Evening star., 1923-03-04
BY THOMAS n. MARSHALL,
Former Vice President OF the Unite.
States.


INDER the code duello there
were certain persons with
~ whom ono need not fight.
The knight of old was
quite particular, in fact. to ascer-
tain the character of the person
onerfng insult before presenting q
formal challenge, or accepting one.
No dignity nor prestige was lost
by refusal to meet an unworthy
adversary. Woodrow Wilson prob
ably had something OF this kind in
mind when he said America was
too proud to fight-a statement
that inspired attack on its maker
from many sources. Men who
wished to fight were incensed at
the thought OF such q view being
held by any one. particularly by
the President of the United States,
who was commander -in-chief Of
the Army and Navy as well. The
former President was wise not to
attempt explanation. He merely
bfded his time and demonstrated
at the proper moment that as a
warrior he was as valiant as the
most warlike man in America. He
was well within the line that sep
arates the gentleman from the
bu!ly when he held that proud
and self-reliant man may well be
content to suffer even an intended
insult rather than to lower him
self to the level of the man that
offers 1T. AT the moment Of his ut
terance, President Wilson had not
yet satisfied himself that mad
dened Germany really intended to
offer deliberate insult to America.
1T was weary weeks afterward
that the people of the nation reach
ed conclusion that we should fight.
None OF the criticism objected at
the President was deserved
The war is not long ended,
either happily or unhappily I do
not say, and I refer to the too
proud-to-flght" incident only by
way of illustration touching paci-
fsm. In the years since the ar
mistice most of US have been say
ing, 1T must not be again" We
guarantee the future against any
recurrence of war. It is all right
to feel that way and to hope that
war VIII be no more, but we are
FOOLISH and are deluding ourselves
II we have come to the conclusion
that our hopes are realized, that
the ideal condition toward which
we have turned our eyes has be-
come actual. The most we should
have striven for was unceasing
enort on our part to minimize the
chances of war and to spread the
gospel Of peace.
The Christian may be justified
in non-resistance under all cir
cumstances, but until the whole
world becomes Christian the quesz
tion as to how pacific a paciast
ought to be will continue to exist.
No one, / think, will accuse me Of
being either quarrelsome or bel
ligerent. and i do not t-expect to
be called a jingo II l call attention
TO certain subtle and mysterious
influences at work in our repub-
lie. There is danger OF our pass
ing the point Of being too proud
to fight and of reaching the point
of not wanting to fight and of
approaching the point OF declaring
we Will not fight. From various
communities letters are coming to
me asking If l do not deem It ad-
vtsable that the young men of the
country be trained to say, we are
not going to fight. These are so
numerous as to preclude either
their preservation or their answer.
They have impressed me with the
belief that education along peace
full lines too strongly stressed
without regeneration may lead not
to the survival of the fittest, but to
the survival of the strongest.
X 4
In the course of my career at
the bar I met a man who felt that
as Christian he ought not to go
to law. He had perfectly good
title to eighty acres Of land but
no importantly upon my part
could induce him to defend his
title. He permitted his land vir-
tually to be stolen from him rath-
er than assert his right. And he
died in the poorhouse. I do not