Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1927-08-04
THE PEOPLE AND WAR
Duluth Herald)


Mr.. Houghton, the American am
bassador to Great Britain, in his
speech to the Harvard alumni recent
ly raised an issue that ought not to
be dropped until something comes of
it.
He asked why it is that free peoples,
who pride themselves on their demo-
cratic form of government, remain
content with free government that
works at all times except when it
come to making war. and then utterly
fails to work at all. Why do they suf-
fer this, when it is they who fight
all wars and pay for all wars, all
costly preparations for war and every
oppressive aftermath of war?
Many have demanded that there be
no war until the people have passed
on the question, but they have been
radicals, as a rule, who have not
much impressed the public by their
practically. But Mr.. Houghton is no
radical; far from it. And though his
proposal is radical enough, it Is also
so sensible that the time will come
when it will be accepted as sound con-
servatism.
For if conservatism doesn't reason
ably safeguard human life and pro-
perty, what is it for?
Not that Mr.. Houghton would make
the rule that popular vote must
precede war as universal as the radi-
cal would. The radicals way might
put nation completely in the hands
of the enemy while the discussion was
going on and before the vote was
taken. Mr.. Houghton proposes that
this nation and other nations indi-
vidually-this nation and Great Brit
ain, for instance-agree not to go to
war with each other until after a
popular vote, and then agree further
not to go to war with each other for
a century.
That, surely, is worth considering.
But also we'll worth considering is
what Mr.. Houghton said in his speech
about the way war is made:
War does not originate in sudden
Impulse ON the part OF
one of these great national masses to
go out and slaughter another. War is
the outcome of series of maneuvers
by which the masses concerned are
brought into positions of opposition.
Obviously this is not done by the mas
ses themselves; their interests are di-
rected to the. more humble and prosaic
task of earning living. The maneuv-
ering is done by little groups of men
called governments. ,-.-. g.:
These little groups seek constantly
and naturally to gain supposed advant-
they represent are gradually maneuv-
cred into positions which cannot be
surrendered: If the process continues.
which an agreement between these
small groups becomes impossible
Then. on the grounds that their lives
and families and property are somehow
endangered. these great masses of men
and women, reused by every power of
organized appeal and propaganda. are
ordered under arms. and war follows:
The entire process is in control of
the smaller groups. They make the
issue. They declare the war. The mas
ses they control simply obey: Having
the hands of their governments. they
find themselves substantially helpless.
And so. as individuals. they merely
the bills of war with their bodies. and
perhaps with their souls. in the hope
that if not they then those who come
tlCer IneIn may reap d DeneIlt In some
measure proportionate to it's cost. - .
That is vivid-and true-picture
of how wars start, and of how little
those who fight them and pay for
them have to do with making them.
Mr.. Houghton pointed out-and it
was time it were being pointed out
that the peoples control their govern
ments fairly well well in every issue
but that which, when it comes,
strikes them hardest and imposes the
bitterest burdens upon them: the issue
of war.
Why should they not have at least |
some measure of control over that |
which touches them so deeply?
Coming from a radical. this picture |
Of the process of making wars and |
Of working the peoples up to the ugly |
business of fighting them would not |
have made a great impression. Com
ing from a conservative, the ambassa-
Tor of this nation to it's greatest |
leighbor, it cannot fail, as time goes
On, to make an ever-deepening i'm
preston. e..
Once let the peoples know that It
s possible for them to control the Is
sues of war, and that they need not
ct themselves be driven into war like
sheep and propagandized into the
'alse hate and blood-lust without
which war could not last a day, and
nobody knows what the end will be.