Hollinger Corp. pH8.5 ) 613 .S78 -opy 1 Eugenic Peace, By Robert Stein. Synopsis. — National conduct, like individual conduct, is right or wrong according as it tends to increase or diminish human happiness. Human happiness depends mainly on the constitution of men them- selves. For the purposes of society, men are superior or inferior ac- cording as their presence tends to raise or lower the general level of happiness. Hence the queen of sciences is the science of eugenics, which aims to study the conditions which must be fulfilled in order that the superior types of men shall have the best chance to spread. In order to have the chance, they must have the power. The pro- verbial source of power is union. The way to get union is to make a beginning ; to unite a number of superior human elements into a nucleus large enough to attract the rest. The only conceivable nucleus is one consisting of Britain, France, Germany, and the United States. These four would constitute an International Executive Power strong enough to enforce perpetual, universal, eugenic peace. Hence the Anglo-Franco-German-American alliance is the supreme need, to which everything else must be subordinated. It is the duty of the United States to take the initiative, because it is easy for us and almost impossilile for the other three nations. If we take this initia- tive, our national conduct will be good ; if we refuse, our national conduct will be bad. Shall we remain idle spectators of the greatest horror in history, when we have the power to stop it? The world looks to the United States for mediation. The President offered mediation once, and promised to offer it again at the opportune moment. Has not that moment arrived? By this time, surely, the combatants must be in a mood to listen to a proposal to extricate them from the deadlocked agony which threatens to continue indefinitely. Mediation would come in the nick of time. Merely to inquire whether mediation would be acceptable were almost an idle formality. Neither party can easily stop fighting if by so doing it would leave its future in uncer- <^^^ "l. tainty. If we are sincere in our professed desire to establish permanent peace, we must present to the combatants a plan which will make it possible for them to stop fighting. The Turning-point of History. The offer of a defensive alliance between the United States and Britain, on condition that France AND Germany be included, would accomplish two things: (1) Stop the war, (2) Make peace permanent. (1) Stop the War. The proposed offer, virtually amounting to an offer of Anglo-American reunion, would promptly lead to an under- standing between Britain and Germany. Perpetual Security of British Empire. In the words of her statesmen, Britain is ''fighting for life," in the belief that the defeat of her allies would leave her at the mercy of Germany. Nothing but the conviction of this inexorable necessity could have moved Britain to undertake the gruesome and seemingly hopeless task of crushing her own Mother, the land of universities, the land without illiterates. If Britain and her Gigantic Daughter were reunited, if the restored English-speaking nation pos- sessed the assurance that all its members were ready to de- fend their common patrimony, as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa are today defending the British Empire, Britain would no longer feel that she was fighting for life, knowing that the power of united Anglo-Saxondom w^ould always be greater than that of Germany. No navy in the world could attempt to keep pace with the Anglo- American navy. Germany Must be Included. Thus as soon as the virtual offer of Anglo-American re- union is made, as soon as Britain is thus invited by us to accept the guarantee of perpetual security, she will no longer have any motive to continue the war but every motive to make peace on terms acceptable to Germany, in order to fulfill the condition accompanying the guarantee. Anglo- American reunion is evidently impossible without the con- sent of the German-Americans, which will not be given un- less Germany be included. When this is accomplished, Britain will no longer have any motive to oppose her Mother's expansion, but on the contrary, every motive to aid her in acquiring any lands not owned by Britain herself. France Must be Included. An alliance between Britain and Germany is impossible unless France be included. When Britain, France, and the United States on the one hand, and Britain, Germany, and the United States on the other, are ready for the alliance, the pressure for mutual concessions between France and Germany will become irresistible. The "hereditary enmity" will yield to compromise, just as the much older "hereditary enmity" between Britain and France did in 1904. No Return to Monarchy. Anglo-American reunion does not mean the resumption of allegiance to a king. It simply means a confederation of the English-speaking nations for common defense, each member being left as independent in its internal affairs as before. In the Congress or Parliament of this Anglo-Saxon Confederation, the United States, by reason of its larger population, would have the preponderant vote. Since Canada and the United States together number more than twice as many inhabitants as the rest of the English-speak- ing countries together, it is evident that the meeting-place of the Congress or Parliament would have to be on the Western Hemisphere. We should not have to increase our arma- ment; our present navy, combined with the British navy, and backed by om* financial resources, would amply suffice for the security of reunited Anglo-Saxondom. We should not be called upon to share in the administration of Britain's colonies any more than Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa are called upon today. (2) Make Peace Permanent. The union of the four freest, strongest, most enlightened and progressive nations would at once insure universal peace. Force is the Guarantee of Peace. When the executive power of any nation is weak, there is constant danger of internal war. Similarly, permanent international peace is not possible without a strong, firmly- knit International Executive Power, that is to say, in the words of the Navy League, "the concentration of the pre- ponderant military strength into the hands of the most pacific communities." The peace which till lately was well- nigh universal was the result of the gradual consolidation of many small nations into a few large nations. It was broken because these few large nations were not yet con- solidated. One more consolidation, and peace will be per- petual. Not Too Many Cooks. If the International Executive Power is not to become a powerless power through its own complexity and internal friction, it must not include more nations than will suffice to make it securely preponderant. Peace with Righteousness. In order to have the best assurance that this Power will always be on the side of justice and progress, it must be com- posed of those governments that are responsible to the most enlightened, most humane constituencies, to whom the destinies of humanity may most safely be entrusted. Eugenic Peace. In order that the peace thus enforced shall be eugenic, that is to say, tending to promote the spread of the superior human elements, and thus to fulfill the main condition of the increase of human happiness, the nations entering the combination and made omnipotent through union must be the elite of humanity, so that, in seeking their own ad- vantage, they shall best promote the interests of the race. The Fou/r-pillared House of Peace. To state the above conditions is to name the only four nations that can fulfill them: Britain, France, Germany, and the United States. Evidently the alliance of these four great creditor nations would be strong enough to impose peace on the globe, and would be compelled by sheer regard for its financial interests to do so, when one nation no longer checks the other. The Gentlemanly Policeman. As soon as the other nations had become accustomed to the predominance of this Quadruple Alliance and had by experience become convinced that they had nothing to fear from it so long as they remained at peace, they would per- ceive the uselessness of their costly armaments and would reduce them. Thereupon the Quadruple AUiance could reduce its own armaments and still remain sufficiently pre- dominant to insure the world's peace. How to Crush Militarism. That is the way to crush militarism — to abolish the con- ditions which make it a necessity. So long as we have nearly a dozen big sticks of about the same size, they are bound to grow bigger and bigger; when there is only one big stick, it will quickly grow smaller. So long as we have an inco- herent multiplicity of nations, they will have no choice but to arrange themselves in rival groups, so balanced in strength as to constitute a practical deadlock, each nation being mean- while compelled to remain armed to the teeth in order to face the ubiquitous uncertainty and to make its alliance as valuable as possible. That is militarism — the lack of a Preponderant Power. Banish the Uncertainty. The moment you create the conditions which will enable the strongest nations to unite into an efficient concert, a preponderant, irresistible, firmly coherent power, dispensing the highest kind of justice, the uncertainty will be at an end, the temptation for the smaller nations to obtain ad- vantages by force of arms will vanish. All the minor arma- ments will become useless and disappear, and then there will be no motive for an increase of the one remaining great armament, but every motive for its reduction. Beware of Prenatal Asphyxia. Even though the four governments mentioned are the most reasonable, most enlightened, best-intentioned, and their real interests are least conflicting, nothing less than supreme wisdom and devotion will be needed to weld them together into an efficient, securely coherent International Executive Power. It were criminal folly to defeat the effort in advance, to stifle the infant before birth, by insisting that less reasonable, less enlightened, less well-intentioned gov- ernments, with sharply conflicting interests, must be invited to take part in the initial combination. When you have barely enough cement, you cannot afford to mix clay with it. Rmming a Theory into the Ground. When a man advocates an International Executive Power on the ground that nothing but force will assure peace, and then insists that this Power must represent all nations, free and unfree, advanced and backward, enlightened and be- nighted, educated and illiterate, because otherwise it would embody the rule of force, he says yes and no to the same proposition at the same time. He takes a step forward, then steps back the same distance, and crows with joy to think how progressive he is because he took two steps. It takes a genuine doctrinaire to invoke the name of force and the name of equality in the same breath. When the Quadruple Alliance is in assured working order as an International Executive Power, it will be time to consider the question of its enlargement through the admission of other self-govern- ing, enlightened nations. We want a Power, not a Pande- monium. The Entenng Wedge. Make sure of the beginning, if you wish to reach the end. The way to split a log is to use an "entering wedge." The Romans gradually extended the privilege of Roman citizen- ship till it finally was granted to all the inhabitants of the empire ; if they had made it a rule to grant it to every prov- ince before it was accustomed to Roman rule, there would have been no Roman Empire, no Pax Romana. The Cement Will Set. The United States is a standing proof of the practicability of an Anglo-Franco-German-American alliance. Our area is equal to that of Europe, and our population, now 100 8 millions, will soon be 250 millions, the present aggregate population of the proposed combination; yet we feel abso- lutely sure that our nation will remain as firmly united then as now. Were the union of the four nations once started, the daily enjoyment of its omnipotence would soon give it the permanence of a law of nature. "It is only the first step that costs," says the French proverb. "Put Ger- many in the saddle; she will ride all right," said Bismarck to the gloomy prophets who predicted that Germany, even if once patched together, would fall to pieces again. The Paramount Interest. Just as eugenics is the paramount condition of progress, so the union of the elite is the paramount condition of eugenics. Little will it profit to find out what human types have the best claim to sundve, if meantime through tlieir cursed dis- union they lose the power to enforce their claim. At this moment the progressive elements, by simply uniting, can become omnipotent, for their own and humanity's greatest advantage. If they neglect the opportunity, the forces of reaction may grasp it and initiate an era of anti-eugenics, an era of perpetuated misery. This ^s 1915, Not 1815. When an alliance with our three parent nations is the only avenue to permanent peace and to the conservation of our own paramount interest, what shall we say of the man who at one and the same time clamors for peace and against "entangling alliances" ? He cuts off his nose to spite his face. He pins to his coat the badge of insincerity. A doctrine has neither meaning nor value except what it de- rives from the purpose on which it is based. The purpose of Washington's warning against entangling alliances was to avoid war. So long as the doctrine served that pur- pose, it was good. When it defeats that- purpose, it becomes bad. No one who has studied the character of Washington can doubt that, if he were alive today, he would be foremost in urging our participation in the Quadruple Alliance. The Letter That Killeth. By offering reunion to Britain, on condition that France and Germany be included, we are sure of banishing war not only from our own country, but from the globe. If we deny to our harassed brothers the boon of that initiative which we can give so easily ; if we refuse to organize the most pro- gressive elements of mankind, our own kindred and natural friends, into an International Executive Power to control the world's destinies for the world's greatest good; if we worship the letter which killeth while we blaspheme the spirit which giveth life— we are by no means sure of a better chance of remaining at peace ; on the contrary, our very lack of allies, the very lack of organization among our kindred, may, before long, expose us to a horrible war. To cling to our traditional aloofness simply because it is the tradition, to refuse to unbutton "the iron shirt of habit," would be to shirk our manifest duty. To proclaim our yearning for peace and then, for the sake of a ''doctrine," refuse to create the agency which alone can establish peace, would be to notify the world that we do not mean what we say. A Disentangling Alliance. An alliance with one European nation would indeed be entangling. An alliance with the three strongest European nations, our nearest kin and natural friends, would not be entangling, but disentangling. It would be our strongest con- ceivable armament, rendering us absolutely secure against attack. 10 Temporary Increase of Army and Navy. So long as the alliance is not yet a fact, it may indeed be good policy for the moment to heed the clamor for an en- larged army and navy as a means to make our alliance seem more valuable to our prospective partners, in particular to convince Britain that Anglo-American reunion would indeed mean perpetual Anglo-Saxon supremacy. However, as soon as the scare created by the war has subsided, as soon as the Quadruple Alliance is in working order and has tasted the luxury of omnipotence, as soon as the world has grown fond of the comfort of being ruled by the elite, we should have no cogent motive to retain the enlarged army and navy. Our three prospective partners are amply equipped to keep the globe quiet if they can be united. All that is required of us is that we take the initiative toward their union, an initiative which for them would be a super- human task, for us a mere matter of the slight mental effort to perceive our own towering advantage. Queen Among the Nations. In a word, the greatest opportunity in all history is knock- ing at the door of the United States — the opportunity to be- stow eternal peace on mankind and thus to gain the per- manent place of honor among the nations. If our states- men fail to perceive their duty, they will become responsible for an unsightly blot on our national record. The highest duty, the highest honor of every nation, consists in render- ing the greatest possible service to humanity. Sham Amer- icanism says: "Am I my brother's keeper?" To make America supreme among the nations, through supreme service rendered, is the truest Americanism. 11 Find Out What the People Think. The issue thus presented is so momentous that our legis- lators will hardly deem their powers adequate to deal with it. Nothing less than an appeal to the court of last resort, the American people, will afford a safe basis of action. In view of the sincerity and high sense of honor which the majority of American voters have shown on innumerable occasions, they surely deserve to be consulted on this most important of all questions. No patriot will be content to see his coun- trymen defrauded of the priceless opportunity which is rightfully theirs. To refuse to submit this question to them on the ground that they are not intelligent or high-minded enough to vote in the affirmative would be to insult the American people. Let us have a little modesty and confess that not one of us is smart enough to know what the Amer- ican people think until we ask them and receive their answer. Armistice, the Sooner the Better. The preparations for this popular vote would of course re- quire considerable time, during which the horrible slaughter would continue. What is needed is an act of statesmanship which will lead to an early armistice. It is in the power of Congress to render this inestimable service to humanity by simply adopting a resolution somewhat as follows: Proposed Resolution. ''Resolved, etc., That the American voters shall be given a chance, at the November elections of 1916, or earlier if deemed advisable, to express their wishes anent this propo- sition : "The United States, after the present war, shall OFFER TO CONCLUDE A DEFENSIVE ALLIANCE WITH BRITAIN, ON CONDITION THAT FRANCE AND GERMANY BE INCLUDED." 12 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 020 934 789 1 # No Risk. By referring the question to the people for decision, Con- gress would assume the minimum of responsibility, and yet the mere passage of the resolution would suffice, because it would assure full discussion, and the result of a popular vote after adequate discussion can hardly be doubted by any one who has the least faith in human nature. Create the Occasion for Mediation. Within a short time the trend of American opinion would be sufficiently known to justify the belligerents in conclud- ing an armistice. For that matter, the passage of the reso- lution would by itself create the opportunity for mediation, which might result in an immediate armistice. Washington, D. C, October 28, 1915. (29540) HoUinger Corp. pH8.5