Evening star., 1918-02-03
BY HARVEY o,HIGGINe.

$50 far" wrote William James, war
pline a,whole community" And in your
textbook on social psychology you have
read William McDougalrs testimony:
LAS one travels up any of the larger
rivers Of Borneo one meets with tribes
that are successfully more warlike. In
the coast regions are peaceful COM
munities which never fight save in self
defense. and then with but poor sue
cess, while in the central regions, where
the rivers take their rise, are number
of extremely warlike tribes whose raids
have been constant source of terror
to the communities settled in the low
err reaches of the rivers. And between
those tribes at the center and those In
the coast regions are others that serve
as a buffer between them. being de-
cilledly more bellicose than the latter
but less so than The former. It might
be supposed that the peaceful coast
wise people would be found to be su-
perior in moral qualities to their war
like neighbors; but the contrary is the
case.
TN almost all respects the advantage
lies with the warlike tribes. Their
houses are better built, larger and
cleaner; their domestic morality is su-
perior: they are physically stronger.
are braver and physically and mentally
more active. and, in general are more
trustworthy.
Loyalty Much Greater.
"Bpt, above all. their social organi-
cation is firmer and more efficient, be-
cause their respect for and obedience
to their chief and their loyalty to their
community are much greater; each
man identifies himself with the whole
community and accepts and Loyalty
performs the social duties laid upon
him And the moderately warlike
tribes occupying the intermediate
region stand midway between them and
the people of the coast as regards
| these moral qualities"
Similarly in China and India. Nc
Dougall goes on to say. the people are
patient and ng-sufrering, have no
taste for war and despise the. military
virtues. "At the same time they seem
| to be deficient in those social qualities
! which may be summed up in the one
word. 'conscientiousness.' and which
are the cement of societies and essen
| tial factors of their progressive inte-
| grafton" In other words, war can be,
among savage peoples. a powerful civ
| i1iZer. Among the most peaceful races
| the absence of a warlike spirit makes
! fabby social system. And, though
we have been SO reluctant to enter
| this conflict with Germany. and though
| We seek no territory. no imperial
| power and no commercial advantage.
| but aim only to defeat a military au-
| tocracy that is an old enemy of peace
| still it is already evident from the
i new tone of our public life that such
| social psychologists as James and Nc
| Dougall have not been wrong. The
1 war is Bringing US a private gain that
| we had not counted on.
War Brings Sudden Change to Men.
| In our recent struggle for the new
! freedom of which President Wilson
| wrote. the great obstacle to political
| and economic reform has been our lacI
| of social conscientiousness. We were
| apathetic. We were self-seeking. We
| felt no moral obligation of patriotism
in doing our political duties, no sense
of responsibility for the welfare Of oul
! fellow citizens. 1t was said of The
| nations affairs: What is every body's
| business is nobody's business" And il
was true. The country was hopelessly
| divided into class antagonisms, sec
tional quarrels, individual ambitions
exploiters and exploited, oppressors ant
! oppressed.
Suddenly in a few months the wal
has done what all the political preach
| ing and reform crusading of a decad,
| had hardly begun to do. Men whit
! could not be bothered to vote for theil
| country find themselves called upon t,
die for it. Warning classes that saw
in political power nothing but an op
portunity to pursue their enr'tf"s hav'