Evening star., 1926-05-16

~ IITARY men and engineers
! N n have delved into the sciences
| W and other branches of knowl-
edge and even created sci
! ence Of their own in or
der that they might succeed In
war. Using our advances in the arts
and industry they made, and are
| still making, astounding contrlou-
| tions to the surgery Of war. But 1t
| is their efficiency, or rather the re-
| suits Of their successes, that now lead
! to the cries of a united world to out
| law those very methods that have
! been developed We view the remains
of the last conflict with the depres-
! sion of the morning after. DeSoiated
! homes, economic burdens, human
! losses are reflected in the prayers OF
! peace.
But this dream, this great emo
tionaI appeal that there be no recur-
! renee of the last conflict, what will 1t
accomplish, what can 1t actually 40:
| Supplemented by prayer 1t may be
one of the most desirable agencies to-
ward peace, provided. however, that
we anchor it to facts and the proper
machinery. Merely to have it float
| in the air as something wished for,
but without a practical program for
getting it, means that 1t will spend It,
self until we have hopeless world:
Our experience has shown that the
peace Of the world is not assured by
| the surgery of war. Is it too much
| TO expect better results from the
science of preventative research?
Not so long ago we desired to out
| law the yellow fever. We desired to
| outlaw typhoid. We desired to out
law diphtheria. We desired to shake
! off the enervating shackles of the
hookworm.
Prayed and Suffered.
| For centuries before men had
prayed and suffered. They had ex-
| hibited the greatest daring and brav-
cry in dealing with these plaques.
| All their heroism, all their prayers
availed them nothing for their relief
| for God, in His infinite wisdom, had
seemed to say you must help your
selves.
| And vet the plaques and yellow
fever. typhoid and diphtheria, the
| hookworm and malaria are outlaWed
in the world today.
How was it accomplished! Ine
dramatic story is well known: me
! patient research worker in his lab
! oratory, seeking facts, building theo-
ries and testing them by experiments,
showing not only devotion to his
work, but frequently a self-sacrifice
which led to his death, came through
victor. The practicing physicians
who are the administrators OF medl.
cine, adopted the fruits of that re-
search, and today these diseases for
the most part exist no more. Science
blazed the way for the administrator
| to follow.
So with war. We must create a
science to deal with this world mala-
dy. We must provide the machinery
to isolate the facts about the diseases
in the international system by meth
DDS as scientific as those employed
so successfully in other fields. There
must be a systematic body of things
known if we desire to make our aSpi-
rations for peace effective.
Can Science Be Applied?
And let me anticipate the question
as to whether research or science can
be advantageously applied in this con-
nection by status that facts can be
applied in any field. Our curse is
ignorance. Facts are our scarest raw
material. This is shown by the econ
omy with which we use them. One
has to dig deep for them because
! they are as difficult to get as they
are precious to have.
The Walter Hines Page School OF
International Relations that Is to 10