· ,
Pour l!ights
AN ADVENTURE IN INTERNATIONAUSM
he showeq four lights when he wished
u..-. -··-· to set full sail and follow in his wake."
· 1.... "Pint Voyqe '1•-4 tU W..t• .,. Matellaa."
E or
11, 1917.
P OM
VoL. I
Peace does not mean stopping w,ar and leaving an armed truce. Peace according
to pacifism means "A Condition of Organized Living Together Among Nations."
-
"War has become a Tribunal, which by the very perfection of its methods
can no longer render a decision of any kind. It may ruin the suitors, but the
verdict is liable to be indefinitely postponed.
"The war of the Future, will not be terminated by fighting.
"It will be terminated by Famine."
_.JEAN DE BLOCH.
".."..bout I2o,ooo,ooo bushels (of grain)......:..<lr approximately the· world shortage-are used fo.r fermented
liquors.
"The war will turn not on the fact that gg,ooo,ooo
men are under arms, but on some slight advantage that
one side may gain over the other: and ·no advantage iS
more important than· a safe margin in food.
"The grain foods may turn the tide of war."
EUGENE DAVENPORT.
(
"Surplus wealth, seeking privileges in foreign lands
is the proximate cause of the war. . . . . It is the struggle of high finance bent on the exploitation of weaker
peoples that has turned Europe into a human_ slaughterhouse and arrayed £1-00,ooo,ooo peaceful people against
one another in a death struggle."
"The wise · mari looks for the cause of the war, not
in Nietzsche's gospel of the Will to Power, or Lord ·
Robert's far blunter gospel of the Will to Conquer, but
in the Custom-Hous·e. The formal conquest of territory may loom large as a sentimental grievance .. . .
but it does not produce war. The appropriation of a ·
market is another matter.
"Unless and until Europe is provided with a new
organ for Supernational Action, provided with an effective poiice, all talk of making an end of war is mere
waste of breath."
BERNARD SHAW.
"The vast boredom of the combatants is not really
producing any remedial mental action at all and will
not do so unless they get much more thoroughly to
work on the thinking out process."
H. G. WELLS.
FREDERIC C. HOWE.
''Our world has passed away
In wantonness o'erthrown.
There is nothing left today
But steel and fire and stone.
Comfort, content, delightThe ag.es' slow bought gain
They shrivelled in a night,
Only ourselves remain."
KIPLING.
,,~~--~--------------~~--~----~----~----------~----~~--------~----------------------------~
The Consent of the Governed
Alsace-Lorraine.$
.
8)' GEORGE W . NASMYTH.
I.t is quite conceivable that the time will come when
a peace can be obtained that will realize the objects of
Russia and aU the oth.er allied nations except' France,
and when Alsace-Lorraine will be the final obstacle to
the ending of the war. In her present state of mind,
France is prepared to sacrifice all her men and ruin the
economic life of the nation for years to come for the
sake of recovering Alsace-Lorraine. If the restoration
of Alsace-Lorraine to France is an indispensable condition for the future peace of the world, the United
States government would, undoubtedly, favor continuing the war Ufltil this object can be secured. If,
however, the reconquest of Alsace-Lorraine by France
is not im indispensable need for future peace, and if
further, the supreme object, the formation of a League
of Nations to insure peace and justice, would be imperilled by prolonging the struggle for territorial gains.
the tirn"'e may come when the United States government may have to ask France, as a contribution to the
future welfare of humanity, to renounce her coveted
aim. The underlying question in which Americans are
interested is: "What solution of the problem of AlsaceLorraine will best serve the future peace of the world?"
If Alsace-Lorraine should be restored to France on
the ground of ''historic right" because it vvas stolen
from her in 1870, Germany would immediately set up a
counter claim of historic right. demanding the return
of the provinces because they were stolen from her by
Louis XIV. of France in 1648.
As long ago as r8gs. Novicow could say, "the majority of public opinion in France is in favor of the
plebiscite. If the Alsatians voted for annexation to
Germany, France would be willing to submit to this
verdict and renounce these provinces ..... Let Germany
go the other half, let her consent to a plebiscite. and
the question of Alsace-Lorraine is solved." At the
same time a German author, Franz Wirth, speaking for
the program of the democratic forces in Germany,
wrote: "For us . . . . for the democratic and Socialist
party in Germany, we would naturally concede a vote
by the people of Alsace.
At present the d~mocratic forces which favor ~
solution by plebiscite are under the domination of the
military groups which insist on an extreme policy of
no compromise in both France and Germany. But if
the democratic forces in both nations could be strengthened in their demands, the German Social Democrats
by the increasing military and economic pressure and
the L iberal forces in France by the gentle but firm
persuasion of her Allies, the way would soon open to
the solution of the Alsace-Lorraine problem by ~
plebiscite.
Confronted by the necessity for a referendum, the
German government would have to make an offer of
autonomy within the German Empire so a ttractive that
it would defeat the movement for independence. The
replacement of the demand for French annexation by
the demand for solution based on a referendum by the
people of Alsace-Lorraine as one of the official war
aims of the Allies would be equivalent to the addition
of millions of m en to the Allied fighting forces and
would be a n important step tendip.g to shorten the
w a r. M oreover, it is the solution lor which A merica
s hould stand, because it is the solution ' which will be
the best guarantee of future peace-a solution based
on the democratic principle "the consent of the gover ned."
Extracts reprinted £rom T/te For1vard.
-
r
lfi
]
'
WHY THE WORLD MARCHES TOWARD FAMINE
France's Condition before the Russian
Revolution. The Chief Reason for
America's Entran~e into War.
~1
[h .\
Because of Land-Alsace. the Trentino, German Colonies, Constantinople,
Poland, the Balkans.
Because the true way to undermine Prussianism is not understood.
1
ALLIE~S
First and Foremost,
MIGHT PROPOSE
l
A League of Nations that are o r become Responsible to their People.
open to Ali iGovernments.
J oint protection of each nation in tne:League.
Evacuation of all conquered territory'!
No economic war after the war.
·
No preferential tariffs.
I
No transference of territory without ri,::onsent of Inhabitants.
A federated Austria with access to tl e Adriatic.
Internationalization of ConstantinoplrInternationalization of waterways. I
International protection of Armenia +d German colonies, etc.
A plebiscite for Alsace-Lon;aine.
,
All other matters to be settled by ne;otiation.
The Essentials.
M~ny of the best economists of the
Allies have maintained that tpe most foolish and impracticable scheme ever put
forward was that of the Paris conference
last year. The scheme to carry on an
economic war after the war has been a
goad which has largely determined the
desperate policy of Germany. 'f'he primary causes of the war must be removed.
These lie in trade barriers. Let any one
who wishes to understand the complexity
of the situation read Brailsford's "War on
Steel and Gold," Frederick C. Howe's
"Why War?'' and a new book written by
a Swiss, M aurice Mollioud, "The Ruling
Caste and Frenzied Finance in Germany."
Does not the swift and permanent solution of what seems to be an exhausting
deadlock lie in the reduction of those
obstacles which can be attained by reason
and negotiation? T he Russian terms offer
a basis for consideration. There seems
no prospect that we shall be in a position
to talk of punitive indemnities much as
we should like to. Let us get down to the
essentials, which are seeurity and permanent organiza tion for world peace.
Students are almost agreed that with free
trade and internationalized waterways the
chief obstacles to peace would be removed.
We are far from taking the first steps
toward such drastic alterations of world
policy, but it is high time that some very
rapid thinking is done unless the world is
to face slow suicide.
Let's Play
~Jrur Own Game.
Under the th:le ''Aiding the Enemy's
Diplomacy," Nor n Angell in the New
Republic shows how the Allies are failing
1
to utilize a great d iplomatic opportunity.
The Rus~ian revolt~tion removes the Slav
menace just as Au~ria is getting tired of
being the vassal of russia.
The policy of t e A Uies should be to
pr;::·.-e:::.~ ~ solid M i tel Europa; to wedge
between the reacti nary Junker class and
the German progre si ve element ; to teach
the peoples of Cer 'tral Europe that victorious Allies can ffer them more than a
victorious German over nment. Hitherto
the hammering blo s of the Allies and all
their proposals ha e served to weld together rather than
disintegrate the Central P owers. Let new P aris conference
repudiate the econ J;Tlic war after-the-war,
and offer instead 'equality of economic
oppor tunity in area that have in the past
been the cause of d ssension, access to the
sea and economic ights of way through
foreign territor y."
Says M r. Angell· ." W e have never made
any real offer to th German and Austrian
peoples as apart
m their governments
of after-the-war p r lt ection by means of a
real league of nati ns . We have, on the
contrary, with our vague talk of the destruction of Ger m n militarism and our
.definite plans agai t German trade, done
the precise opposit . We have, in our d iplomacy, played t1 .~: game of the enemy
government. I t is · e we pla yed our own."
Suu \Lin.
( \ \ rillen last \\ in te r.!
Briand, Lloyd George and the others recognize the
seriousness of the French situation. The changes of
government in England and France are manife§tations
of general discontent at the failure of military occupation. Military blunders have been mounting for two
and a half years. Every one in France is now' antimilitarist.
Peasants, clerks. workmenj Parisians,
Bretons, soldiers from the invaded districts, men from
central and southern Frence,-all. In France, g8fi' of
the soldiers and civilians want peace , a lasting peace.
From 25 to 30 '.; want peace at any price upon any
terms or no terms. Every one is sick of the whole
thing. It will astonish me should there be no revolt at
the front if the army is forced to spend the winter of
1917-1918 in the trenches.
~
. There are no volunteers for the gaps in the firing
line. There are numerous deserters and insubordinate
soldiers, not a few of them being men who have been
previously decorated by the Croix de Guerre for heroism under-fire. Such deserters are no longer shot, for
the authorities are afraid. Neither are there courts
martial for such offenses, insubordinates are merely
sent back to the front. The gens d'armes are not infrequently ki.Jled by hanging. The matter is hushed
up. Men exposed to the conditions that prevail at the
front laugh at the death penalty.
In my opinion, peace must be made soon. The
SQcialist Congress was obsessed by the idea of peace.
France is terrified with the extent of its losses,x,zso,ooo
dead and missing.
The missing are mostly dead. There are 70o,ooo
to 8oo,ooo men suffering from major mutilations.
Rennes is like a 15th century Cour des Miracles.
Nothing but one-l'egged soldiers, or men blind of one
eye or both, with ghastly face wounds, etc. Briand is
well aware of socialist feeling and since his government can only retain power through socialist support
the Premier does his best 'to be conciliatory. To a
number of Socialist deputies, Briand replied:
" At the first serious overtures for Peace I shall Ring
myself on them as misery has now Rung itself on our
distraught world." ·
The finances of France are managed from hand to
mouth, loans and indirect taxes which will fall on a n
exhausted people. ~oday if it were not for the moratorium from rents and for the allowances to the dependants of the soldiers, the war would soon come to a n
end, for there would be a general revolution. French- ~
men at the front made the best of the situation because
their families are not yet starving. But in central
France letters are bein g r eceived from peasants in the
firing line directing their relations not to produce anything more from the land than they need for their own
use, that the war may the sooner be brought to a close.
Because of Trade Barriers.
'WHAT THE
Pzw~II :>:EST FuEl\C ll
"*'
Peace with Invincibility.
"Dr. Michaelis does not claim victory
for the German army. He only claims invincibility. This looks to us like a useful
shifting of ground, Peace with victory is
an exclusive and contentious formula.
Peace with invincibility is not. All the
belligerent armies, except those of the
smaller states, can claim to have proved
their invincibility. None can claim an incontestable victory. P resident Wilson
might accept Dr. Michaelis's suggested
modification of his famous phrase and
seek a peace with invincibi1ity for all and
~ victory for none.
" .. . . T he diplomacy during the past
few months of the western Allies a nd the
United States bas done little to strengthen
the (Russian) revolution. . . . . It is not
too late to reassure the R ussian revolutionary leaders by accepting the spirit, if
not the letter of the Russian formula. It'
is not too late to offer guaranties for the
future security of a ll nations which would
help to reup.ite Russian opinion and divide
opinion in Germany.. . ..
''Mr. Wilson is the one man to undertake the diplomatic manreuvre.... . Now,
if ever, is the time to reap the benefit of
his past pr opaganda. Now, if ever, is the
time for a joint public definition of the object of the Allies in continuing the war.
which may avail to stem the tide of disorganization in R ussia and increase its
• violence in Austria and Germany." .
--The .Vr'u• Republic.
N ote: Against this gloomy report. it is reassuring
to learn from M. Tardieu that France bas 3,ooo.ooo men
~in th't field, 1,ooo,ooo more than those in the same zone
at the beginning of the war, and that the proportion of
casualties are decreasing. But the announcement is
ma<le simu ltaneously by Mr. Gerard that the Kaiser has
"g,ooo,ooo effectives under arms.. . . There is far
greater danger o£ the starvation of the Allies than of
the starvation of t he Germans."
t