting the
awards so that they were to be granted
for results accomplished during the
year preceding the award, whenever
possible, exception to be made where
no suitable recognition had ever been
previously given. This exception has
proved an elastic bit of red tape, for it
has been stretched to include men of
seventy years and over, whose work
was avowedly finished. To these men
the bequest might come as a welcome
relief from financial strain and there
fore serve in a worthy cause, but the
| cause was not OF NODel S choosing.
To his idealistic mind the bequest
was to serve the winner as a stepping
stone to greater achievements. AS a
matter of fact. SO far as the peace
prize is concerned. this purpose has
seldom been fulfilled. This is prob
ably due to the fact that age rather
than youth appreciates the advantages
Of peace, and that a worldwide or
even national hearing in the cause of
international brotherhood is not often
allowed to even the most erudite of
young philosophers, diplomats or
statesmen.
Since the first prizes were granted
in 1901, five years after NobeTs death,