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[Page 285]

WORLD UNITY

F. ANSLEY W. ATWOOD

A Monthly Magazine for those who seek the world outlook upon present developments of philosophy, science, religion, ethics and the arts

JOHN HERMAN RANDALL, Editor HORACE HOLLEY, Managing Editor HELEN B. MACMILLAN, Business Manager

Contributing Editors

MENDELSOHN BARTHOLDY BOM BAUDBAN F. DE BEAUFORT BRIT A. BENEKER BAR BOVET WIN ARTHUR BURTT BRY CHARLESWORTH POON CHEW DOLPH I. COFFEE TARD DODOS DROES DUHAMEL A B. ECKSTRIN VBLOCK ELLIS OUSTE FOREL F. GATES SCHULZE GAVERNITZ LLMUTH VON GERLACH 2BERT ADAMS GIBBONS LIL GIBRAN ARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN IN W. GRAHAM FRANK H. HANKINS A. EUSTACE HAYDON WILL HAYES YAMATO ICHICHASHI RUPUS M. JONES MORDECAI W. JOHNSON DAVID STARR JORDAN SAMUEL LUCAS JOSHI ERNEST JUDET VLADIMIR KARAPETOP? P. W. Kuo RICHARD LES HARRY LEVI ALAIN LOCKE GEORGE DE LUKÁCS LOUIS L. MANN SIR JAMES MARCHANT VICTOR MARGUERITTE R. H. MARKHAM ALFRED W. MARTIN F. S. MARVIN KIRTLEY F. MATHER LUCIA AMES MBAD IRJA GRUNDMANN-KOSCIENSKA KARIN MICHABLIS HERBERT A. MILLER FRED MERRIFIELD HAN GOPAL MUKERJI IDA MULLER YONE NOOUCHI HARRY ALLEN OVERSTREET DEXTER PERKINS JOHN HERMAN RANDALL, JR. PAUL RICHARD CHARLES RICHET FORREST RIED TH. RUYSSEN WILLIAM R. SHEPHERD MARY SIBORIST ABBA HILLEL SILVER ISIDOR SINGER DAVID G. STEAD AUGUSTUS O. THOMAS GILBERT THOMAS ISABELLA VAN METER RUSTUM VAMBÉRY WALTER WALSH HANS WERBERO M. P. WILLCOCKS FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT

Publication Information

Editorial Office:—4 East 12th Street, New York City

ORLD UNITY MAGAZINE is published by WORLD UNITY PUBLISHING CORPO-TION, 4 East 12th Street, New York City: MARY RUMSEY MOVIUS, presidens; RACE HOLLEY, vice-president; FLORENCE MORTON, treasurer; JOHN HERMAN ANDALL, secretary. Published monthly, 35 cents a copy, $3.50 a year in the ited States, $4.00 in Canada and $4.50 in all other countries (postage in-ided). THE WORLD UNITY PUBLISHING CORPORATION and its editors do not vite unsolicited manuscripts and art material, but welcome correspondence on ticles related to the aims and purposes of the magazine. Printed in U. S. A. atents copyrighted 1929 by WORLD UNITY PUBLISHING CORPORATION. [Page 286]

Learning and Leadership

Civilization is control over environment. A civilized man is a man who understands forces by which it is moved, whilst a savage is a plaything of arbitrary and capricious powers, acting beyond the limited range of his intelligence. A civilized society is a society equipped with the knowledge to control its environment, whilst a savage society for the lack of such knowledge remains steeped in what is rightly termed barbarism. The criterion is not ethical or esthetic, but intellectual and practical. ... There is no doubt an inner connection between intelligence and virtue: both are related to the order which is the ultimate condition of all human affairs. Of that order civilization, which is the work of practical intelligence, is only one, and perhaps not, in the last analysis, the most important manifestation. Religion, conduct, culture, beauty, all have their place. The gods, according to Aristotle, need no civilization. They dwell in a realm superior to it. Yet from his day onwards, Europe has accepted the Greek contention that civilization, or a controlled and orderly external environment, is an indispensable condition of human happiness; and this element in the European tradition is perhaps that which the societies of other continents have been the most ready to accept.

It is not, therefore, necessary to argue in favor of the study of the present-day world. Such study is an elementary duty of good citizenship.

ALFRED ZIMMERN [Page 287]

CREATIVE THINKING

WE ARE constantly being told that the demand of this critical age is for creative thinking. These are words to conjure with today. But what do we mean by "creative thinking"? The great majority of people instantly associate the words with "genius," exceptional mental ability, or unusual mental endowments. They think at once of the great scientist, or philosopher, or inventor, or artist. To them, these "geniuses of earth," because of exceptional endowments, constitute the little company of creative thinkers who have led the way since thinking began, while the hosts of mankind have reluctantly followed.

Our psychologists are telling us, however, that creative thinking is not so much due to unusual "endowments" as it is the result of an unusual mental attitude or habit, in using our average mental faculties. In a word, they assure us that the first step in creative thinking demanded today, is the ability to look at familiar things differently, or to see familiar things in new relationships.

In one of his books, Professor Overstreet uses the illustration of writing. For centuries man has employed the art of writing. The mechanical process consisted in dipping pen, into the receptacle holding the ink, and then transferring the ink by means of the pen to the paper, where the written word became visible. This process of dipping the pen into the ink was repeated ad infinitum, until one day someone looked at the ink in the ink stand and the pen in his hand and said, "Why not the ink inside of the pen?" and thus the fountain pen came into existence through creative thinking, i.e., the ability to see familiar things—pen and ink in new relationships—the ink inside, instead of outside the pen. [Page 288]Simple as it sounds, it is this principle that has underlain the creative thinking in philosophy from Aristotle to John Dewey, in science from Galileo to Einstein, in art from Phidias to Cézanne, in invention from the Chinese, who first used movable type for printing, to Edison.

It is not, however, in the application of this principle to the field of material progress that we need be concerned, for here it has become axiomatic. It is rather to the field of social and international relations that we must bring our ability to see familiar things in new relationships, if real progress is to be made.

When every book coming from the recognized scholar today is emphasizing increasingly the "newness of our age," with its scientific outlook and spirit, as opposed to the traditional viewpoint, with its international society already existing, thanks to our industrial civilization, with its pressing demands for reorganization, both national and international, growing out of the new relations into which we have come on this planet, with the new vision that is dawning and the new aspiration that is reaching vaguely toward a better ordered world, it seems strange that anyone who reads at all can fail to feel the dynamic urge to see familiar things differently.

And yet the strength, and also the weakness of the forces of conservatism in every country lie in the apparent inability to see familiar things in the new relations that industrialism has forced upon us.

It is not that those who demand the bigger navy, or who confuse all internationalism with communism, or who grudge the worker his just due, are the intentional enemies of humanity. It is simply that they fail to appreciate the significance of the new relations into which we have come as races and nations, and persist in seeing familiar things in old relations that no longer exist.

This is why the solution of our problems waits on the wider understanding of our new relations on this planet, and on our ability to do creative thinking. But how can we even begin to see familiar things in new relations, without the new knowledge? [Page 289]

THE TREASURY REPORTS ON THE WAR DEBTS

by A REVISIONIST

In view of the outstanding importance of the War Debts issue, affecting as it does the international relations of so many governments, the economic stability of the world, and the entire question "war guilt" which underlies the Treaty of Versailles, the editors feel it a privilege to publish the following article pleading the injustice of the present settlements. The article is by a well known "revisionist who prefers to remain anonymous in order to permit consideration of the facts without regard to political party or personality. Its publication in Wolicy forcefully developed, but does not imply editorial endorsement of the point of view nor responsibility for the policy so rather the conviction that public questions of such far-reaching importance demand far more general thought and attention than they have yet received. It will only be through free discussion of this and similar problems that the "international mind" can come into being.

THE full title of this admirable volume of 641 pages is "Combined Annual Reports of the World War Foreign Debts Commission." It is most creditable to the Treasury Department, giving in detail all the facts and figures relating to the funding agreements with thirteen European nations, the reports of the Commission to the President and Congress, the proceedings before the Finance Committee of the Senate and the Ways and Means Committee of the House in explanation of the "capacity to pay" features of the agreements and Secretary Mellon's replies to the appeals of the Princeton Faculty and Mr. Peabody's letter to the President.

The book shows the great care and labor of the Funding Commission in reaching the results attained. It should be carefully read and studied by all thoughtful and patriotic citizens so that a better understanding of the true facts may be known when the subject comes before the public for further consideration, which future events are likely to bring about. If the reader possesses a mathematical mind he can spend hours of study over the wonderful statements and schedules in this book and find relief when fatigued by this if he will turn to the Committee's proceedings and be entertained with a variety of emotional effects—surprise, [Page 290]shame, irdignation and laughter, and conclude that the nation is without a soul if the politicians holding its destiny in their control are truly representative.

He may wonder if the policy of isolation and avoidance of entanglements with the affairs of Europe has not been seriously prejudiced by these thirteen contracts under which most of these nations, particularly the important ones, are compelled to pay annually large sums which, by reason of their sacrifices, they feel should be offset by our great debt to them, and these payments, reaching an aggregate of over a million dollars a day, to continue through two generations for sixty-two years. Has the possibility of serious controversy in the future over these annuity contracts had any bearing on Mr. Kellogg's Peace Treaty, and in connection therewith his firm refusal to discuss the debt question?

The public should be made to realize that these were not commercial loans, being entirely devoid of mutual profit. A commercial loan produces profit to the lender by the interest paid and to the borrower by its investment in lucrative business or manufacturing enterprises. In this case there is no productive background; the loans were wasted in war. The public should be made to realize also that when these loans were made our country was in a position of great peril, having declared war against a powerful nation while we were in an absolutely defenceless condition. Had our allies sustained defeat at the critical period we should have had a million or more untrained men prisoners of war and have been completely at Germany's mercy, and as Mr. Crisp says (page 406), "Your children's children would have been working for Germany."

Would we have made these loans to our allies if we had not been at war with the enemy they were fighting? Why did we make these loans?

A true, complete and unqualified answer to these two questions will show the injustice of Congress and of the nation in compelling repayment on the basis of commercial loans, and in failing to recognize our great debt for the million killed and wounded while they were fighting battles on our behalf as well [Page 291]as their own. The Funding Commission could not take this into consideration, under the limitations of their appointments, and their evasions were necessary to avoid reflection upon the failure of Congress to deal with this feature.

The settlements made are on the lines of commercial loans, and as such cannot be criticized. The settlements with France, Italy and Belgium allow important concessions of interest which I will be dealt with later.

Is it surprising that the public is so ignorant of the true facts pertaining to these debt settlements when the two prominent financial papers, The Wall Street Journal and the Boston News Bureau, in their issue of September 24th print a letter of the editor and owner stating that we have settled with England for 75% of her debt-when as a matter of fact she is paying her debt in full and with current rates of interest. He should have read on page 97 of the Reports the report of the Funding Commission signed by Mr. Mellon as chairman and Messrs. Hughes, Hoover, Smoot and Burton, addressed to the President, giving a statement of the agreement as proposed and which was finally approved by Congress, and in which there is the following paragraph:

"The payment of principal has been established on a basis of positive installments of increasing volume, firmly establishing the principle of repayment of the entire capital sum. The payment of interest has been established at the approximately normal rates payable by strong governments over long terms of years." The rate being 3% for 10 years and 3% for 52 years, averaging about 338%, at which rate Mr. Mellon has succeeded in refunding a large portion of the 2nd and 3rd Liberty Loans.

Two developments since these agreements were made have an important bearing on the equities of the English funding agreement. These are the 336% interest rate established by Mr. Mellon and the other the prospect of our debt being paid off by 1947, as it is now predicted. Also, as to this English funding agreement, the revisionist believes great injustice has been done by reason of the protracted period of 62 years and the interest paid during same, as it produces an enormous bankers' profit, legitimate for a bank, [Page 292]but unwarranted in the circumstances attending the making of the loan.

This can be demonstrated upon three assumptions to which the revisionist invites criticism:

1st That 4100 million bonds will cover the amount issued to finance the loan of 4075 millions;

2nd—That these bonds will be all paid off by 1947 and possibly by 1945;

3rd—That the interest paid and to be paid by our Government from the time of issue to final liquidation will not exceed 2600 million dollars.

By examining the schedule of annual payments (page 116) it I will be found that England pays by 1947, 4348 million dollars. So she supplies the money to pay off the bonds with a surplus payment of 248 millions. Deducting the 248 millions from the 2600 millions interest, leaves 2352 millions as our Government's actual net outlay for this entire transaction. The annual payments to 1960 will reimburse this amount, leaving 24 payments amounting to over 4300 millions clear profit for the benefit of taxpayers as yet unborn.

While on the subject of the anomalies of this agreement, it seems pertinent to show its hardships and injustice. The addition of the 525 millions accrued interest to the 4075 millions original loan, compels England to pay interest for 18 years on the entire debt, this interest amounting to 2500 millions before the 525 millions is finally paid up, so that at the present time she must continue for 13 years more the annual amounts per schedule before she reaches her original loan. The 2500 millions interest and the 630 millions interest paid or added to the loan make over 3125 millions or over 75% of the original loan paid as interest and its slow reduction only then to be started in 1942. This certainly indicates that the 62 year scheme is for interest purposes primarily. If England's capacity to pay was considered to be about 4% on the amount of debt as funded, had 4% interest been charged, her debt would have been perpetual and no liquidation ever obtained. The adjustment necessary between principal and interest so that [Page 293]

THE TREASURY REPORTS ON THE WAR DEBTS

the joint payment might result in an enormous recovery was almost a piece of mathematical jugglery with such fruitful results that our unfortunate debtors find themselves scheduled to pay 11,105 millions to settle a 4075 million debt. The total interest amounting as follows:

Paid prior to refunding 105 Added to loan 525 As per schedule 6506 Total millions 7136

This wonderful result was achieved by starting the payments on principal at % and increasing so gradually that by the time 4% is reached 62 years are covered.

It is further explained by Mr. Mellon's extraordinary admission (page 448) that compound interest is a feature in these oppressive schedules. This should also be considered in connection with his reply to Mr. Dickinson of the Ways and Means Committee (page 345), who asked as to the English funding agreement, "How did you reach 62 years in that case?" Mr. Mellon replied, "It seemed to be necessary to extend the time to that period in order to enable the debtor nation to meet the whole of the indebtedness." Could anything be more purposely vague and disingenuous?

No more questions; but if asked what he meant by the whole debt, he would have been obliged to disclose the fact that the original loan of 4075 millions, thanks to interest simple and compound, has become over 11,000 millions, and that the 62 years was necessary to collect the interest rather than the original loan. Charging the debtor in this case compound interest is certainly iniquitous.

The revisionist has compounded the English payments at 4% for the 62 years; the result is over 46 billions.

Had interest been waived the loan could have been paid in 22 years, but the 3½% interest necessitated the 40 years additional period. It is probable that at the time the funding agreement for 4600 millions was made not more than 3500 millions of Liberty [Page 294]bonds were outstanding that were issued for this loan, and at the present time the amount should not exceed 2700 millions, or about of the 4100 originally issued. The interest on these, say 100 millions, while England is paying us this year 134 millions- $100,000 a day excess over our own payments. By 1933 there should not be over 2000 millions outstanding, interest on same 70 millions, while England pays 152 millions, 82 millions excess, or over $225,000 per day, and by 1947 with no interest to pay England pays 133 millions interest, or over $360,000 per day, and so on for 37 years.

It is to be regretted that Mr. Mellon did not offer to Mr. Baldwin to cancel the entire English debt of 4600 millions, if the slight addition of 1% were made to the interest rate and to be paid on the capital sum for the magical 62 years, the rate would then have been 3.9% instead of 3.4%, and apparently a favorable proposition. Mr. Mellon could then, instead of giving his sedatives to the American conscience in the form of "present value," produced by compound discounting at 5%, have administered a positive anaesthetic by proclaiming the total giving up of the English debt in consideration of their paying "some interest," as President Coolidge naively remarked. Mr. Baldwin might not have discovered that the result was slightly more than the present schedule until his return to England, and then the troublesome Keynes made a few simple calculations. Great are the results of moderate interest for 62 years.

This English funding agreement, with its huge banking profit, has been denounced in letters to the New York Times and Herald as a "product of base ingratitude and contemptible greed," as "an international scandal," as "a disgrace to our country" and as "a protracted extortion based on a delusive pretense of leniency."

The revisionist regards these strictures as fully warranted, but that "infamous and brutal injustice" should be substituted for "contemptible greed"-this after reading the statement of Senator Smoot (Funding Commissioner and chairman of Senate Finance Committee) (page 553). He said, at a hearing of the Committee [Page 295]on "Capacity to Pay," "My suggestion on all of these settlements has bee to get every single dollar out of these countries we could possibly get out of them and let the countries live." This would be considered heartless treatment of a defeated enemy; what can be said of it as the treatment of weak and war-worn friends and allies whose sacrifices and suffering in fighting a common enemy saved us from great peril and saved the lives of thousands of our young men? "Infamous brutality" is the only term that fits; it is a stranglehold to the point of death.

Mr. Mellon was apparently in accord with Senator Smoot's harsh method, as he stated (page 302), "We have, I believe, made for the United States the most favorable settlements that could be obtained short of force." This can only mean the threat of war. Senator Smoot's suggestion on June 18th to the Finance Committee indicates forgetfulness of his speech on March 25th (page 586 and 7) in the Senate, when after quoting from President Wilson's address to the House of Representatives as "pledged to our Allies our lives and our fortunes, everything we are and everything we have," Senator Smoot said, "Our first contribution to the cause could only be money. Those of us who were here in 1917-18 know how we felt then. There was no thought of commercial loans or of investment of our resources in the bonds of our allies. We were bound together in a common cause; money was all we had to give and we gave it freely."

Six years after, his liberality, born of panic, changes to sordid and exacting greed and he insists upon repayment of these advances as commercial loans with accrued interest added and compounded (page 448) and suggests "getting every possible dollar out of these countries and let the countries live."

The thirteen funding agreements all compel payment of original loans in full and with nearly 20% (average) of accrued interest. Nine pay current rates of interest, and of the four in which concessions of interest have been made, only one involves loss to Treasury upon actual outlay.

As to the French (Berenger) Agreement, the public has been led to believe that it involves a concession of more than 50%, [Page 296]which is absolutely misleading. Mr. Mellon's present alue of 1681 millions implies a rebate of 2344 millions on the 4025 millions debt, the 1681 millions being the result of compound discounting the 6847 millions France is scheduled to pay. The principal, 4025 millions, is scheduled to be paid in full. There has been a concession, if treated commercially, on the new and additional debt in the form of interest, with 338% as the current rates, of about 2142 millions on the whole debt, with interest added, equal to 22% or 38% of the interest alone, shown as follows:

338% interest on Berenger schedule, about 5700 millions Interest as scheduled 2822 millions Accrued interest paid 51 millions Added to debt 685 millions 3558 millions Concession 2142 millions

As the original loan was less than 3000 millions, it is fair to assume that 3000 millions will cover the bonds issued to finance the loan, and if our debt is paid off by 1947, 2000 millions will cover the actual outlay of our Government for interest; the total gross outlay, say 5000 millions, with 6847 millions scheduled to be received, after deducting 407 millions sales of war stock, it shows about 1500 millions bankers' profit. Had the 338% interest been charged, the profit would have amounted to about 3700 millions, corresponding proportionately with the English funding agreement.

No one unless a most credulous optimist can believe that France will pay us 125 millions a year for 45 years and 60 millions a year to England to meet our demands. Mr. Frank H. Simonds, (an acknowledged authority) in the October, 1928 "Review of Reviews," says: "At no time have the French, British or Italian peoples believed that their debts to us were just debts, morally binding ones-they are considered as having no other justification than a signature extorted from them at a moment of extreme necessity." [Page 297]

THE TREASURY REPORTS ON THE WAR DEBTS

The Italian funding agreement is a strong contrast to the English and French, as their statements of scant resources were so well prepared that under Senator Smoot's venomous formula of life or death, the death point was made so sufficiently clear as to greatly increase the concession on the interest charge shown as follows:

338% on 2042 millions, about 2900 millions Interest as scheduled 366 millions Accrued interest added to loan 394 " 760 " Concession 2140 millions

Equal to 43% of total of debt and interest at current rate added, or 74% of interest alone. If Mr. Mellon had used this concession as he did the one to France, he could claim that notwithstanding scheduled payments of 2408 millions, the entire debt had been cancelled and a gift to Italy in addition of 100 millions.

A perusal of Mr. Mellon's reports and the proceedings before the Committee of Ways and Means will make clear the keen investigation made to secure "every single dollar we could possibly get from these countries and let the countries live," again to quote the humane assertion of the Senator from Utah. If our debt is paid by 1947 the banking result of this agreement based on the actual outlay of our Government will be about as follows:

Original loan 1648 millions Bonds issued to finance, say 1650 millions Interest to be paid from time of issue to final liquidation, say 1150 Total outlay 2800 Scheduled Payments 2400

:

Loss 400

[Page 298]Had 338% interest been charged, instead of a loss of 400 millions there would have been a bankers' profit equal to the concession previously shown.

The funding agreement with Belgium is for a relatively unimportant amount compared with the larger nations. Two hundred forty-six millions post-armistice debt growing out of an original loan of 175 millions is dealt with on the lines of the English agreement, resulting in the ultimate aggregate payment of 556 millions, 310 millions being interest, in addition to 172 millions pre-armistice loan to be paid in 62 years without interest.

Banking result of this mixed arrangement would be as follows:

Original loans 347 millions, bonds issued 350 millions If paid by 1947 interest would be about 235 millions Total outlay 585 millions Payments as per schedule 728 millions Bankers' profit 143 millions

In the case of Poland the agreement follows the English settlement and is practically a payment in full with no concessions.

The original loan of 160 millions reaches a total of 436 millions in 62 years and will show, if our debt is paid by 1947, a bankers' profit of 170 millions. It would seem that had Poland's condition been as ably set forth as Italy's this result would have been greatly modified.

The remaining debts, relatively unimportant, are open to the same criticisms. The debts as a whole on the lines of foregoing calculations show that with our debt paid by 1947, our Government is scheduled to receive about 7000 millions in excess of its actual outlay, on the assumption that 9500 millions will cover the Liberty bonds issued and that 5500 millions will cover the interest on same, making a total outlay of 15,000 millions, while interest and principal as scheduled exceeds 22,000 millions. [Page 299]

THE TREASURY REPORTS ON THE WAR DEBTS

This great excess, of which approximately 6000 millions will be bankers’ profit, would be entirely legitimate for a bank or trust company, with a generation of hungry stockholders to satisfy, but it is not in accord with the manifest intent of Congress, which was to obtain reimbursement for actual outlay only. Two-thirds of this excess is from the English funding agreement, and the above assumptions are based on the reports (page 443). Original principal of debt 9811 millions, less war stock sales (page 21) 595 millions, leaves 9216 millions, bonds presumably not issued for war stocks. The interest is based on a calculation at 44% for 8 years and 3% for 20 years, equal annual installments of reductions, it gives less than 5400 millions, so the above approximations are liberal.

The revisionist claims that Congress and the Funding Commission in dealing with these war debts has been devoid of ordinary fairness, ordinary gratitude and ordinary wisdom. Ordinary fairness would have included in the agreements a provision that when the aggregate of the debtors’ payments equalled the amount necessary to reimburse our Government for the actual outlay, or the liquidation and interest paid on the bonds issued to finance the loan, the debt should be considered paid and no further payments required.

Ordinary gratitude would have prompted an acknowledgment of our great debt to our allies for their sacrifices and losses and practical recognition of same by cancelling the claims for all loans of the nature of war subsidies.

Ordinary wisdom, if coupled with statesmanship and breadth of vision, would have suggested immediate acceptance of England’s offer to cancel all war debts. With our wealth and prosperity the burden never would have been felt. It might have amounted to % a year for 28 years on our estimated income, largely offset by the economic advantage of a reestablished financial condition for our debtors. This is attested by Mr. Mellon, when in his report to the Ways and Means Committee (page 342) he said, "The entire foreign debt is not worth as much to the American people in dollars and cents as a prosperous Europe as a customer." [Page 300]Are Mr. Mellon and Senator Smoot warranted in arrogating to themselves the position of Trustee for the taxpayer? Is not Congress the actual trustee of the nation, which includes the taxpayer, and is not the Funding Commission simply its agent acting under such stringent instructions as to preclude the idea of trusteeship? Is not Congress the trustee of the nation's honor and has it dealt with these war debts in a manner to preserve the nation's honor without stain? The revisionist considers it has not. This specious plea for the taxpayer as a justification for these enormous collections suggests interesting queries.

If the taxpayers for 25 or 30 years after 1917 were subjected to an unimportant addition to their tax bills to pay off, with the substantial aid of our debtors, the bonds issued to finance these loans and interest on same, how are they ever to be reimbursed by collections of 40 years following, accruing to the benefit of another and succeeding generation? The taxpayers after 1917 were the ones in peril, and to whom the victory of our allies was of vital importance, and a vote of the country at that anxious time would have been overwhelmingly in favor of war subsidies. Justice to the taxpayers requires no repayment to them even if it were practicable, which it is not. Is it incumbent upon Congress to transform the payments of the preceding generation into a great revenue production for the next generation at the expense of the country's honor, and the goodwill and respect of the world.

Author's Note

The figures used in this article, except those taken from the Treasury reports, are necessarily approximations only. [Page 301]

THE WORLD WE LIVE IN

Men live less and less in geographical and more and more in spiritual communities. The involuntary elements of existence tend to be limited to the regional area, the voluntary elements find increasing opportunity of self-expression through association of likeminded people selected out of the entire population by identity of interests and ideals. In this department, World Unity Magazine will publish each month a brief description of some important modern movement, voluntary in character and humanitarian in aim, believing that knowledge of these activities is not only essential to the world outlook, but also offers the true remedy for the sense of isolation and loneliness which has followed the breakdown of the traditional local neighborhood.

LEAGUE FOR THE ORGANIZATION OF PROGRESS

by R. BRODA President, American Office of the League, Yellow Springs, Obio

THE "League for the Organization of Progress" was founded in Paris in 1912 to apply a point of social philosophy to the hard facts of political life. We believed that the nations of the earth had reached a degree of common interests which imperatively required common institutions for the solution of the social problems common to all.

We were of opinion that a central authority should be established for the purpose of investigating and solving international questions before conflicts could arise as a result of the one-sided policy of the different states. The establishment of the League of Nations eight years later, realized, partially, this part of our program.

We believed also that the nations of the earth should be kept in touch with the onward movement of humanity and be encouraged to regard it as a source of joy. The progress of humanity would thereby not only become methodical but also conscious.

We understood that biology teaches us that it is the main destiny of all creatures to pave the way for creatures more perfect than themselves; that progress is the great principle of the universe. [Page 302]verse. Civilized man, unlike those creatures of the lower stages, unlike also primitive man, should grasp this duty of progress and hold it as an ideal, filling life with a new sacredness. They should achieve the progress of the race by their collective will.

To give shape to these ideas we have published three international reviews, "Les Documents du Progres," "The International," "Documente des Fortschritts," Paris, London and Berlin, 1907 to 1914, partly continued in Lausanne and Berne 1914 to 1918; in all about 200 volumes, each of them having about 60 to one hundred pages of editorial matter. Three auxiliary reviews were published in other capitals of Europe: "Saprossy Schisny" in St. Petersburg, "Homaro" in Madrid, and "Soczialpolitikai Szemle" in Budapest. We also published (prior to the war) several hundred thousand copies of various books, leaflets and pamphlets and organized lectures throughout Europe, both to promote the solution of the questions of world progress and make the ideal of progress a living factor in the minds of the masses.

The "International Institute for the Exchange of Social Experience," affiliated to our League, devoted its energies to one side of organized progress: to establish a higher civilization of mankind by synthesizing the social institutions and cultural achievements—the ripened fruit as it were of each national civilization. Ninety branches, constituted in the various countries and cities of Europe, have labored for this ideal, organizing hundreds of lectures. Our head office in Paris arranged a systematic exchange of lecturers among the various nations.

The War seemed to show the futility of our efforts, but we were undismayed. We tried to make it clear, on the contrary, that the War had proved the impossibility of the co-existence of fully independent nations, having many points in common, yet infinite points of friction, unless they possess appropriate organs for solving these common questions. We have defended these ideas in several weekly newspapers which we founded in Switzerland ("La Voix de l'Humanite," "Die Menschheit," " "Die Versoehnung," "Politische Briefe" 1914 to 1923). We struggled, first for the establishment of the League of Nations; then for an [Page 303]

LEAGUE FOR THE ORGANIZATION OF PROGRESS

increase of its efficiency and extension of its sphere of action, to make it a true instrument for the methodical direction of human progress.

We have organized also five international Conferences: The first took place in Berne in April, 1915, and was the first gathering since the outbreak of the war, to bring together again members of the nations warring with each other. Resolutions for safeguarding certain permanent interests of humanity (against propaganda for hate through amplification of stories on atrocities, for establishment of machinery for a League of Nations in the Peace Treaties) were carried unanimously.

The second conference took place in Lausanne the same year; the third conference (Berne, 1917) voted propositions for a peace of conciliation, based on certain mutual concessions, granting to each nation the satisfaction of its vital interests, at sacrifice of minor desiderata. The fourth conference (Berne, 1919) approved a plan for a democratic League of Nations, having an international Parliament as principal organ, opposing it to the League of Governments, the statutes of which were at that time elaborated in Paris.

Our fifth Conference (Geneva, 1921) formulated a program for a gradual transformation of the League of Nations, asking particularly for its right to modify national frontiers in accordance with the wishes of the populations, ascertained by plebiscite, under supervision of League delegates.

Since that time we have pursued methodically the two sides of our policy: strengthening the League of Nations, by making more widely known its usefulness, particularly among ethically inclined groups in America and working for its gradual transformation into an agency of international public opinion, seeking the organization of all tasks of economic, social and cultural progress.

At present we endeavor particularly to create a machinery for voicing in Geneva American viewpoints for the solution of the problems submitted to the League of Nations. We have also in view the creation, in Geneva, of a commission of experts, to investigate what further questions could and should be treated [Page 304]by the official organs of the League. We consider the eventual founding of a monthly review to be entitled "Records of Progress." We wish to awaken public opinion to the possibility and the necessity of treating internationally the numerous questions which cannot be dealt with satisfactorily by national agencies alone; we wish to help organize and render practicable the hitherto sporadic endeavors for eradication of the social evils which survive on account of human laziness and lack of coordinated effort.

Among the men who have cooperated for the furtherance of these aims, as members of our international committee, we may cite: Dr. David Starr Jordan, President Emeritus of Leland Stanford University, Ramsay MacDonald, former Prime Minister of Great Britain, Jean Longuet and Lucien Le Foyer, of the French Parliament, Henry La Fontaine, Vice-president of the Belgian Senate and Ed. Bernstein, of the German Reichstag. [Page 305]

XV—BASIL B. VERESTSHAGIN

by HENRY LANZ Department of Slavic Languages, Stanford University

Verestshagin occupies an unique place in the history of the peace movement. He advocates pacifistic doctrine, not with his word, but with his brush. He is an artist who devoted his genius largely to a realistic and truthful representation of war. His art at one time commanded the attention of all Europe, and he was proclaimed by the critics of his day a prophet of the new age. He appealed to his contemporaries, as he still appeals to us, not so much with the technical excellence or formal beauty of his pictures, as with the strength of the moral ideal expressed in them, with the importance of his ethical message. "Verestshagin is a painter," writes an English art critic, "equal to any of his contemporaries in artistic ability, and beyond any painter who ever lived in the grandeur of his moral aims and the application of his lessons to the consciences of all who take the least pains to understand him. . . . I will only say that he who misses seeing these paintings will miss the best opportunity he may ever have of understanding the age in which he lives; for if ever the nineteenth century has had a prophet, it is the Russian painter, Verestshagin."

In his message transmitted to us through the medium of his art, Verestshagin is a true son of his epoch. He was born in 1842 in Russia. Following the custom of well-to-do Russian families his parents wished him to adopt a military career, and when eleven years of age the boy entered the Naval Academy in St. Petersburg. Yet immediately upon graduation he resigned from [Page 306]service, and following his own inclination matriculated in the Academy of Fine Arts where he studied under A. T. Marcow and A. E. Wideman. To the Academy, however, Verestshagin owes little more than a brilliant diploma. The institution was ruled by the spirit of perfunctory classicism and formal conservatism of the older school that could not appeal to the younger generation already stirred and inspired with the great issues of the day. It was an exciting and uplifting time in the history of Russia, the time of the emancipation of peasants and great reforms in the political and public life of the country-the stirring decade of the Sixties. Russia's defeat in the Crimean war had shown to the public as well as to the government that a political system based on slavery cannot succeed against modern life and institutions of the West. A radical reform of the economic and political life became imminent. The government was leading the reform. The progressive part of the educated public, the so-called intelligensia, wholeheartedly cooperated with the government and hailed the liberal tendencies of the new policy. It was at that time that art and literature began to play an important role in the public life of Russia. Art was regarded, not merely as a diverting entertainment, but as a serious work devoted to the ideals of social service. Literature became the chief organ of public opinion through which the best representatives of the nation voiced their ideals. National life with its gloomy and ugly past still extending its suffocating influence over the younger generation presented an inexhaustible material for analysis and criticism. Under such circumstances it was natural for every artistic activity to take a realistic turn. Art then becomes an organ of national self-criticism and self-indictment, a diary of the national ill-health. There was much to condemn and to renounce; still more to expose and to explain as evil what had been for centuries considered good. Art, therefore, assumes a polemic function of serving the commonwealth by exposing various ills of the social, economic, and political life. Each artist-be he a poet or a painter-selects some specific branch of social or political pathology, and analyzes it with the conscientious fervor of a social reformer. [Page 307]Thus Verestshagin, quite in the spirit of his time, selects war an international evil-as the chief object of his artistic analysis and intellectual attack. The principal hero in the majority of his pictures is the average soldier as an infinitesimal component of big armies. Verestshagin paints him in all possible situations and ranks, as a conqueror and conquered, commander in chief or a plain private, dead and alive, wounded or suffering agonies in the field hospitals. He knows how to suggest the effects of terrific heat on a wounded soldier forgotten on the battlefield, in "The Forgotten"; or to produce an impression of the close atmosphere in a typhoid ward of a military hospital where the very air seems to be contaminated with disease, in "The Typhoid Barracks." He paints war in its daily routine, taking away from it all its romantic splendor and brilliancy. There are no fearless heroes on horseback, no generals on white steeds brandishing their swords. He takes war realistically, not as it was commonly represented by the current press, but as it really appears to an immediate and impartial observer, as a panorama of senseless drudgery and monotony of suffering. He is a conscientious realist, and depicts only what he actually saw and experienced. With the view to studying the reality of war he made several campaigns, took part in the Russo-Turkish war of 1877, the so-called Liberty War which resulted in the emancipation of Bulgaria from the Turkish rule, and received a distinction for bravery under Samarkand. All these experiences and anticipated danger did not prevent him from taking part in the Russo-Japanese war. When this war broke out he joined the Asiatic expedition of the Russian fleet in order to observe and be able to paint the realities of maritime fighting. The outcome of this expedition is well known. The Russian fleet was almost completely destroyed, and Verestshagin lost his life, sharing the fate of the whole crew of the battleship Petropavlovsk. Thus the spirit of war avenged itself, and carried away its mortal enemy, preventing him from exposing to the public eye the secrets and horrors of naval warfare.

Verestshagin's strength as an artist lies in his method. He is a convinced and conscientious realist. "Can anyone say"-he [Page 308]writes that I am careless about types, about costumes, about the landscape of the scenes represented by me? That I don't study out beforehand the personages, the surroundings figuring in my works? Can anyone say that, with me, any scene, taking place in reality in the broad sunlight, had been painted by studio light—that any scene, taking place under the frosty skies of the North, is reproduced in the warm enclosure of four walls? Hardly so. Consequently, I can claim to be a representative of realism, such realism as requires the most severe manipulating of all the details of creation, and which not only does not exclude an idea, but implies it." Thus realism for him does not mean artistic photography. He not merely imitates reality. He selects what is significant and reveals what is vital in it. He is a realist in the sense that his chief interest lies in real life, in its complex and baffling philosophy; but not in the sense that he excludes all interpretation or theory, and merely wishes to repeat bare facts. He only thinks that every theory must be well based on facts, and not be a product of purely romantic imagination. "I go further," he says, "and assert that in cases where there exists but a bare representation of a fact or of an event without idea, without generalization, there can possibly be found some qualities of realistic execution, but of realism there would be none: of that intelligent realism, I mean, which is built on observation and facts—in opposition to idealism, which is founded on impressions and affirmations, established a priori." If, therefore, one wishes to understand or—still more to represent artistically such a phenomenon of life as war, one must forget one's sweet patriotic enthusiasm that makes him believe stories about national heroes galloping on prancing steeds, and pay more attention to the real facts.

People, however, hate to give up their romantic dreams which they call ideals, and which, as a rule, represent principles according to which no one actually lives. And if anyone calls a dream a dream, and shows them the real facts, they are ready to brand him for life as a dangerous pessimist, a traitor to his own country. Verestshagin's pictures created a sensation, and caused profound indignation among the Russian patriots. He, for instance, painted [Page 309]

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the emperor Alexander II as he had actually seen him on five consecutive days sitting on a little knoll-the battlefield spreading out before him-watching, with field glass in hand, first the bombardment, and then the storming of the enemy's positions. "This," he adds, "surely, was also the way in which the old German emperor attended battles, as well as his son, that admirable man, the late Frederick of Germany. Of this I have even been assured by eye-witnesses. Certainly it would be ridiculous to suppose that an emperor assisting at battles would canter about brandishing his sword as a young ensign; and yet the desire has been attributed to me to undermine by my picture the prestige of the sovereign in the eyes of the masses, who are prone to imagine their emperors prancing on fiery steeds, in times of danger, in the very thick of the fight. I have represented the bandaging and transportation of the wounded exactly as I have seen it done and have felt it in my own person when wounded, bandaged and transported in the most primitive manner. And yet that again has been declared to be a gross exaggeration, a calumny. I observed during several days how prisoners were slowly freezing to death on a road extending over thirty miles. I called the attention of the American artist, Francis D. Millet, who was on the spot, to that scene; and when he afterwards saw my painting he declared it to be strikingly correct; yet for that painting I have been treated to such abuse as would not admit of repetition in print." In other words, Verestshagin's aim is to take the veil of romanticism away from war, and to represent the heroes of war as ordinary, busy and suffering individuals. To adorn them with fluttering banners and prancing steeds was against his principles. That was, probably, the reason why Verestshagin declined an opportunity to paint Colonel Roosevelt ascending San Juan hill in the face of the enemy. Such patriotic pictures were not in his line, and the project was not undertaken. This little incident-which indirectly gives some human touch to the great figure of the historical Roosevelt-served at that time, in 1902, as an occasion at which Verestshagin met another leader of the international peace movement, Dr. David Starr Jordan. The naturalist was one day invited to dine [Page 310]with the President, and upon his arrival at the White House he found there one other guest, Verestshagin. This unpremeditated yet memorable meeting, suggests an historical picture worthy of Verestshagin's brush: the two apostles of world peace sitting at the table with President Roosevelt. The younger generation of pacifists would derive a good deal of genuine inspiration from such a collective portrait if it could ever be painted.

The climax of Verestshagin's anti-war activity in painting is his picture called "The Apotheosis of War," and dedicated "to all great conquerors of the world, past, present, and future." It represents a dreadful pyramid of human skulls erected in some unknown desert. No human being is seen present to mourn or grieve. Only ravens are flying around looking for the remnants of human flesh still sticking to the bones. It is, perhaps, the greatest memorial to the Unknown Soldier of all times and all nations. [Page 311]

RACIAL RELATIONSHIPS AND INTERNATIONAL HARMONY

by FRANK H. HANKINS Department of Sociology, Smith College

I. RACES AND NATIONS: THEIR MEANING AND RELATIONS

FRUITFUL discussion is usually dependent on exact definition of terms. Unless we give clarity to fundamental concepts we are almost certain to make loose statements, to argue without point, or to argue first on one side and then on the other of the real issue. This truth was impressed upon me recently while reading a book deemed worthy of translation from the German. (Friedrich Hertz, Race and Civilization, The Macmillan Co., 1928, $7.50.) It is no doubt a worth-while book, and yet the author, though discussing the general relation of race and civilization, fails to define either of his major terms. One result is that he is able to speak of the Germans, the French and the English as races. He also speaks of the Nordic, Alpine and Mediterranean races, apparently quite oblivious of his loose and contradictory use of terms. The clarification of concepts seems to be an ever recurring necessity in all that concerns races and nations. We readily fall into the trap of thinking that peoples are of different races because they are of different nations. Analysis will show, however, that there is very little, even if any, identity of race and nation.

We may begin an analysis of the term race by calling to mind the concept "humanity." This is a term which includes all human beings, and by that very fact excludes all other creatures. It comprises the genus Homo. It is thus a zoological term which sets man as a species off from the apes and monkeys. The zoological history of our race shows that the line between man and apes is [Page 312]not easily drawn. The term humanity includes all living races and several fossil ones. There is no hesitation about including several fossil types in the genus Homo, such as the Neanderthal, Combe Capelle, Heidelberg, Grimaldi and others. But how about Pithecanthropus erectus? Was he ape or man? In the light of the evolutionary doctrine, the line between ape and man thus becomes an arbitrary one. Some authorities consider the Java apeman as a high-grade ape, others view him as a low-grade man. We shall see that this arbitrariness of distinction has wide application.

All humanity can be divided into certain major divisions, and these in turn into still smaller divisions until we have quite an array of divisions, races, sub-races, and varieties. In order to give scientific validity to these distinctions the anthropologist makes use of exact measurements of head form, hair form, color of hair, eyes and skin, stature, shape of nose and other physical traits. This resort to exact measurements is made necessary by the impossibility of making racial distinctions without them. We can easily see that man—any man—and the apes belong to different species; at least this would be true of all but very exceptional and borderline cases. But if we want to know whether the Chinese, Japanese; North American Indians and Eskimos belong to the same race, we have to make finer distinctions.

The same is true if we ask whether all Europeans belong to one race or to several, and if to several, what are they. When we begin measuring we discover a very fundamental fact, namely, that every type varies around an average value. Members of a given race will differ more or less in stature, in cephalic index, in shape of nose, and in complexion. It is, therefore, necessary to think of a race as a group of persons varying more or less about a typical form. It follows from this fact of variation that there is more or less overlapping of the variates of different races. On an average Nordics are taller than Mediterraneans, but some Nordics are shorter than some Mediterraneans. Caucasians vary in complexion from the very blond Swedes to the very dark Semites of western Asia. Some of them are as dark as the lighter skinned Ethiopians. It is consequently impossible to distinguish one race [Page 313]from another by a single trait. Nordics cannot be distinguished from Mediterraneans by stature, nor by cephalic index. It is necessary to add complexion traits to height and head form in order to get a combination of traits which makes distinction possible. A race is therefore distinguished not by a single trait but by a combination of traits which are inherited as a racial complex. The term race is thus zoological. It designates a group of persons distinguishable from other persons by an inherited set of traits. With respect to each trait its members vary, but the race is distinguished by the way in which several traits combine in a heritable complex. Nordics are, on an average, tall, long-headed and blond; Mediterraneans are, on an average, short, long-headed and brunet; Alpines are, on an average, medium in stature and complexion, but round-headed.

So much for the idea of race. What is a nation? A nation is above all a political unity. It is a product of historical processes. It is for advanced civilizations what the tribe is for primitive communities. France, Germany, Great Britain and the United States are nations. Each of them possesses its own territory, has its own historical evolution and tradition, and is pervaded by a sense of common origins and common destiny. The idea of a nation seems clear to us but it is no easy feat to define with clarity the elements that enter into it. A nation is not distinguished by a common religion. A few centuries ago state religions were fashionable; it was thought necessary, in the interest of national stability, to compel all citizens to profess the same religion. But the achievement of religious toleration increased national stability. Today Catholics, Jews, many varieties of Protestants, and numerous exotic sects flourish side by side.

Nor is one language a necessity. In Switzerland there are three, in Belgium two. A common language is, however, a powerful aid to national unity. The attachment of the French Canadians to their mother tongue threatens the unity of Canada, while the United States has sought to suppress foreign tongues in order to heighten the common consciousness. The patriotic aspirations of subject nationalities all over Europe have been kept alive through [Page 314]decades and generations by the preservation of the mother tongue with its wealth of tradition and sentiment. Community of language promotes community of thought and feeling; it facilitates the transmission of ideas and suggestions; it becomes the storehouse of those common experiences which constitute the basis of nationalistic sentiment. A nation is made stronger by unity of language, while the triumph of nationalism over diversity of language is so exceptional as to deserve comment.

Far less common is race the basis of a nation. The British nation is composed of Englishmen, Scotchmen and Welshmen. The Scotch think of themselves as racially distinct from the English and the Welsh. But the Scotch themselves are compounded of several races, tall and short, blond and brunet; and so are the English. The fact is that a nation is a result of historical processes which include the migration of races, the conquest of some by others and their subsequent amalgamation. In the course of time, former enemies not only learn to live together in mutual toleration, for their common economic advantage, but they come to fight side by side for the preservation of their common interests. They thus acquire a common tradition and a conviction of a common destiny. They marry each other in mutual love and admiration and soon come to think of themselves as composing one distinctive race. Egoism leads them to think of their special combination of racial elements as both unique and superior. Thus pride of race combines with the sentiments surrounding the common tradition to give vigor and apparent substance to the illusions of patriotism.

A nation is thus a people compounded of several racial ingredients, holding a common tradition, usually speaking a common language and holding similar religious and ethical opinions, inhabiting a territory which is conceived to be a geographical unity. A nation is distinguished from a nationality by the fact of political independence. The Scotch constitute a nationality which is a part of the British nation. The Scotch were themselves at one time a nation. They had all the elements of territory, language, religion, tradition and political independence necessary [Page 315]to a full-fledged nation. They have by no means lost all their feelings of nationalistic distinctiveness, but the historical processes of several centuries have mollified animosities and cultivated sentiments of unity and solidarity with the British nation as a whole. They are British first and Scotch second.

The recent war revealed in almost startling fashion that there were various subject nationalities scattered about Europe. It would be idle to suppose that all of them could claim any notable distinctiveness in race. It is probable that none of them could. They were all mixed in blood, even when we take account only of those persons who actually shared the common language and tradition. In view of the numerous vicissitudes affecting every portion of European territory during the past five thousand years, it would be utterly impossible to find any sizable portion of it that now comprises a population even approximately homogeneous in blood. The present area of Poland includes not merely a motley of various stems of the Nordic, Slavic and even Mediterranean races, but great numbers of Jews of highly varied antecedents and Mongoloid strains whose ancestry has been lost behind the curtain of the past. Much the same is true of Czechoslovakia, Esthonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland and Ukrania. The racial combination in the Balkan area is even more scrambled. Tribes and peoples have trampled back and forth across all that region in so many diverse streams during the past centuries that it is no exaggeration to say that the blood of every racial type in Europe and Asia and some of those of Africa now flows in the veins of the Balkan peoples.

History thus plays havoc with the facts of racial and national identity. It makes groups that are more or less similar in blood into traditional enemies and hence into separate nations. Or, on the other hand, it unites by the powerful bonds of patriotism peoples who are much unlike in racial origin but who, through the fiery ordeals of war and conquest come to think of themselves as constituting a new and superior race called by Divine Providence to extend their dominion over other, and hence less gifted, peoples.

If, now, we made an attempt to discover the composition of [Page 316]the various European nations in terms of the primary European racial types, we should discover that the only differences among many of them are in the proportions of different elements. Take France and Germany, for example. Germany is popularly considered a Teutonic country, by which is meant that it is predominantly populated by descendants of the Teutons, or Nordics. It is a fact, however, that Norway, Sweden and Denmark taken as wholes are more Teutonic than Germany. Parts of France are more Teutonic than any part of southern or eastern Germany. So also are parts of England, Scotland and Ireland. The most frequent racial type in France is the Alpine, but this type is even more frequent in southern Germany than in France as a whole. Southern France is overwhelmingly Mediterranean in some parts but equally Alpine in other parts, while the Nordic type is frequent in the north and northwest and in the southeast in the valley of the Garonne.

The same three racial elements combine in varying proportions to form the populations of Italy and the British Isles. In Italy the Nordic and Alpine types are less numerous than in France and Germany while in England the Alpine type is infrequent. In view of the fact that all these races, crossed and recrossed in the most intricate fashion, are now found living and loving in every one of the west European countries, it is not race as such that is at the basis of national rivalry and separatism.

Here it might be asserted, however, that a new amalgam has been formed in each country, so that each can now boast of a special nationalistic race. It is true, no doubt, that the proportions of the fundamental races differ from country to country; it would follow that, when these elements have combined into a new homogeneous body, they would constitute a new race. The primary European races were themselves formed by combinations of still older racial types, followed by close inbreeding until a new type became fixed. Such a process, however, takes thousands of years. Man by carefully controlling the matings can produce a new breed of chickens, pigeons, dogs, or horses within a few years by crossing two or more existing breeds. But human stocks are more [Page 317]

RACIAL RELATIONSHIPS AND INTERNATIONAL HARMONY

diverse to begin with and their crossings are haphazard in the extreme. The racial composition of Great Britain is, on the whole, less heterogeneous than that of France and Germany. Nevertheless, common observation shows that there are still many types of Britishers, although there has been little immigration into the British Isles during the past twelve hundred years. The more exact anthropological investigations which have been made since the war reveal a truly amazing diversity of physical types in every part of Great Britain. Very ancient types antedating the migrations of historic times are still found in almost pristine purity. Alongside them are very pure Mediterranean, Nordic and Alpine types and nearly every conceivable combination to be derived from their manifold crosses. Even if Great Britain should prevent all immigration during the next thousand years, she would still present a considerable degree of racial diversity among her inhabitants.

Our discussion leads to several conclusions all more or less platitudinous and yet worthy of repeated and insistent reiteration at this stage of world history. There is no such thing as a national race or sub-race. During the recent war it was the universal custom to speak and to think of the Americans, the English, the French, the Germans, the Italians and others as special breeds of men, each with distinctive traits and capacities. There is, in fact, no physical mark by which the people of France or of Germany or of any other European country are set apart from all others. National distinctiveness is due to such acquired traits as ways of dressing the hair, clothes, gestures, mannerisms and language. All such traits are passed about in a community by processes of education and imitation, regardless of race. One might as well say that the American Negro and the American White belong to the same race because they both wear suits made by Hart, Shaffner and Marx, as to say that French, English and Germans belong to different races because they wear their mustaches or swing their canes differently.

Nationalistic separatism is not based on actual racial differences but on the sentiment of patriotism. This sentiment is so [Page 318]powerful and so necessary to the maintenance of group rivalry that it creates the myths necessary to its own vigor. Among these myths are the illusions of racial distinctiveness and racial superiority. Processes of conquest and political amalgamation create nations, national traditions and sentiments of nationalistic worth and grandeur. Nations in due time forge for themselves an acceptable concept of their racial unity and talent. A study of the history of modern nations shows this process repeated over and over again in Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy and the Balkan states.

I believe that patriotism has instinctive roots in man’s gregarious tendencies, but its particular form is always a result of the circumstances of time and place. The form and content of the patriotic complex is an acquisition dependent on historical forces. It is a product of tradition. This is a hopeful view because it implies that new circumstances will shape new patriotic ideals. Moreover, we can study those social conditions which cause the patriotic afflatus to flare up in flamboyant style and learn how to repress or circumvent its explosive destructiveness. The unity of the world today is primarily impaired by the powerful sentiments of nationalism and only secondarily by the sentiments of race. It is not because the French and English are so different in race that one refers to the other contemptuously as "a nation of shopkeepers" only to be called, in turn, "frog-eaters." These epithets spring from no essential racial difference. They might very well be uttered by the great-grandchildren of the same parents, some of whom had been reared in England and others in France. They spring from that love of country which in turn is to a large extent a species of egoism. One magnifies the superiorities and minimizes the deficiencies of his own country and thus acquires satisfactions for his love of himself.

This is not to deny that the sense of racial difference and the sentiment of racial superiority are real and powerful. We see them in the attitudes of white toward colored in our own country. But the most dissimilar races live and work in harmony and mutual helpfulness when they are members of the same body politic. They [Page 319]

RACIAL RELATIONSHIPS AND INTERNATIONAL HARMONY

then share the same, or much the same, traditions, speak the same language, hold similar religious and moral precepts, and feel the same patriotic emotions. It thus appears that the processes of social evolution can either amalgamate the most diverse races into a single national unity that comes in time to think of itself as composed of one homogeneous race; or they can make traditional enemies out of nations composed of similar racial ingredients. Every great nation of our era is an amalgam of races. Our own, which has become the greatest melting pot of humanity since ancient Rome, is a staunch illustration of the triumph of nationalistic solidarity over racial differences and antagonisms.

One should not draw the conclusion that racial composition has nothing to do with national unity and strength. Races differ one from another in physical strength and hardihood, in mental capacity and in temperament. Combinations of races to form peoples will likewise differ. As regards the European races, all of them seem to be well-endowed with culture-producing gifts. That they differ in temperament seems certain; and that they differ in the frequency with which they produce men of genius in different lines seems highly probable. But we do not know either the extent of these differences or their full significance for national achievement.

Race signifies a physical similarity and unity; nation signifies a mental similarity and unity. The latter is immensely more powerful and significant than the former for all questions of world organization. The further unification of the world does not depend on the suppression of racial differences. These are hereditary and irrepressible; they are a permanent part of the world problem. It does depend, however, on the suppression of national egoism. This is not easy. But it is not impossible, for nationalism is an acquired trait and its intensity may be altered by those social factors over which man himself may yet learn to exercise a limited, and a limiting, control. [Page 320]

The Sacred Scriptures of Confucianism (Continued)

YOUR uncanonical "Books" constitute part of the sacred scripture of Confucianism. Though written after the Founder's death by disciples, immediate and remote, they yet furnish us with a complete compendium of his ethical ideas. Not the least remarkable fact about these "Books" is that, without any claim of infallibility or of Divine inspiration being made for them, they have, in the estimation of Confucianists, the selfsame sanctity and authority attaching to them that we find in the scriptures of other religions. First of the Four "Books" is the

I. Lan-Yu, "Analects" or "Table-Talk,"—a collection of twenty books setting forth the essential teachings of Confucius, more especially with reference to filial piety, which the Master conceived as the foundation, not only of family life, but also of that larger family life represented by the State. Obedience to the State he enjoined as no less imperative than the obedience of children to their parents. Let the following quotations suffice to indicate the general character of the contents of the Lun-Yu:

"To learn and then to practise opportunely what one has learned, does not this bring with it a cause of satisfaction? The true philosopher devotes himself to what is fundamental; for when that has been established, right courses naturally evolve. And are not filial devotion and respect for elders the very foundation of an unselfish life? Let young people show filial piety at home, respectfulness toward their elders when away from home; let them [Page 321]

THE SACRED SCRIPTURES OF CONFUCIANISM

be circumspect, truthful; their love going out freely to all, cultivating goodwill to men.

"Give prominent place to loyalty and sincerity. Have no associates in study who are not advanced somewhat like yourself. When a youth is at home, let him be filial; when abroad, respectful to his elders. And while exhibiting a comprehensive love for all men, let him ally himself with the good. When you have erred be not afraid to correct yourself." (Book I.)

"If a man of honor forsake virtue, how is he to fulfil the obligations of his name! A man of honor never disregards virtue, even for the space of a single meal. In moments of haste he cleaves to it; in seasons of peril he cleaves to it. One should not be greatly concerned at not being in office; but rather about the requirements of oneself for such a standing. Neither should one be so much concerned at being unknown; but rather with seeking to become worthy of being known. When you meet with men of worth, think how you may attain to their level; when you see others of an opposite character, look within, examine yourself." (Book IV.)

"The man who practises the principle of love, wishing to establish himself, seeks also to establish others; wishing to develop himself, he seeks also to develop others.

"To be able to take one's inmost self for judging others, may be called the art of applying the principle of love." (Book VI.)

"Tse-Kung put to the Master the question, 'Is there one word upon which the whole of life may proceed?' The Master replied, 'Is not Reciprocity such a word? What you do not yourself desire, do not put before others.' Not to retract after committing an error may itself be called an error. In serving your prince, make your service the serious concern and let salary be a secondary matter. In speaking, perspicacity is all that is needed." (Book XV.)

"Three things a superior man should guard against: against the lusts of the flesh in his earlier years, while the vital powers are not fully developed and fixed; against the spirit of combativeness when he has come to the age of robust manhood and when the vital powers are matured and strong; and against ambitiousness [Page 322]when old age has come on and vital powers have become weak and decayed.

"Three things also such a man reveres greatly: the ordinances of Heaven, great men, and the words of sages. Nine things there are of which the superior man should be mindful: to be clear in vision, quick in hearing, genial in expression, respectful in demeanor, true in word, serious in duty, inquiring in doubt, firmly self-controlled in anger, just and fair when the way to success opens out before him." (Book XVI.)

"Tzu Chang asked Confucius the meaning of virtue, to which Confucius replied: "To be able everywhere one goes to carry five things into practice, constitutes virtue. They are respect, magnanimity, sincerity, earnestness, and kindness. With respect, you will avoid insult. With magnanimity, you will win all. With sincerity, men will trust you. With earnestness, you will have success. And with kindness, you will be fitted to command others." (Book XVII.)

II. Ta-Hio, "The Great Learning"

—a treatise on self-culture and its relation to social ethics, society being conceived as an extension of the individual. Typical of its contents is this significant passage:

"The illustrious ancients, when they wished to make clear and propagate the highest virtues, first put their states in proper order. Before putting their states in proper order, they regulated their families. Before regulating their families, they cultivated their own selves. Before cultivating their own selves, they perfected their own souls. Before perfecting their own souls, they tried to be sincere in their thoughts. Before trying to be sincere in their thoughts, they extended to the utmost their knowledge. Such extension of knowledge lay in the investigation of things and in seeing them as they really were. When things were thus investigated, knowledge became sincere. When thoughts were sincere, their souls became perfect. When their souls were perfect, their own selves became cultivated. When their selves were cultivated, their families became regulated. When their families were regulated, their state came to be orderly. When their states were [Page 323]in proper order, then the whole world became peaceful and happy. In other words, the harmonious and orderly conditions of society are the result of the extension of the personal virtues.

It is here also in the Ta-Hio that we find the most comprehensive interpretation of chün-tse, i.e., one who has cultivated all the fundamental instincts to their utmost limit and yet maintains a balance and harmony among them—the instinct for knowledge, for moral elevation, for beauty, for social manners. As against the Pauline doctrine of the suppression of natural desires, Confucius pleaded for their proper control. Like Plato he believed the ideal man to be one in whom all instincts, impulses, proclivities, function in an organized life, man's business being to organize it, not in enmity to any one of these but with due regard for all.

In the words of this scripture:

"The cultivation of our moral life consists in the maintenance of a complete balance of our being. When we are infested with passions, then that balance and equilibrium is lost. So also when we have fear, when we are particularly attracted to some object which has for us an unusually strong appeal, when we are overcome with grief. Under these circumstances our mind wanders away from the objects which should occupy our attention. We look but see not, we hear but comprehend not, we eat but taste not."

Hence moderation as taught by Confucius is decorum in the good old eighteenth century sense,—a process of harmonization, that being the goal of the conduct of life. This has been given expression in the following paragraph:

"When the passions such as joy, anger, grief, and pleasure have not awakened, that is when we have true moral being. When these passions awaken and each and all attain due measure and degree, that is complete harmonization, and therefore a perfect moral order. Our moral being is the great reality of universal existence, our harmonized moral order is the eternal law of the universe."

III. Chung-Yung, "The Doctrine of the Mean"

expounding the Master's dominant conception of the middle path between extremes and emphasizing what for him was a "cosmic principle," equilibrium, or balance. Here, as in the Analects, we meet with the [Page 324]Golden Rule but its significance for Confucius seems to have been different from what it was for Jesus. And the distinction is of capital importance because it is commonly believed that the Golden Rule enunciated by Jesus was not original with him but substantially that enunciated by Confucius. On closer inspection, however, it appears that the two Golden Rules are only verbally alike, not substantially the same. What Jesus intended to convey is not that which Confucius had in mind. As put forth by the Chinese sage, the rule seems to say: "Keep the balance true between thyself and thy neighbor, practise the principle of equilibrium." Whereas, according to Jesus, the rule means, "Look upon thy neighbor as thy other self; act toward him as if thou wert he." Perhaps a like differentiation could be established in the case of the other five variants of the Golden Rule, presented in the first article of this series; nevertheless it is plain that the fundamental spiritual attitude implied in the various statements is the same. For, I take it that the Golden Rule, strictly speaking, is not a rule at all. It does not tell us specifically what to do, but simply indicates the spirit that should control and underlie our action, leaving it to us to find the appropriate deed. It is generally conceded that the Chung-Yung is the most important of all the four "Books" in that its cardinal ideas are presented more systematically and logically than in any other Confucian text.

Chung means what is central and Yung what is common to humanity, or universal, thus bringing home to us a distinctive feature of Confucius' message, by his linking of Man with the larger microcosm, lebensphilosophie with naturphilosophie. Thus, for example, in the opening sentences of this third of the four "Books" we read:

"The ordinance of God is what we call the law of our being. To fulfil the law of our being is what we call the moral law. . . The moral law is a law from whose operation we cannot for one instant in our existence escape. A law from which we may escape is not the moral law." Further on we read: "To find the central clue to our moral being which unites us to the universal order,

---

• See World-Unity Magazine, Vol. I., No. I., October 1927.

[Page 325]

THE SACRED SCRIPTURES OF CONFUCIANISM

"that indeed is the highest human attainment. People are seldom capable of it for long."

In Chapter XXIX it is stated that: "Confucius taught the truth originally handed down by the ancient Emperors Yao and Shun, and he adopted and perfected the system of moral laws established by the Emperors Wen and Wu. He showed that they harmonize with the divine order which governs the revolutions of the seasons in the Heaven above, and that they fit in with the moral design which is to be seen in physical nature upon the earth below. These moral laws form one system with the laws by which Heaven and Earth support and contain, overshadow and canopy all things. These moral laws form the saine system with the laws by which the seasons succeed each other and the sun and moon appear with the alternations of day and night... one system running through all-that makes the universe so impressively great.

Surely, then, in so far as religion consists in the sense of humility before a divine order, or in recognition of a unity in the relationship between the human and the cosmic world, Confucianism is entitled to be called a religion as much as the other great systems of the world. The story goes that Confucius when visiting the tomb of Hwang Ti, the Yellow Emperor, noticed three buckets hanging in a triply divided frame. The hinges of the vessels were low and Confucius, who derived moral lessons from all things he saw, improved the opportunity and delivered to his disciples a parable on moderation. When one of the buckets was filled with water high above the hinges, it would become unsteady and tip, spilling almost all its contents. "Thus," said Confucius, "is the man without moderation. He will not be able to practise self-control." The parable is told in Book II: "Kung-tze visited the shrine of Prince Kwan of (the State of Lu, where he found some tipping (or inclined) vessels. The Master asked the guard of the shrine, saying: 'What are these vessels?' The guard replied: 'They are Yu Tso's vessels.' Kung-tze said: 'I heard of Yu Tso's vessels: when they are empty, they tip; when half filled, they stand upright; when quite filled, they are upset. The enlightened Prince [Page 326]found in this a great moral teaching; he had these vessels always beside his seat.' "

IV. Mong-Tzi, "Mencius, the Philosopher."

He lived from 372 to 289 B. C. and was the foremost champion of Confucian teaching in his day, going from city to city in the customary way, expounding to government officials the principles upon which the prosperity of states depends and setting forth to lay individuals the ethics of personal life. With exceptional skill Mencius made use of the dialogue form, reminding the reader of Socrates. The "Book" of precepts and discussions that bears his name resembles the Lun-Yu in its doctrine of "equilibrium" and "harmony," only its concern is chiefly with their application to government. This is exemplified in the following typical quotation:

"If the people have not a certain livelihood, they will not have a fixed heart. And if they have not a fixed heart, there is nothing which they will not do in the way of self-abandonment, of moral deflection, of depravity, and of wild license. When they thus have been involved in crime, to follow them up and punish them—this is to entrap the people. Therefore an intelligent ruler will regulate the livelihood of the people, so as to make sure that, above all, they have sufficient wherewith to serve their parents, and, below, sufficient wherewith to support their wives and children; that in good years they shall always be abundantly satisfied, and that in bad years they shall escape the danger of perishing. After this he may urge them, and they will proceed to do what is good, for in this case the people will follow after that with ease."

In the interests of a lost harmony Mencius sanctioned the right of revolution:

"If a prince have grave faults the nobles and ministers who are of his blood ought to remonstrate with him, and if he do not listen to them after they have done so again and again, they ought to dethrone him." (Book I.)

"If every man would love his parents and show due respect to his elders, the whole world would enjoy peace." (Book IV.) [Page 327]

UNITY AND DISUNITY IN INTERNATIONAL POLITICS

Edited by DEXTER PERKINS Department of History and Government, University of Rochester

The Pan American Conference

AN IMPORTANT piece of constructive work toward peace was done by the Pan American Arbitration Conference which closed on January 5. The proceedings of this conference received relatively little notice in the press, much less notice than the Havana Conference of a year ago; but in constructive political results, it may be that the Washington conference will be regarded as the more important of the two.

The purpose of the conference was to lay the bases for the peaceful settlement of all disputes arising between American states. After a month's sessions two conventions were drawn up, one providing for arbitration of certain classes of disputes, and the other providing for that more informal and less binding method of settlement which has come to be known as "conciliation."

The first of these two conventions goes farther than any previous international agreement toward compulsory arbitration, though the basis of its terms was provided by an earlier international document. It will be remembered that the Statute creating the World Court contained a clause which has been known as the Optional Clause. This clause defined certain classes of disputes as particularly suitable for arbitration, and the acceptance by any nation of this clause involved an obligation to submit all such disputes to arbitral procedure. The types of controversies therein mentioned were as follows: (1) Controversies concerning [Page 328]the interpretation of a treaty; (2) Controversies concerning any question of international law; (3) Controversies concerning the existence of any fact which, if established, would constitute a breach of an international obligation; and (4) Controversies concerning the nature or extent of the reparation to be made for the breach of an international obligation. The Pan American conference, in its arbitration convention, has virtually taken over this Optional Clause, and incorporated it in an international compact involving no less than twenty states. It is true that certain exceptions are specifically mentioned. Disputes which are within the domestic jurisdiction of the parties, and disputes affecting a state not a party to the treaty, are excluded. But these exceptions can hardly be deemed of very great importance. Never before, beyond a doubt, has so large a number of states accepted the principle of compulsory arbitration in disputes arising between them, and never before, in particular, has the United States gone so far along the pathway of arbitral settlement of international differences.

There are, however, certain elements in the situation regarding this convention which must be noticed, and which operate to qualify one's enthusiasm. One of these is the fact that thirteen states made reservations to this trea.y. These reservations are taken, (1) with regard to existing disputes, and (2) with regard to pecuniary claims. In the second case, the reservation provides that arbitration shall only follow upon a denial of justice in the courts of the nation against which the claim is lodged. It can hardly be denied that the moral force of the treaty is at least a little shaken by such qualifications. In particular, the withdrawal of existing disputes from the operation of the compact is a matter to be regretted. And the worst of the matter is that the action of the reserving states is likely to affect unfavorably the course of the treaty in the American Senate. Mr. Kellogg and Mr. Hughes wisely and progressively decided to sign the arbitration convention without any reservation whatsoever. As it goes to the Senate for ratification, this compact represents a great advance. But the Senate's record is known. It mutilated the [Page 329]arbitration treaties of Grover Cleveland; it mutilated the arbitration treaties of Theodore Roosevelt; it mutilated the arbitration treaties of William Howard Taft; it mutilated the great international agreement submitted to it by Woodrow Wilson. How confident can one be, in the light of all this, and in view of the reservations of other states, that it will not mutilate the Pan American Arbitration agreement? Certainly the steady pressure of public opinion is needed to insure favorable action. The Kellogg treaty binds this country to settle by peaceful means all disputes arising with the other signatories to the compact. The machinery for the settlement of many such disputes is contained in the convention we are discussing. It certainly ought to be ratified, and ratified as it stands.

Practical statesmanship recognizes that not all disputes are susceptible of settlement by arbitration. International law has not yet developed to the point where definite principles are always ascertainable. In place of arbitration, for certain types of controversies, must be set up the machinery of conciliation.

The Santiago Conference of 1923 made some progress along this line. The so-called Gondra Convention, drawn up at that Conference, provided that any government involved in a controversy with another might apply to one of two diplomatic commissions, stationed respectively at Washington and at Montevideo, and consisting of the three senior American diplomats accredited at the capital concerned. These commissions might appoint ad hoc commissions of inquiry. But this was the only power which they did possess. And the ineffectiveness of any such procedure was demonstrated during the session of the recent conference in the controversy between Bolivia and Paraguay. Paraguay appealed to the Montevideo commission. The commission asked Bolivia to appoint her representatives on a commission of inquiry. Bolivia refused. No further step could then be taken.

The new convention goes far beyond this. All disputes not submitted to arbitration must be submitted to the procedure of conciliation. Not only this, but the two commissions are given [Page 330]the power to proceed on their own motion, whenever "it appears that there is a prospect of disturbance of peaceful relations. The machinery thus set up has an interesting relationship to the activities of the League of Nations. Many of the Latin American states signatory to the Convention of Conciliation are members of the League. By the terms of the Covenant, disputes not settled by means of arbitration or judicial inquiry are to go to the Council. The new treaty of Washington provides a different form for such disputes, though a forum of much the same type. But, though this may seem to some persons a derogation from the universal activity of the League, it may certainly be strongly defended on practical grounds. The Council of the League, from its very composition, can assemble only in Europe. It cannot be in such close and continuous contact with a New World controversy as the new commissions provided by the Pan American agreement. The new machinery has the merit of greater practical effectiveness. Nor need it be assumed that it will be regarded with the slightest disparagement by the most sincere supporters of the League itself.

The Washington Conference has builded well. If the agreements which were there drawn up are ratified by the Senate of the United States, they will mark the opening of a new era in our relations with the states of Latin America.

In the meantime a great European and international question is approaching a decisive stage. The Reparations Commission has appointed a new committee of experts to consider the problem of German reparations. It may be well to set forth the elements of the matter, leaving any detailed discussion till later.

The Dawes plan, of 1924, fixed a schedule of payments for Germany to make. But it did not fix a total sum to be paid. The actual determination of Germany’s total liability has yet to be fixed, at least as a practical matter, because there has been no new determination since the forced acceptance by the Reich of the swollen figures of 1921.

Now the fixation of this total liability becomes a matter of increasing importance to both parties. The Germans would like [Page 331]

THE PAN AMERICAN CONFERENCE

to know what they have to pay, not only for obvious financial reasons, but because they are looking forward to an agreement that will liberate their occupied provinces. The French would like to settle the matter, for reasons a little more complicated. France has never ratified the debt-refunding agreement with the United States. But if this agreement is not soon ratified, she will find herself in an embarrassing position. She owes a large sum to the United States for war supplies purchased at the end of the war. She must pay this sum in August, unless she ratifies the general agreement for the payment of her debts, in which the liquidation of this sum is included. On the other hand, if she does ratify the debt-refunding compact, she will more than ever want to know where the money is coming from with which to discharge her obligations. And the answer to any such question is, of course, Germany.

Thus the international trend today is very decidedly toward the solution of this vexed question of reparations. And though as yet the terms of the solution cannot be predicted, one general observation may safely be made. Whatever terms are fixed, there will be created a new and stronger interest in European stability and, in all probability, a closer relation between France and Germany. The path of Western European politics seems to lead, though with windings and turnings, toward the higher ground on which the edifice of a more stable society can be built.

X [Page 332]

THE TRANSFORMATION OF SOCIETY

by F. S. MARVIN Author; an Organizer of Courses in the Unity History School, England

A WORD in support of Mary Hull's excellent articles in the August and September 1928 numbers of World Unity may be acceptable from that side of the Atlantic where the notions of decadence have been most loudly proclaimed. So far from accepting them the writer of these notes would deal even more trenchantly with Spengler's "Downfall of the West" than Miss Hull has done. We all know our own country best. I have added to a rather exceptional knowledge of all parts of England, special journeys to Ireland, France, Germany, Belgium, Poland. All this since the war, and, since the war also, an Institute for the study of International Affairs has been active in London which gives its members the opportunity of meeting representative and well-informed people from all parts of the world. We bookish people are apt to forget that the question we are discussing is the actual condition of actual men and women and not the disappearance of certain idealizing and idealized figures of the past. Let us take a Spengler or Keyserling and analyze the actual process by which such a person arrives at his conclusions of decadence. He is reading books or studying works of art for the most part, and arises from his Goethe or Leonardo to meet a live modern man, such, for instance, as those who bawl at us from the pages of Sinclair Lewis. "All over with Western Culture" is the inevitable conclusion, if we approach the question from that point of view or in that spirit. But what are we really out to discuss, and, if possible; ascertain? Whether Western Civilization—we will limit ourselves for the present to that—is decaying or in progress. Obviously, if we are to arrive at any conclusion we must know [Page 333]

THE TRANSFORMATION OF SOCIETY

what we are talking about, i.e., define our terms. Here are three very big and elusive terms—Western Civilization, Decadence, Progress. By "Western Civilization" we must mean the state of life and thought which has descended to the peoples of Western Europe and their immediate offshoots, from the Middle East, through Greece and Rome and the Christian Church. By "decadence" we must surely mean that those peoples, or that state of life and thought are weakening, or disappearing, as a plant or animal weakens, dies and is disintegrated. If the populations concerned are still quite vigorous, although their ways of life and thought show certain changes, it is impossible to understand in what sense the term "decadence" can be applied to them. The third term is by far the hardest to define. It seems to the present writer that it must be taken in a social sense; that is to say that, even if the Shakespeares, Leonardos and Goethes of the past had all disappeared and we were never to see their like again, yet the reality of progress would be entirely unaffected, if the whole social being—which is here Western Civilization—is in a state of progress, i.e., is improving, or increasing certain qualities about which we must of course be agreed beforehand.

Now the qualities belonging to this social being are either physical or mental, the second we generally divide into intellectual and moral, moral relating more particularly to conduct which includes others, intellectual being more centered in the individual's own powers. Our problem then resolves itself into determining whether in these respects, or any of them, the people who make up this Western Civilization are falling off or in decay. A mere change in mental outlook—as for instance taking a different view of religion, could not possibly, it would seem to me, be called decadence. In judging of the changes going on—and that there are changes no one will dispute—we may attempt to estimate them at first individually and then sum up the results, or we may put first and predominant the common features, international relations and so forth, and then look afterwards at the individual qualities which produce these larger reactions. Let us take these international relations first and ask if Western Civilization shows [Page 334]any signs of decay, either as a whole in holding itself together, or in its relations to other parts of the world, i.e., in dealing with those societies of men who do not belong to the same stream of culture. If in either of these respects Western Civilization were weakening, there would be the good reason for thinking it in decay. The last case in history which is most frequently cited as a civilization in decay, was of this kind, viz., the Roman Empire in face of the barbarians. It is in fact this case which is most in the minds of people who talk about the "passing of Western Civilization." The World War, added to the rapid changes in thought and ways of life in the new century, took back the minds of these facile theorists about history, and set them thinking about another "Decline and Fall" comparable to that of the early Christian era. Nothing could be more superficial, or rather, more contrary to the most obvious facts. The solidity of Western Civilization was demonstrated more clearly by the World War than by any other proof. Those countries which were organized by modern science, especially Germany, survived it practically intact, in spite of the most shattering assault ever made upon any society in all its aspects. And the immediate, and by far the most important, issue of the war, is the establishment by Western Civilization itself of a new, comprehensive and increasingly powerful organization the League of Nations—to avoid such ruinous convulsions in future. Looked at internationally, Western Civilization is unquestionably stronger, both in its organization and in its moral aspect towards other civilizations than it was before the war. It would be easy to establish this in detail by reference to the Mandate system, to humanitarian work all over the world, even to the great outstanding cases of India and China. But it is not relevant to Miss Hull's articles, nor is it really what the pessimists are troubled about. In fact if they thought a little more of what Europe and America stand for in India and China, they would not be so pessimistic.

It is the other, the internal, aspect of Western Civilization which concerns them more—and rightly; for if life at the centers is weakened or contaminated, increasing strength and influence [Page 335]

THE TRANSFORMATION OF SOCIETY

abroad will be contaminated also, and return as a tenfold poison to its source. This, as we all know, was a powerful cause of the degeneration of the ancient Roman Republic. Hence it is on the state of Western nations themselves on which our scrutiny should be primarily fixed, and I am bound to repeat the profound misgiving from which I started, at the whole method and basis of judgment on which the pessimist school proceeds. They take an ideal, as represented by some literary picture or theory, or some exceptional figure in the past and compare this with the average, or even less than average, product of the modern movement which is now determined and active in raising the whole population to the highest level which their conditions will allow. This is the public policy of all western nations at the present time and they are all endeavoring earnestly to carry it out. As it is both a new and a tremendous effort, it is not surprising that the results are imperfect, often ludicrous, sometimes seeming spoilt as compared with the simple unschooled offspring of the pre-education era. But this policy of the state to educate all its members under public control we have to accept as part of the modern movement and our only concern with it can be to make it as good as possible. To twist it, by the extraordinary perversion of the pessimists, into a condemnation of the civilization which is attempting it, seems to be one of the oddest antics of human folly.

The only possible method of estimating either the progress or the decline of a civilization, as shown in the individuals who compose it, is to know them. You cannot know a very large proportion of them, and you are compelled therefore to supplement and correct your personal knowledge by statistics and the reports of others. If you do this with regard to any of the western nations, you would not find a single reporter who on the whole would not report a general advance. Health, and morality and intelligence in general, are the matters to be judged, and there is no known evidence on which, in all these respects, the peoples of the West are not shown to be improving. What prevents so many of us from dwelling on, or even admitting this, is the keener consciousness which arises at the same time of the gravity of the [Page 336]defects, of the distance that we still are from what we might imagine. We shrink from the dangers of complacency, forgetting that for everyone individually, as well as for a society or nation as a whole, it is far more dangerous to underestimate one's strength and exaggerate one's symptoms than to take an over-sanguine view of one's health. In case of illness those survive who believe in their powers of resistance; those die who give up hope. But in the case we are discussing there is no need for veiling the truth or importing artificial courage from a doctored diagnosis. On the contrary, the first essential is for the complainants to open their own eyes and take in the picture of the greatest transformation of society by its own collective determination towards improvement that the world has ever seen.

To placate the critics, and give a point to our own special efforts it is well for those, like the present writer, who firmly believe in a hopeful diagnosis to realize where the most serious weakness lies in our contemporary social state. It lies, as Miss Hull has pointed out, in the overrunning of our moral ideals—our contentment and happiness in ourselves and in the service of others by extraordinary developments in the material world due to the growth and applications of science. This is what is often called "materialism," though it is better to keep that word for its proper philosophic meaning. The evil we are speaking of is not philosophic or even moral—for it would be wrong to accuse the sufferers from this new form of "materialism" of immorality. It is rather a want of adjustment between the individual and the forces of knowledge, power and enjoyment that have been evoked around him. Hence restlessness, discontent, striving after temporary pleasures and change. Let no one think that such a state of things is wholly evil or can be easily or quickly cured; but perhaps the remedy may lie somewhere near the exciting cause of the disease. It was so with the Great War which precipitated its own antidote in the League of Nations and all its associated activities. Can any aspect or approach to science allay the ferment which its application to matter and to industry have produced? [Page 337]

YOUTH AND THE MODERN WORLD

Edited by ISABELLA VAN METER

"Above and beyond all war and death is our deep yearning for the time when we shall be able to work side by side with the youth of the whole world."

During the crucial years since the European war, the youth of the world has been gathering its force as if for a supreme struggle with the militant, destructive past. Repudiating alike its inheritance of institutions, customs and ideals, the generation now assuming manhood and womanhood in East and West is gradually creating the substance of a different way of life, a new outlook, destined to form a new civilization. Viewed from the ranks of those molded by the past, this manifestation of youth has appeared one of the most tragic, misguided, even sinister of social phenomena, since its triumph must involve the overthrow of so much that mankind has done and been. The statement of youth itself, so far as youth has yet defined its own energies, experiences and directions, will tell a different story. In this department World Unity Magazine will publish from time to time brief articles expressing the outlook of youth, by youth itself, on those vital issues which are recurrent from age to age.

THE MEANING OF THE YOUTH MOVEMENT

by ISABELLA VAN METER

THROUGHOUT the course of the Youth Movement, members of the groups have been looked upon with dismay and distrust by the parent generation, and have met with opposition from both school and state. Yet, through the unity of its purpose, these scattered groups have wielded a power beginning to mold world civilization.

The Chinese and German Youth Movements stand the most spectacular and representative of all the wide-spread groups; for to these the others gaze as to a star for inspiration and guidance.

For the inception of the German Youth Movement, "The Wandervogel," we must look as far back as 1896. At Steglitz, on the road from Berlin to Potsdam, a young teacher, Karl Fischer, converted his shorthand "Klasse" into a wandering-club—the embryo. Fischer was a romantic idealist. He saw beauty in medieval German tradition and custom. Revolting to him was the [Page 338]Kultur of a militaristic regime with its class-conscious students whose holidays consisted of rounds of bawdy debauchery. He visioned German youth in a far different holiday gathering. With his student companions, he made hiking trips to spots replete with old German tradition, with rucksack, blanket and guitar, to sit about a campfire, to sing the old songs of Germany and sleep under the stars.

Karl Fischer, to be sure, was not the only man participating in this youth revolution; many other scholars and thinkers, who were dissatisfied with the existing order of life, also took part. They spoke on freedom of thought to their students and put into the heads of the youth ideas that robbed them of their peace.

Among the educators, Doctor Gustav Wyneken stood out prominently. Working with others, he established the well-known Free School Community at Wickersdorf in 1906, an institution which gave the impetus to the revolution going on in young minds. Thousands of young teachers and students made pilgrimages monthly to this haven, taking home with them his idea of a new Youth School.

A few philanthropists were interested in the movement, and gave money for propaganda, and other groups were formed throughout the south and west. For the appeal of the movement was irresistible. The parental idea of an enjoyable Sunday was to stroll conventionally up and down the local main street or sit for hours in a beer garden, listening to a military band. These pursuits appealed neither to the sons, bursting with animal spirits, nor to the daughters imbued with a belief in sex emancipation. To provide a counter attraction did not occur to the parents, who could only lament and accuse the leaders, whom a conscientious government could not abolish, even by many trials.

Shelters were established for the use of bands of Wandervogel. These served at first as a welcome substitute for the hay loft of some hospitable farmer, but later became centers from which the accumulating force of the movement could make itself felt. Bands left their homes for six months and even a whole year, sojourning even beyond their frontiers, working as helpers, farmers and [Page 339]artisans. When, finally, these young men settled down, they became excellent farmers and workmen, and what they undertook, they did with all their heart.

In 1913, commemorative celebrations marked the centenary of the winning of the Wars of Liberation; celebrations at which German youth identified his present cause with that of his forefathers. The youth movement began to realize its strength. A new order came into being. Instead of the class-conscious, brawling student types appeared groups who could say during the patriotism-impassioned days of 1917: "Above and beyond all war and death, is our deep yearning for the time when we shall be able to work side by side with the youth of the whole world."

Through their many periodicals, they declared their stand against war, against the artificialities of the established church, the pomposity of "Kultur" society, the narrowness of class distinction. They sounded their call-clarion-clear-to all youth to find a pure joy in simple things; the primitive folk-dances, the arts and crafts which were before the advent of industrialism; to a feeling of oneness among all social classes, among the youth of the whole world. Romantic idealists they are, yes; but they are building a rock-firm foundation for a new social order which may bring the old folk-ways into harmony with the exigencies of modern life. Theirs is the idealism which will not submit to an exploiting industrialism, which demands thorough readjustment, and hopes for a time when the needs of the spirit receive attention on an equal basis with economic needs.

Basically similar in productive thought but dissimilar in accomplishment is the Chinese Youth Movement. Springing from a wholesale condemnation of tradition and custom, the raison d'être of this movement, paradoxically enough, was to defeat the very motive which promulgated its birth.

In 1847, China first abandoned her age-old policy of isolation, hoping to learn to fight the rest of the world with its own weapons. Yung Wing, in effect the progenitor of the youth movement in China, was sent to the United States to learn martial methods. He later induced the Government to send 120 students to America, [Page 340]not alone that China might compete successfully with other nations in the event of war, but that Chinese youth might broaden its horizon, might know a different culture, a greater freedom. The quick assumption of American mannerism by members of this group dismayed the authorities at home. Garbled tales of mistreatment were related in the provinces, and the 120 were ordered to return to China. Yung Wing, now in disgrace, fled, and remained the rest of his life in America.

Nevertheless, a subtle leaven had begun to work, and continued to gain strength. In the last ten years of the 19th Century, the Sino-Japanese War, the Boxer Rebellion and other disturbances, made youth dissatisfied with conditions at home. Returned students had brought an interest in western life and had translated "radical literature. Periodicals of a socio-philosophical nature sprang up, often printed in the vernacular, often circulated in secret. There came a great student exodus. Literally tens of thousands left China for all parts of the world to study engineering, law, science. Many returned to China after an incomplete course, and began to teach. While some students had been sent by the government, the greater number has always been self-supporting. This idea, namely that of combining higher education with manual labor, revolutionary though it was, became more and more popular. Sharing their experiences, their hopes and dreams, made a bond and a more intimate contact between the returned students than any which was possible between student and parent.

Western philosophy, poetry, athletics, the very knowledge of a college yell, were the antithesis of all tradition in China where tradition was of paramount importance. Abroad and at home they planned a new China, cast from a totally different mold.

It was this planning which aroused organized opposition on the part of the authorities. There followed trials and imprisonment of students, student strikes, riots and demonstrations of sympathy, throughout the country, which served to strengthen and unify the revolutionaries. Many, losing interest in evanescent political changes, sought to bring about a change in the "inner life." Philosophical race that they are still, they sought a new [Page 341]

THE MEANING OF THE YOUTH MOVEMENT

culture rather than a new government, put their trust in education rather than in revolution. The retreats for mature scholars became colleges and schools-learning becoming the right of the many instead of the privilege of the few.

When first the Chinese Republic became a reality, the students perceived the seeds of the era which was to flower under the regime of the New Nationalist Government. Many bore arms in the 1911 revolution, singing their own national anthem:

"To all the nations of the Orient China as a pioneer is sent. ... In China's culture we may all rejoice And for world peace, raise our voice."

Protests and magazine articles were written by both young and old, who were in sympathy with the movement, branding the old civilization as decaying; expressing a willingness to fight for the new vitalized ideals of the West. Youth cut off its queue, denied its heritage and prepared to wage war against the domination of Confucianism and the family.

The National University in Peking became a great center. Women were given free entrance and encouraged to avail themselves of all opportunities; traditional formalities between the sexes were abolished; and always the translation of western books went on. There was a swinging into step with the "thought-tide" of the world; a veritable renaissance.

The Youth Movement in Denmark was one of the earliest, but has received such cooperation from the government that it has become the movement of the whole country rather than of any group. It has had so few martyrs that it has attracted less attention than it deserves on account of its lofty ideals and splendid organization.

Young India and the "Passive Resistance" movement led by Ghandi appear much more nearly to approximate a potential war of political liberation than a youth movement, though this condition may be altered as the world society learns how to deal more wisely with international and inter-racial affairs. [Page 342]Let World Unity seek to define its criteria, in this series:-

The values of maturity are the result of reason, of logic, and hence of conformity. Youth is impatient with these, even though they have been creative and useful in the past, and takes for its standards, the vital and instinctive emotional values. That ideal which arouses its loyalty, which stirs its imagination, for that will youth shed its blood, freely and gladly. But if the desire of youth for freedom of self-expression be strong, its desire must be fulfilled in an ennobled future; in time the structure of society must be changed to conform with its legitimate demands.

Meanwhile, there is another necessity: youth must see the causes behind the laws and usages of the maturity youth itself is approaching; and age must find some sympathy with the headlong impulsiveness of its children as they grow into man’s estate.

It is in an attempt to bring about this translation of values, that this department has been undertaken. Those will be given space here who most clearly define Youth’s proposition, who through varying channels can interpret the one age to the other, for the enrichment and advancement of both. [Page 343]

THE NEW HUMANITY

"Without edifices or rules or trustees or any argument, The institution of the dear love of comrades. Edited by MARY SIEGRIST Author of "You that Come After," etc."

"THE purpose of the artist (poet)," declared Aristotle, "is to complete the incomplete designs of nature." Nature, it would seem, loves a certain incompleteness. It is as though she had deliberately left room in her vast pattern for the inner interpretation of the Creative Man. In his true function, he comes reverently, having from the beginning hungered and thirsted for a "wilder beauty than earth supplies." Flashes of the unseen and impalpable beauty are revealed to him in the delicate overtones of nature and in those rarer moments of solitude and among his fellow men. Being sensitive to the winds of the finer ethers, his is a wide range of enjoyment and suffering. Early he learns of the unescapable griefs and sorrows, the common heritage of every man. Early he learns, too, of the rapture of joy that is his in moments of contemplation and of ecstasy. His spirit in time learns the lesson of the willows—how to bend but not break beneath the invisible fingers of the wind. His heart must, as it were, be hollowed out by the impact and indwelling of great joys and sorrows, in order that he may one day learn to "carry the world in his bosom." No task less than this is indicated in the nature and compass of song. A new conception of life is implicit in the very nature of poetry. This implies a new dedication of humanity to noble issues that pass beyond all barriers of race and class. Those who read noble poetry, and contemplate its inner significance, find prejudice, fear and separation gradually banished from their hearts. [Page 344]

BLACK MEN

Swift gusts of hollow night wind clatter by; Tonight the earth is leper-pale and still. The moon lies like a tombstone in the sky. Three black men sway upon a lonely hill.

The pain has withered from each tortured face. Soon earth will hide them with a mother's care; But never God's great mercy can erase A bitter scorn for men who hung them there.

LUCIA TRENT

I THINK OF HIM AS ONE WHO FIGHTS

You think of him as one who fails, I think of him as one who fights, Who goes on strange adventurous ways Through tortured days and dangerous nights.

You know him by the fallen flesh The cruel trap where he was caught, I know him by the lifted brow And by the Cause for which he fought.

And he went first and he went far With glorious banners lifted high- And you and I'll have different ways Of judging him until we die.

For if he wins or if he falls- I know 'tis written in God's laws That he who fights on the right side Shall wear the splendor of the Cause.

You know him by the grievous wound And by the earth on which he lies- [Page 345]

THE NEW HUMANITY

I know him by the patient worth And the deep sadness of his eyes. You judge him by the hostile mood Which was the Devil's battle shout, I judge him by his quest for God And by the things he prays about. And you shall have your place of pride With lifted banners glittering bright- But the whole earth shall hear him speak Of One who raised him in the night. And you shall stay in Heaven-perchance― With righteous souls that do not err, But he shall come to earth again And comfort with the Comforter. You think of him as one who fails, I think of him as one who fights- Who ventures steep and perilous ways Through tortured days and perilous nights.

ANNA HEMPSTEAD BRANCH

O TENDER HEART

O tender heart of our humanity, O bleeding sacred heart, with tears of ages. Dear Mother, once on earth, now glorified- Thy arms outstretched in love o'er all creation- Thy husk lies by the seashore, which Thou Didst thus and thus inhabit (parted now, For it could ne'er contain Thee). [Page 346]

EDWARD CARPENTER

O buds and blooms of Spring once more returning, Bright waters flowing, O heavenly blue still shining, And Thou still spreading over all and changeless, O tender heart of our humanity, O bleeding sacred heart, with tears of ages.

Arise Thou glorified, Year after year-leaving thy mortal days behind- Dear mother in the great unseen impending, Slowly creation orbs about thy form.

I follow where thou walkedst. I behold Where ages back on earth Thou still didst I see thee in the streets today disguised; Thy spirit glides eternal-and I follow, Kissing the sacred foot-prints as I go. All suffering for thy dear sake is holy- pass;

(O thorn-crowned brow, O bleeding sacred heart)- Thou that didst bear me and thy children all With bitter pangs and sorrow for thy cup (Thy thin hands laid at last within the grave), All suffering for thy dear sake is holy.

الله [Page 347]

The Reconstruction of Religious Thought

The religion that divides, that sets man against man and nation against nation, that expresses itself in passionate prejudice and bigoted intolerance, is still strong in its conviction that it has found the su way and the true faith.

The religion that binds men together, that sees beneath the rich diversity of national, racial, and cultural traits the underlying humanity of mankind, the essential worth of every human personality, is today beset by profound doubts and questionings. Such religion has already forsaken complacent acquiescence in traditional and conventional moral ideals. It has attained some insight into the moral and spiritual needs of the new World Society, and it is seeking manfully to work out an adequate ethical ideal and to translate that ideal into social action. But, so far, its spiritual vision has outstripped its intelligence. It has met the moral challenge of a world-wide industrial society; but it has failed to meet the intellectual challenge of present-day science and philosophy. There is no thoughtful religious leader today who does not recognize that despite its spiritual insight and its moral idealism, liberal religion is wholly at sea in matters of belief.

Progressive religious leaders are aware that modern science and modern scientific philosophies have made impossible literal belief in the older creeds. Many of them realize that the 19th century reinterpretations of theology, that served men well during the age of philosophic idealism and the evolutionary dogma, have [Page 348]also lost their appeal and relevance for the modern mind. But they have not yet come to grips with the more adequate science and philosophy of today. They recognize that the religious life can no longer be interpreted in terms of the prescientific concepts of past ages. But they have still to find the intellectual formulation that will express their spiritual experience by means of ideas current in the best thought of today. They are confused, vague, muddled, contradictory. They seek to dress up traditional concepts in the veneer of passing scientific theories. They combine elements drawn from incompatible systems of thought. They set forth bravely to understand and appropriate scientific philosophies, and then draw back in alarm at the prospect of revising familiar concepts. Their social vision may have been inspired by our modern age, but their minds are still lingering with the rational liberalism of the 18th century or the romantic idealism of the 19th. Their intelligence has not yet caught up with their aspiration.

The result is that the spiritual unification of mankind to which progressive religion is pledged, is still entangled in ideas which cannot but seem obsolete to the leaders of modern thought. On the one hand, the prophets of this living faith are frankly groping for some adequate philosophical foundation for their vision, but unwilling to learn from thinkers who are in touch with modern concepts. On the other, such thinkers are all too often alienated from any religious movement, and reject the force and power that religion might bring to their rational methods and ideals. These two bodies of men can be brought together only by a far more thoroughgoing reconstruction of religious ideas than has yet been accepted by any religious leader. Only by such an intellectual effort can careful thought be vivified by religious idealism, and spiritual vision be clarified by understanding.

All these various tendencies are represented in recent volumes dealing with religious thought. Gerald Birney Smith, of the Chicago Divinity School, has edited a symposium that gives an accurate and invaluable picture of the intellectual currents in contemporary liberal Protestantism.* Exact scholarship, inquiring

\* Gerald B. Smith, Religious Thought in the Last Quarter-Century. U. of Chicago Press. 239 pp. $3. [Page 349]into the history of Christianity, has contributed much to the understanding of the religious life of the past. The practical works of the churches, in preaching, in religious education, in foreign missions, give evidence of an urge that expresses itself in a great deal of activity and bustling about. Scholars have learnt much of other religions. Psychologists, though handicapped by the narrow limits of Protestant theology, which has unduly restricted the experiences they have studied, have attempted to analyze certain of the crises in the religious life. In spite of great opposition, "social Christianity" has flourished and waxed strong.

The general impression one gathers is of a growing tendency to view Christianity as one religion among many, rooted in the deep experiences of human nature, profoundly expressive of the social aspirations of the peoples who have lived it, constantly enriched by religious impulses from its neighbors, and justifying itself in its fruits of social idealism. But when one turns to the record of recent theological thinking in America, one is shocked by the inadequacy of the attempts to give this great human enterprise an intellectual and philosophical significance in terms of modern thought. The "New Theology" of Abbott and Gladden, the attempt to find a "biblical theology" in the fragments of the New Testament left by critical scholarship, Hegelian idealism, Bowne's personalism, the Ritschlianism of H. C. King and W. A. Brown, the deification of evolution,—what place have all these compromises and disingenuous reinterpretations in the thinking of today?

Questions have been raised as to the "finality" of Christianity, the validity of the concept of God, the very utility of any religion in this scientific age. The liberal thinkers have given answers, but they have been hesitating and traditional, for all their appeal to religious experience. Professor G. B. Smith concludes truly, "The liberal movement is being compelled to face more critically the question as to the nature of religion and as to the way in which theology is related to religious experience." When such questions are frankly answered in the light of all our present-day knowledge, "vague attempts to use the old phraseology while robbing it of its natural meaning" will surely seem inadequate. [Page 350]For their part, many men familiar with the natural and social sciences can see no value in religion, whether orthodox or liberal. They calmly announce that "the religious world-view is being replaced by a scientific interpretation of events." They expect the human technics of social science to take the place of the appeal to religious inspiration, and call for a new scientific morality that I will have no use for the notion of God. Thus Professor Harry Elmer Barnes has undertaken a detailed and illuminating survey of the intellectual and social changes of the last hundred years!* Though it is largely an excellent analysis of the revolutionary transformation of society under industrialism, and a discussion of the means of solving the new problems that makes no call on religion, it finds place for a survey of the intellectual implications of modern scientific advances. For Professor Barnes, "all of the assumptions and premises underlying orthodox Judaism and Fundamentalist Christianity evaporate" in the light of modern physics and astronomy. Nor are the refined concepts of liberal religion any better off. Science destroys the whole philosophy of existence involved in supernatural religion, any conception of a personal God or of human immortality. "The secular orientation made necessary by modern science offers both a compelling challenge and an unique opportunity which are far richer in content and meaning than the primitive absorption in escaping from the abstraction of sin and securing the salvation of a hypothetical soul or ghost... Could anything be more satisfying as the ultimate reward of activity than the state of complete extinction to be realized in the chemical state known as death?"

Human conduct, also, must become wholly secular and scientific. "Morals can no longer be intelligently discussed in relation to the type of conduct befitting a mystically interpreted theological entity aiming to secure the safe translation of his hypothetical, metaphysical soul into a suppositious, eternal, spiritual world. If we are to know what is good for man as an animal, we must turn to the sciences of chemistry, physiology, and biology. We must study psychology and psychiatry to comprehend

\* Harry Elmer Barnes, Living in the Twentieth Century. Bobbe-Merrill. 392 pp. $3.50. [Page 351]

THE RECONSTRUCTION OF RELIGIOUS THOUGHT

the processes involved in man's behavior in association with other biochemical entities. The social sciences must be appealed to in order to understand the nature of the social institutions that condition the individual behavior and group activities of man. Then we must especially cultivate esthetics to discover what ranges of human interests and achievements may be opened up beyond the essential satisfaction of his biochemical needs and the realization of his material well-being." "All this need not be taken to mean that man must or should dispense with religion, but if he is to retain a religion which will have permanent social value it must be a reconstructed religion, worked out in harmony with our present knowledge of the nature and requirements of man in secular social situations."

In somewhat soberer tones, William Kay Wallace, in The Scientific World View,* proclaims the same judgment. Whether we like it or not, we are approaching a period of irreligion in which the faith in religion will be replaced by a faith in science. The older religious world view has broken down. "Its theology and philosophy of life, based on prescientific premises, are not longer tenable. The orthodox religious interpretation of the universe must be discarded. We must find more solid foundations for our beliefs than those that religion has to offer. Morality is emancipating itself from religious control and is seeking a broader basis in the scientific outlook on life."

But not only is orthodoxy doomed. "We would not underestimate the ability of those theologians and their well-meaning followers, who in seeking to retain morality, bound in chains to religion, are proclaiming the marriage of science and religion as the happy issue out of all our afflictions. Such a union is impossible. Religion and science are mutually exclusive terms. No union between them is possible. No clever arguments formulated either in the camp of religion or in that of science can effect their union. The greater glory of God is not, as some would have us believe, a pragmatic hypothesis that can be incorporated in a scientific world view.

• William Kay Wallace, The Scientific World View. Macmillan. xii, 316 pp. $3.

[Page 352]"It is the insecurity of scientific knowledge, the absence of a suitable body of reference, that leads men to accept a discipline which we term religious. The idea of God acts as a sheet-anchor for our ignorance. Today the scientific view of life is fast rendering the idea of God superfluous. To proclaim the marriage of science and religion is either blasphemy or nonsense. Storm-wracked, stripped of its life-giving force, little more than a land-mark along the path of civilization, stands-Religion. The question is, can we get along without it? And morality, set free from its bonds, can it go its way without religious support? On the answer we give to these questions the future of our civilization depends.

"It is important to realize that the scientific world view is not some extraneous growth that can flourish side by side with the religious world view. It is necessary for us to recognize that the new interpretation of the universe is possible because a new economy has already developed. The expansion of industrialism, the creation of a world economy, are part of a broader outlook on life, a new conception of world unity, a new world morality."

Assuredly, liberal religion has grievously failed to meet the intellectual challenge of modern thought when high-minded men can find in it nothing but a meaningless compromise between antithetical modes of thought. These are but two of an increasing number of books which, after a careful study of the attempt to adapt Christianity to the modern intellectual world, announce, no such adaptation is possible. If the vision of religion and the knowledge of science are not to drift still farther apart, a far more radical reconstruction of religious thought is obviously demanded.

Roy Wood Sellars, Professor of Philosophy in the University of Michigan, has attempted a franker reconstruction than has yet appeared. He is familiar with the new philosophy which has left the problems of the 19th century far behind. He has therefore been able to deal with the intellectual side of the religious life in a spirit that is far removed from both the compromises and grudging admissions of liberal religious leaders, and the dogmatic assurance of 19th century science. His book is the most significant

Roy Wood Sellars, Religion Coming of Age. Macmillan. xi, 193 pp. [Page 353]statement yet made by an American philosopher of the actual implications of contemporary philosophic thought for religious beliefs. It does not deal with the moral and social reconstruction of religion as frankly or ably as does Reinhold Niebuhr in his Does Civilization Need Religion? But it goes far beyond him in the philosophical reconstruction of religious thought.

Professor Sellars makes no bones about the complete disappearance of traditional dualism, transcendentalism, or supernaturalism from modern philosophic thinking. There is no serious philosopher today who is not committed to a thoroughgoing humanism and naturalism. But it is a naturalism which, unlike the naturalism of the 19th century, does not try to leave out of account most of the significant interests and activities of human experience. Nineteenth century scientists had the methods and the concepts for understanding only a small part of man's life. Since they could not make it intelligible, they were prone to deny the reality of most of man's deepest experience. They developed a picture of what was truly an alien world, since it had within it a place not for man, but only for a biochemical entity. The greatest change that has come over science in the last generation has been the enlargement of its field and its concepts, until today the scientist can truly claim to understand the whole man. It is no longer necessary to oppose science in the interests of the higher human activities, like art and religion. For the science of our own day, they are as real and fundamental as the whirl of electrons. As Professor Sellars puts it, there is now in the world the scientist investigates a natural place for the spiritual. The philosopher or the religious man need no longer seek for it in another, transcendental, supernatural world.

"There are two levels of conflict between science and religion which are not sufficiently distinguished: (1) that between the cosmology of science and the traditional myths of religion, and (2) that between mechanical materialism and the reality and significance of human life. With regard to the first level of conflict, philosophy agrees, and has always agreed, with science. But if the heart of religion has been concern for the things of the spirit, it has [Page 354]no reason to complain about the course which science and philosophy have taken of late. The new world is a world of frank naturalism and creative human living. The spiritual is being recognized for what it is, human, social activity, for that which flourishes within our actual living. The inorganic world of which science has had so much to say is but its context and setting. Philosophy and science are realizing the absurdity of any attempt to reduce the higher to the lower, however continuous and coexistent they may be. The naturalism which is arising is a new naturalism."

Such a philosophy recognizes the reality and value of religion as a power and inspiration in human life. But it also recognizes that many of the basic ideas formerly connected with it are for the informed mind impossible. It is true that physics is today much less aggressive in insisting on its dogmas than it was a generation ago, that those dogmas are themselves crumbling. But it is not physics that has led to a naturalistic interpretation of the religious life. It is those social sciences, like anthropology and psychology, which have studied religion itself and gained a more exact understanding of what it is and does. Hence Professor Sellars leaves astrophysics aside, and makes clear what scientists who have investigated religion itself sympathetically have found out about it. He is justly scornful of the physicists and biologists like Millikan, Pupin, Lodge, and Osborn, who have recently posed as liberal theologians. They are ignorant of what the sciences of man have discovered about the nature and function of religion. They are philosophically puerile and incompetent. Their theism is largely an emotional inheritance, and is maintained because outside their own fields they are ignorant of modern knowledge and thought.

Raising the fundamental questions of traditional theism, Sellars answers them frankly, as any present-day philosopher would have to do, in the negative. The universe is neither hostile nor friendly to man. There is no evidence of any providence or purpose in its processes. Modern thought has no place for any conception of personal immortality. It believes in no soul that [Page 355]could possibly exist other than as a function on the body. Man has no cosmic companion. Whether interpreted in crudely personal terms, or in the refined metaphysics of philosophic idealism, the concept of God, save as a symbol for human aspirations, has disappeared. To clutch at the ghosts of these departing ideas, as most religious liberals still do, is only to prolong the agony of readjustment.

Religion was vital, however, before men thought of the gods, and it can continue to live when they are but memories. Man has a spiritual life which is real and significant; and modern philosophy takes it as a central fact. Any conception of the world must be large enough to find a place for it. "We must think of the spiritual as rooted in man's nature and not as alien and introduced in some miraculous fashion from above. We must redefine the spiritual." In a central chapter Sellars attempts this task of naturalizing the spiritual. "The spiritual is an expression of human life as it develops in society. It is human activity which is alone spiritual. In this regard we must think of it, as we are beginning to do of mind, as not a thing but a function. It is absurd to contrast the spiritual with the physical. The proper opposition is with those activities which lie below the level of the spiritual. The spiritual emerges when there is an intelligence of a fairly high order, a sense of right and wrong, an ability to set up standards, a drive for creation in art and in social relations, a wealth of imagination.

"Religion is now seen as an expression of the human spirit, always reflecting its cosmic perspective and its objectives. In this, it is like art and literature, with which it is akin. The breath of the time-spirit is always blowing upon it. Religion is something larger and more significant than what we have been told it was. Human life demands interpretation and vision if it is to secure unity, reasonableness, and passion; and is not such interpretation of the very essence of religion? If so, religion is as natural as human living itself. It is not something coming in from outside in a supernatural way. To some, it will be a philosophy of life; to others, a moral perspective; to still others, a code and loyalties. [Page 356]Is not the great lack of our times a religion adequate to our culture and its possibilities? We need, as never before, social and personal vision and a sense of human values. An inadequate religion has done us much harm. The religion of humanism will be a growth due to, and resting on, the cooperative spiritual life to the making of which will go a multitude of minds and hearts.

"If I have cut deep," Professor Sellars concludes, "like a surgeon, I have cut to heal. The duty of the thinker is to discover what kind of a universe it is, and it is the duty of the churches to help man adjust himself to life. No good can come of self-deception. And is it not good tidings, that, as religion comes of age, man's spiritual life promises to be deepened and enriched rather than impoverished?"

There will be various views as to the adequacy of Sellars' own reconstruction of the spiritual, and of his substitute for the confessedly inadequate ethical ideal of Christianity. He would be the first to call on his fellows for aid. But that any reconstruction of religious thought able to satisfy the modern mind, and to give a philosophical basis for modern religious impulses, must develop along the lines of his humanism and naturalism, no thoughtful and informed judge today could deny. [Page 357]

WORLD UNITY CONFERENCES

Under the Auspices of World Unity Foundation

The World Unity Conferences are a medium by which responsible leaders of opinion can convey their message to the public without restriction of race, class, nationality or creed. Upholding the ideals of brotherhood fond in all religious and ethical teachings, the Conferences strive to quicken the spiritual resources of the community by bringing upon one platform gifted speakers representing the universal outlook and capable of interpreting the meanings of the new age. World Unity Conferences are held at frequent intervals in cities of the United States and Canada, and this educational activity will be extended as soon as possible to Europe. A distinctive feature of the Conferences consists in the local World Unity Councils, composed of leading liberals, established in the various cities to further the world unity ideal. This department will publish the programs and report the activities of the World Unity Conferences and Councils.

Meetings Held at Cleveland, Ohio January 14, 16 and 17, 1929

Under the Auspices of the Cleveland World Unity Council

Three public World Unity Conferences were held in the month of January, at William Taylor Auditorium, Cleveland. The first meeting, an informal Conference on World Unity, with Dr. Dan F. Bradley of Pilgrim Congregational Church presiding, gave opportunity for discussion of the general problem of World Unity. Dr. John Herman Randall, Director of World Unity Foundation, led the discussion. Henry Turner Bailey, Dean of the Cleveland School of Art, presided at the Conference held on Wednesday, January 16. Following Statement of Purpose by Dr. Randa, an address, The Value of Intellectual Cooperation," was delivered by Rev. Joel B. Hayden, Minister of Fairmont Presbyterian Church; and an address, "The Greatest Need of the World Today," by Charles F. Thwing, President Emeritus, Western Reserve University. Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver of The Temple acted as chairman of the third Conference. The addresses were: "Some Forces that are Shaping Contemporaneous History," by Rabbi Barnett R. Brickner of Euclid Avenue Temple; and "The Part Religion Can Play in Bringing in World Unity," by Dr. John Herman Randall. Thirty-one addresses were also delivered to organizations and societies in Cleveland by the Director of World Unity Foundation in connection with the Conferences.

Cleveland World Unity Council

Honorary Chairman, Charles Franklin Thwing, President Emeritus of Western Reserve University; Chairman, Thomas J. Holmes, Librarian for Mr. William G. Mather; Dr. Abba Hillel Silver, The Temple; Linda A. [Page 358]Eastman, President, American Library Association; Henry Turner Bailey, Dean, Cleveland School of Art; George S. Addams, Judge of Probate Court; Frances F. Bushea, Secretary, Council for Promotion of Peace; A. Caswell Ellis, President, Cleveland College; Mrs. Royce D. Fry, National Board of Y. W. C. A.; Rev. Dan Bradley, Pilgrim Congregational Church; Prof. W. G. Leutner, Dean, Western Reserve University; Rev. Dilworth Lupton, First Unitarian Church; Mrs. Judson Stewart, President, International Institute; Joseph Remenyi, Szabadsag Hungarian Daily; Dale S. Cole, Leece Neville Co.; Ethel M. Parmenter, Social Director, Board of Education.

Buffalo World Unity Council

Chairman, Dr. R. C. Stoll, Amherst Community Church; Rabbi Joseph L. Fink, Temple Beth Zion; Mrs. Chauncey J. Hamlin, Pres. League Women Voters; Rev. Palfrey Perkins, First Unitarian Church; Dr. Augustus H. Sherrer, Chief Librarian, Grosvenor Library; Miss Olive Williams, International Cooperation Committee; Dr. Allen Knight Chalmers, First Presbyterian Church; Mr. Harlan Ober, Remington-Rand Company; Rev. Donald Tullis, Exec. Sec., Federation of Churches; Mrs. Joseph P. Devine, Social Service; Mr. William Evans, Executive, Urban League; Mrs. Harold M. Esty. [Page 359]

NOTES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

With this issue of World Unity Magazine, an important extension of editorial policy assumes definite form. Briefly, this consists in the presentation each month of one or more leading articles which deal, in a constructive spirit, with problems which have become living issues in the world of practical affairs. Up to the present time, World Unity has intentionally confined its efforts to an explanation, from various angles, of what the concept "world unity" actually means. Such a preliminary phase was inevitable in a world where even intelligent and "modern" minds have been molded by conflict and division to the degree that "unity" has inevitably been conceived in a limited, incomplete form. Thus, to some, a world order has implied merely a political mechanism; to others, a greater coordination of economic activities; while still others have aspired to a "brotherhood" wherein fellowship would exist by virtue of agreement on some abstract ideal without thought of material reconstruction. Only by the contribution of many specialists has it been possible to develop a literature even outlining the implications of world unity in terms of religious as well as cultural, political, racial and the myriad other facets of human experience. By many separate rays, the new day is revealed."

The new policy in no degree involves a decrease of effort to publish material possessing educational value in the broadest sense of that term. World Unity will continue to be not only neutral but indifferent to those interests, already sufficiently exploited, which reflect local and transient conditions, made important only because they coincide with prejudice and special advantage. But in addition to such a scholarly theme as Prof. Hankins's "Racial Relationships and International Harmony," begun this month, or Prof. Burtt's "Science, Philosophy and Religion," to start in the March issue, World Unity has secured a number of intensely interesting papers like "The Treasury Reports on the War Debts," in direct contact with the concrete affairs of the day.

The March number, for example, will publish Judge Pandit's "The Naturalization Law of the U. S.," raising the vital question whether race prejudice has been made a national policy by the government of this country. It has become apparent to all thoughtful people that the unescapable issues arising in politics and economics, are solvable only in terms of a world order. The possibilities of a magazine like World Unity, which attempts to keep the balance between truth and action, increase every day. [Page 360]

A Letter from WORLD UNITY MAGAZINE

Dear Friend:

The World Unity Foundation is a non-partisan, non-sectarian educational enterprise, chartered by the State of New York, whose purpose is "to maintain facilities for promoting those ethical, humanitarian and spiritual ideals and principles which create harmony and understanding among religions, races, nations and classes; and for co-operation with established educational, scientific and religious bodies working for these ends."

During the past two years some sixty public World Unity Conferences have been held in various leading cities of the country, and in addition, special meetings in the interest of World Unity and co-operation have been held in seventy-six of the leading Universities, Colleges and Schools, and in forty representative Church and Jewish Temples, and the ideal and problem of World Unity have been presented in addresses before more than one hundred other representative organizations throughout the country. The foremost educators and religious leaders in America are constantly speaking at our public conferences, as they bring the facts of "the New World" to the people.

Up to date the Foundation has carried on this educational work by means of funds generously contributed by a few interested friends, and no appeal for money has been necessary. But the time has come when, if the Foundation is to meet the steadily increasing demands for this educational work, in dispelling ignorance, breaking down prejudice and thus bringing about a better understanding between races, nations, classes and creeds, it must have the financial support of its many friends throughout the country.

The Foundation Bulletin (sent on request) explains the various classes of membership, beginning with Annual Member at $10. A complimentary subscription to World Unity Mazagine is entered in the name of each Foundation Member.

Yours sincerely,

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The popular taste is at war with aesthetics. A dominator, a suppliant, a patron of impermanence, it thrusts upon us what we are not able to regard as prophecy and what we have no wish to own. THE DIAL is not patronizing, nor domineering, nor at the service of feebleness. Without respect of persons, for the honour of letters, it holds severely to its independence. It has at no time concerned itself with the place of a contributor in any movement backward or forward. If you can enjoy the actepted and the unaccepted and are not inclined to cage off either group; if you are a reader, a critic, an artist, who relishes "daring and invention" and has "no special objection to being slightly in advance of his friends," you will wish to take THE DIAL, which publishes with regularity the best work of known and unknown Americans, together with the best work produced in Europe.

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YOUTH

You read magazines. Well, then, do you READ YOUTH (formerly The Adolescent) A QUARTERLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND ART edited contributed to Supported by Younger People only circulated from whom it solicits critical and creative work for whom it serves as a vehicle of expression The new issue features The End of the Beginning of Behaviorism, Cabellian Romanticisms, Zola and Huysmans, the Bloch Quintet, Poetry, Short Stories, Book-Reviews. 2237 Eutaw Place Baltimore, Md. YOUTH 30c the copy $1.00 the year I enclose $.... Name Address

Reading List of CURRENT BOOKS on WORLD UNITY

By JOHN H. RANDALL, JR. Revine Editor, World Unity Magazine WORLD UNITY MAGAZINE Reprint No. 1. Ten Cents a copy postpaid In quantity, five cents WORLD UNITY PUBLISHING CORP. 4 East zath St. New York

WORLD UNITY MAGAZINE

Vol. II April 1928 to Sept. 1928

World Unity readers should have the bound volumes-the contents of this magazine has more than mere transient, seasonable interest.

Keep your files complete by ordering Volume 11 now. Attractive, durable blac buckram, gold stamping. If we supply the six monthly numbers, price, post- paid $4.35.

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CONTENTS FOR APRIL

CECIL DELISLE BURNS (Glasgow University) The Fascist Doctrine

ALFRED W. MARTIN Visions and Tasks

HENRY NEUMANN Thomas Hardy's Reply to the Challenge of Life

MORITZ KIRSCHBERGER The Old Diplomacy

GEORGE E. O'DELL Modern Humanists

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“SCIENTIA” International Review of Scientific Synthesis

Published Monthly (100 to 130 Pages Each Issue) B: EUGENIO RIGNANO

THE ONLY scientifle review whose contributors are truly international.

THE ONLY scientific review having a really worldwide circulation.

THE ONLY review of scientifle synthesis and unification that deals with the fundamental questions of all ciones: the history of the sciences, mathematics, astronomy, geology, physics, chemistry, biology, paychology and sociology.

ita aumerous an THE ONLY review, therefore, which, while of immediate interest to students of statistics. demography, ethac onomics, law, the history of religions and sociology in general, by article porta relating to these sciences, enables the reader to orm, the chief problems of all other branches of knowledge. utors can boast of the most illustrious men of than 350 of these is given in each number. know, in sun

THE ONLY review science in the The articles are published containing the French trans accessible to those who know Secretary of Belentia, at the f merely to cover packing and pa of their authors, and every number has a supplement lee net written in French. The review is thus completely language. Write for a free copy to the General wing address, enclosing 12 cents in stamps of your country

SUBSCRIPTION $10 per year, post free. OFFICE: 12, Via A. De Togai, Milan (116), Italy General Secretary: DR. PAOLO BONETTI [Page 364]

BOOKS RECOMMENDED BY WORLD UNITY MAGAZINE

New Geography, Book II By W. W. Arwood

The Fighting Instinct By Pierre Bot

Principles and Problems of Right Thinking By Bin Arthur B

Treatment of Exempe Classes of Chinese in America By Ng Poon Chr

Israel's Contribution to America By Rudolph 1. Coffee

The Heart of the World By Gurges Dabaml

Staatenschutzvertrag zur Sicherung des Weltfriedens By Anne B. Eckstein

The New Spirit The Dance of Life By Howlock Ellis

Das Parlement By Hellmuth Gerlach

Introduction to World Politics Europe Since 1918 By Herbert Adams Gabon

His Religion and Hers By Charis Perkins Gilman

War from a Quaker Point of View The Divinity in Man John W. Grabm

The Racial Basis of Civilization By Frank H. Hankins

The Larger Bible By Will Hages

Fundamental Ends of Life Social Law and the Spiritual World By Rufus M. Jones

A Religion of Truth, Justice and Peace By Isider Singer

Proceedings of the Convention of World Federation of Education Associations Ed. by Augustus 0. Thomas

The Voice of Peace Sparks from the Fire By Gilbert Thomas

For International Peace The Outlawry of War By David Starr Jenden

Oriental Interpretations of the Far Eastern Problem By P. W. Ka

Race Contacts and Inter- Racial Relations The New Negro By Alain Locks

The Master Problem The Future of Christianity By Sir James Marchant

The Fellowship of Faiths Comparative Religion By Alfred W. Marti

The Century of Hope By F. S. Marvin

Science in Search of God By Kinley F. Mather

Law or War By Lucie Ames Mead

Races, Nations and Classes By Herbert A. Miller

My Brother's Face By Dhan Gopal Mahorji

Influencing Human Be- havior About Ourselves By Harry A. Overstrut

The Monroe Doctrine, 1823-1826 By Dexter Perkins

Humanity at the Cross- Roads By John Herman Randall

The Making of the Modern Mind By John Harman Randall, Jr.

To the Nations By Paul Richard

The Messages of the Poets The Prophet of Nazareth By Nathaniel Schmide

Demophon By Forrest Raid

The Moral Damage of War The World Rebuilt By Wal Walb

Between the Old World and the New Towards New Horizons By M. P. Willocks

Any of the above may be obtained from WORLD UNITY PUBLISHING CORPORATION 4 East 12th Street, New York City

THE HADDON CRAFTIMEN CAMDEN, M. J.