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Editorial NotesSource: The Advocate of Peace (1894-1920), Vol. 75, No. 11 (DECEMBER, 1913), pp. 248-249Published by: World Affairs InstituteStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20666839 .

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248 THE ADVOCATE OF PEACE. December,

matter. The common sense of human beings will not

permit them to continue the waste of their substance at the rate of over 70 per cent for war. It is dawning upon us impressively that armaments do not even protect us from war. Every speaker in the United States Congress pleading for army or navy prefaces his words with an

apology and tells us that the war system is wrong. It is

wrong. And what is wrong, as God lives, cannot always endure. With our great peace foundations, with the

leading nations busily and seriously seeking a way out of their sad and ridiculous dilemma, with an awakening of the public conscience everywhere as to the absurdity and horror of the whole business, may we not hopefully strive to complete our analogy and, as with slavery in

1865, officiate solemnly, but willingly, at the funeral of this our great illusion, the illusion that human civiliza tion must always tolerate the brutal sacrifices of war.

Editorial Notes. Services of One of our friends of long standing, Dr. James B.

referring to our article entitled "The MIIes'

Doom of War," concluded in the last number of the Advocate, among other things says: "I

regret, however, that it contains no mention of the val uable services of Eev. James Browning Miles and his International Code Committee, which held important meetings in 1872, 1873, and 1874, of which committee

. David Dudley Field was chairman, Dr. Woolsey, Eliliu Burritt, Chancellor Crosby, and other distin

guished men were members. At several of the meetings I acted as secretary and made the newspaper reports. Dr. Miles repeatedly visited Europe in the interest of international peace, and was most favorably received by the Italian statesman Mancini and other eminent men. One result of the committee meetings was the Inter national Code prepared and published by David Dudley Field after careful discussions in the committee. The

organization still exists, though under another name. 'Yixere fortes ante, Agememnona/ you know."

The author of this interesting letter is right. Dr. Ja]nes Browning Miles, then secretary of the American Peace Society, did a large work, which should have been mentioned. The same is true of the great service of David Dudley Field. The Advocate of Peace is under

obligations to the author of this letter and our readers are entitled to know his name, and without his permis sion we take the liberty of saying that it is Dr. Homer B. Sprague, now of Brighton, Mass.

A Reasonable General AYood, Brigadier-General of Question. the ?nited States Army^ wag quoted

in the press recently as saying: "It is

nothing short of cold-blooded murder to send a lot of half-trained men and half-trained officers to war."

This statement was made in support of an argument that we need more trained soldiers. A correspondent writes: "It has occurred to me that the distinction be

tween sending half-trained men and officers and sending trained men and officers is a distinction in degree only and not a distinction in kind. If sending half-trained men is 'cold-blooded murder/ I wonder what kind of

murder General Wood thinks it is to send trained men ?"

The question raised by our correspondent is of course

pertinent, The trouble with the thinking of militarists is that it is quite liable to be clouded by personal inter ests. If in case of conflict one side goes forth to de

fense, something may be said to uphold the ethics of the

undertaking. The other side goes forth to conquer, a

battle is waged, men are killed. One side is wrong. A

large percentage of the dead are therefore murdered, whether the men are half-trained or wholly trained. The line between war and organized murder is extremely difficult to draw in casuistry. It is extremely difficult to draw in common sense. The quotation from General

Wood shows him to be interested more in developing his

army than in logic.

Conference The Clark University Conference on on Latin Latin America was held in Worcester,

Massachusetts, November 18-21. The

conference, open to the public, covered a wide area and

brought together some of our best international author ities. Dr. G. Stanley Hall gave the address of wel come. Leopold Grattarne, English journalist, spoke upon ''The Relations of the United States with the Latin American Republics." David Montt, of Chile, took for his subject "The Mind of the Latin American Nation." Among other speakers were George W.

Nasmyth, who addressed the conference on "The Uni versities and American International Eelations;" J. P. Santamarina on "Inter-American Political and Eco nomic Affairs as Seen by a Latin American," John Hays Hammond on "The Development of our South Ameri can Trade," George F. Tucker on "The Monroe Doc trine," and Prof. Hiram Bingham on "The Panama Canal in Relation to the Future of the West Coast."

It would not be possible to enumerate here the many subjects before the conference, but those mentioned will indicate the trend of the discussions. Prof. George H. Blakeslee has done a splendid service to the cause of peace in initiating this Clark University Conference. It is fundamental peace work, since -a correct under

standing by nations of each other precedes the incoming of international peace.

Message Mr. Alfred Noyes, the English poet,

Poete *S a&a*n making a pronounced impres sion upon American hearers. One of

his poem lectures, the proof of which we have just re ceived from the publishers, is entitled "The Wine

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1913 THE ADVOCATE OF PEACE. 249

Press." This poem, to appear in book form shortly, has had a most marked effect. We are told that its

reading at the dinner of the Twilight Club in New York city aroused a great wave of feeling against the

horror of war. Mr. Noyes has also written a peace

play, "Bada," a tragedy of the Balkans, which the Mae Dowell Club of New York will give at its Christmas

festival. The MacDowell Club is one of the most prom inent organizations in the country, including musicians,

writers, painters, architects, and others?an organization very powerful in the promotion of the arts. The poem was written by Mr. Noyes especially for this club. When it was read to the committee it proved to be so

grim that some of the members strongly opposed pro senting it on Christmas eve; others thought that noth

ing could be more appropriate. After no small discus sion the play is to be presented, and we are looking for ward to its effect with great interest.

The stern, commanding virility of the message which Mr. Noyes presents to the world leads us to believe that all the peace societies might well bend every effort to make it practical for him to reach as large an audience as possible.

Tn? The movement for the celebration of

in^anada ^e ^en^enai7 ?^ Peace between Great Britain and the United States is tak

ing firm hold in Canada. Mr. E. H. Scammell, the

organizing secretary of the Canadian Peace Centenary Association, has just completed a tour of western Can ada in the interests of the movement, and has made ar

rangements for local celebrations to be held in numerous centers.

Mr. Scammell reports that there are some who are

apathetic and a few who are hostile. These form an

insignificant minority. Members of the governments, civic officials, manufacturers, merchants, and profes sional men, together with the churches and fraternal

organizations, have evinced an interest in the movement which augurs well for the success of the proposed cele bration. One of the most striking features was the fraternization of men who had never been known to unite upon any platform before.

In western Canada twenty-eight centers of celebration have been arranged for. In nearly all these centers Mr. Scammell had the opportunity of addressing repre sentative gatherings of citizens, civic and trade organ izations. It is worthy of note that the newspapers of both political parties opened their columns freely to material regarding the general program. The depart ments of education of the various provincial govern ments also promised hearty co-operation in the dissem ination of information among the schools germane to the celebration propaganda.

Society Women Some society women have been visit an d I^eace among the ing Zamboanga, in the Philippines, and Moros. have made something of a study of the Moro people, now our Mohammedan wards. These wards are a warlike people, who for centuries have suc

cessfully resisted every attempt to conquer them. We are pleased to read of the interest these society ladies show in peace for the Moros, but their plans to improve the conditions of savagery in that land lead us to wonder what has become of Lieut. Col. John P. Finley? We have been led to believe that Colonel Finley's work in

Zamboanga has been of a large, constructive quality, and that by the means of it the Moros had been dis

armed, and that they had given Major Finley the title of "Tuan Maas," which, being interpreted, means "Sul

tan," "teacher," "father for all time," an honor that had never been conferred before upon any white man.

Upon the authority of Major General Wood, of the American Philippine Company, and of various expres sions of the public press, we have come to believe that

Major Finley was doing a work with the Moros compara ble with that of Chinese Gordon and David Livingstone. He is no longer at the head of the work to which he has devoted a dozen consecrated years. From various sources we are led to suspect that even the work itself so hopefully started by this former governor of the dis trict of Zamboanga is being hampered by self-seekers of a demagogic type. Disarmament and that most impor tant "Moro Exchange System" were, we understand, the direct outgrowth of Colonel Finley's methods. Because of these measures peace, industrial prosperity, and civil ization seemed to be thriving encouragingly in that sec tion. Society women are going to the Moro province to establish peace ; but, we repeat, What has become of Col. John P. Finley?

Among the Peace Organizations. The World Peace Foundation, in response to a grow

ing need for the training and assistance of leaders for societies and classes studying the international peace

movement, has arranged for a series of fortnightly con ferences upon the subject, beginning Monday, Novem ber 10, 1913. It is hoped that the officers of many organizations will appoint special representatives. The conferences will be held in the conference room of the

World Peace Foundation, 40 Mt. Vernon street, Boston, on Monday afternoons, at 4 o'clock. They will be con ducted in turn by Mr. Edwin D. Mead, Prof. Charles H. Levermore, Dr. George W. Nasmyth, Mr. Denys P.

Myers, and Mrs. Anna Sturges Duryea, of the World Peace Foundation; Dr. James L. Tryon, secretary of the Massachusetts Peace Society ; Mrs. Fannie Fern An

drews, secretary of the American School Peace League, and Mrs. Lucia Ames Mead. An "Outline of Lessons on War and Peace" will be furnished each member of the conference, together with various pamphlets and other useful papers.

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