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[Page 379]

WORLD UNITY

A Monthly Magazine for those who seek the world outlook

JOHN HERMAN RANDALL, Editor HORACE HOLLEY, Managing Editor

CONTENTS

MARCH, 1931

Stefan Zweig — Frontispiece Civilization on Trial — Editorial Education for Human Brotherhood — Rufus M. Jones The Conscience of Europe. II. — Robert Merrill Bartlett Round the World Log of a Sociologist — V. Indo-China and Angkor — Herbert A. Miller New Education Fellowship The Problem of Armaments. I. — Dexter Perkins Elements of a World Culture — V. Art — Nicholas Roerich Humanized Religion — John Herman Randall, Jr. Leaves of the Greater Bible — VII. Later Roman Prayers — William Norman Guthrie Catholic-Protestant-Jew — Harry Levi Round Table Index

(Contents indexed in the International Index to Periodicals)

WORLD UNITY MAGAZINE is published by WORLD UNITY PUBLISHING CORPORATION, 4 East 12th Street, New York City: MARY RUMSEY MOVIUS, president; HORACE HOLLEY, vice-president; FLORENCE MORTON, treasurer: JOHN HERMAN RANDALL, secretary. Published monthly, 35 cents a copy, $3.50 a year in the United States and in all other countries (postage included). THE WORLD UNITY PUBLISHING CORPORATION and its editors welcome correspondence on articles related to the aims and purposes of the magazine. Printed in U. S. A. Contents copyrighted 1931 by WORLD UNITY PUBLISHING CORPORATION. [Page 380]

STEFAN ZWEIG

Painting by Henri Le Fanconier

"There are only a few free spirits who stand fearlessly for peace." [Page 381]

CIVILIZATION ON TRIAL

JUDGED by any standard, 1930 must be reckoned one of the most discouraging of the post-war years. Instead of progress toward world order and stability, the events of the last twelve months, from the London Naval Conference in January, 1930, to the meeting of the Preliminary Commission on Disarmament in December, have all tended to deepen the clouds of pessimism and gloom that surround world relationships. Never before have the nations faced a situation crammed with such sinister possibilities. Intelligent statesmanship is lacking and constructive effort seems paralyzed the world over, while the people in all countries are milling around in dazed circles, waiting for the situation to clear itself up.

With an Asia in revolt against the West, a billion people are on the march, headed nobody knows exactly where. The Americas are being shaken by one revolution after another. In Europe, thrones are tottering, republics are shaky, dictators are riding for a fall, the tide of popular discontent is rising, and armaments are on the increase. "Nobody wants war," says Frank B. Kellogg of The World Peace Pact, and Lloyd George comments "but the war spirit is welling up again. It seems too foolish to be credible, but there it undoubtedly is a caldron of suspicions, hatreds and fears."

No truer words were ever spoken than those by Léon Blum in the French Chamber of Deputies a few weeks ago when he warned his fellow countrymen that though none of them wanted war, they were heaping up the fuel for the conflagration none the less. We are all doing it. High tariffs and unjust treaties, braggart speeches by pseudo-statesmen, the ruthless exaction of pounds of [Page 382]flesh by nations possessed of power, the oppression of minorities everywhere, and our failure to respect and understand the races we are pleased to call inferior—these are the sources from which war springs.

As one of the New York dailies recently summarized the economic situation: "In the cities millions of people have not enough to eat. In the country millions of farmers, facing ruin, are feeding dirt-cheap wheat to cattle, because they have not a market. Around the world are hundreds of millions going almost naked while cotton planters are on the verge of starvation because they cannot sell their cotton. There is too much wheat, too much cotton, too much sugar, too much coffee, too much silver, too much copper, too much coal, too much oil, too much, almost, of everything. And yet, 1,500,000,000 people, three-fourths of the population of the globe, are half-naked and half-starved—yearning for the barest necessities of life that they cannot afford. What a sickening indictment of modern civilization!"

In spite of all superficial optimism, what we are facing today is not merely a stock-market depression, or one of those regular dips in the business cycle with its inevitable unemployment. It is increasingly clear that we are in the midst of a veritable world crisis in which we are witnessing a convulsion of all the political, economic, intellectual and moral foundations that underlie our civilization and that may mean a gradual crumbling of these foundations themselves.

Our world presents a strange paradox today. As nations we seem bent on creating a living hell of a magnitude never before known—while we have in our hands the knowledge and the technical means of creating a paradise on earth. It is Joseph Caillaux, hard-headed financier and former Premier of France, who says, "Capitalism must renovate its system, else it courts destruction." It is high time for our economists and social philosophers and political statesmen to begin constructing, and to obtain all possible authority for, a clearly articulated program of social change, for the very bases of civilization are on trial and mere palliative measures will no longer suffice.

J. H. R. [Page 383]

EDUCATION FOR HUMAN BROTHERHOOD

by RUFUS M. JONES Department of Philosophy, Haverford College

"IN ALL AGE CIVILIZATIONS ARE BUILT OUT OF THE DOMINANT IDEAS AND IDEALS THAT FORM THE LIVES OF THE BUILDERS. IF WE WANT TO REMOLD OUR CIVILIZATION, WE MUST SET ABOUT TRAINING IN NEW FASHION THE MINDS THAT ARE TO DO THE BUILDING. TO IGNORE THAT SIDE OF LIFE IS TO DEFY THE STRUCTURAL LAWS OF THE WORLD."

A NEW emphasis of aim in education is greatly needed today and has been long overdue. Our educational methods were developed to fit the needs of a simple agrarian people who were busy conquering the virgin soil of a continent, and, before we were quite conscious of the transformation, we found ourselves a great industrial and commercial nation, more than half our people living in cities, a large proportion of them in cities of extensive area and swarming population. We have not yet built up any adequate educational system for the new conditions which confront us. The old world into which many of us were born has long ceased to exist, and we have hardly begun to shake ourselves awake to discover the new order of things, or to shape the type of culture and the social ideals that are needed for it.

No one with sound mind will question the importance of the scientific conquest of nature which has been for two generations the major aim and aspiration in higher education, both here and abroad. The dominant desire to understand the complex frame of things, to feel at home in the universe, to know how to control in some degree its immense forces and o use them for the maintenance and furtherance of human life, is altogether [Page 384]laudable and has without doubt added to the general welfare of mankind.

But with this discovery and control of forces have come an immense increase of creative power and the birth of a host of new rivalries. The staggering shock of the World War, however, has awakened many minds to the fact that control of forces and the possession of power to use and direct the energies and raw materials of nature cannot make our world "safe" for any kind of well-ordered living. In fact, increase of power through the discovery and control of forces appears to bring into play new and unsuspected dangers to civilization. Titanic forces put into the hands of unmoralized giants can only mean a terrible menace to everything pure and true and beautiful and good, a new all-powerful Zeus, bent on the crucifixion of every new Prometheus who tries to bring light and spiritual leading to men. There are signs enough already in every line of modern life to indicate that the possession of power and the control of forces and materials, without the training of the heart along with it, makes a new type of tyrant and puts once more all the noblest inheritances of man's spirit in jeopardy. Men of an earlier time "built Babylon out of their own Babylonish hearts," and in all ages civilizations are built out of the dominant ideas and ideals that form the lives of the builders. If we want to remold our civilization, we must first set about training in new fashion the minds that are to do the building, especially training in social ideals.

We must take pretty much the same attitude toward merely vocational and occupational education. Important as it is to be efficient, to possess skill and technique, it, nevertheless, brings a real menace to the best ideals of life to have the workers of the world trained only to be highly efficient tools for turning ou: work and products, without having developed capacity for appreciating the intrinsic values of life and unable to make any real contribution to the moral and spiritual assets of the world. Competition, rivalry and machine culture grow apace but the spirit does not bloom. All education, however much its final aim [Page 385]

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may bear on preparation for a profession, or for technical tasks, must be equally concerned with the formation of ideals of life, with the building of character and with the adjustment of the individual to the larger groups to which he belongs. To ignore that side of life is to defy the structural laws of the world.

It would perhaps seem wise at first thought, if we propose to educate for human brotherhood, to base our education quite definitely on a detailed study of social and economic questions, to start back with elemental problems of the social order and train up all our youth to hold, maintain, defend and practise a single, sound, sacred, basic theory of the social-economic system, somewhat the way every scientist, before doctrines of relativity came in to upset the easy method, fitted all his observations and calculations and predictions into a rigid, unvarying system of Newtonian gravitation. The first step for the would-be scientist was to master and understand the laws of gravitation and motion. There are modern educators who consider it useless to talk of "a coming World Order" unless we propose to "clap down" on the passive minds of the next few generations of children the "right" theory of that "coming order." Let them be fed on it as a daily intellectual "pap" until they cannot imagine or conceive the opposite of it or any alternative to it. The new commandment of these educators would be: "thou shalt teach this right theory' diligently unto thy children, thou shalt talk of it when thou sittest in thy house and when thou walkest by the way and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind it as a sign on thy hand, and it shall be for a frontlet between thy eyes. And thou shalt write it upon the door-posts of thy house and upon thy gates."

In the first place it is useless to expect that educators could ever agree universally on any such "right theory." Human society, with its multitudinous, palpitating human units, cannot be reduced to such abstract simplicity that it can be organized and handled, as gravitating particles of matter can be, under some unvarying law or principle that always applies and always works. And in the second place, even if it were possible to make such a [Page 386]reduction and discover such a principle, that method of clamping or jamming fixed and ready-made ideas down on the passive minds of youth is not education. Regimenting minds to a settled system made in advance is a far more serious form of "goose-step" than that which drills and disciplines into shape the unrecalcitrant bodies of soldiers, who have surrendered the right to think or to will.

Genuine education does not present to minds, young or old, some ready-made conclusion. It trains minds to face complex situations, it increases their capacity to think them through, to organize the facts involved, to find their laws and principles, to arrive freely and solely under the compulsion of the facts, to the conclusion that fits all the data that are there. To learn by rote, to store up a stock of memories, to receive a lot of stamped-in items, like a wax tablet, is not education. For better or for worse we are bound as educators to take the risks of turning our students loose for the great adventure of discovering for themselves how the new world is going to be built.

The most important emphasis in our new education will not be training for the conquest of nature, nor for the invention of machinery, nor for practical efficiency in output, nor for the formulation of economic theories, but for the fullest and completest formation of personal life in the midst of a social environment of other people. The most important function of education is the discovery of the potential aptitudes in the lives of boys and girls, the training and control of instincts and emotions, the formation of ideals and loyalties, the shaping of the trend of character and the infusion of life with magnanimous aims and purposes. In short, schools and colleges ought to be centers for the big business of life-planning and life-building as well as places for the accumulation and discovery of facts. One of these undertakings has been carried forward to successful achievement; the other has been only indifferently attempted.

In a remarkable address which he delivered recently at the University of California, Owen Young pointed out that the trouble with all the schemes to rehabilitate Europe since the [Page 387]

EDUCATION FOR HUMAN BROTHERHOOD

war has been that the manipulators of them have been busy with abstract economics and politics, with leagues and conventions, with delimiting nationalities and finding ways and means of providing for security, while all the time the actual human faces, the palpitating human lives, that make up the population of these countries, are pretty well forgotten. Behind all these abstract schemes that are pushed back and forth like pawns on a chess board, are myriads of human persons, many of them young and expectant, whose lives never come in for consideration in all these conferences for the settlement of economic and political policy and for guaranteeing security. Owen Young does well to remind us of the vital fact of human faces wistfully asking to be considered as an essential part of the problem.

Too often the human faces have in the same way been overlooked in our educational schemes. Education has involved absorbing financial undertakings. The economic factor has swollen to an enormous size. Million dollar school buildings, immense equipment, wheels within wheels of mechanism have been contrived. Institutions have grown almost magically beyond all the dreams of their founders, and the persons entrusted with the management of them have found themselves forced to give a vast amount of their time and energy to the framework and the setting of the educational task. They have had little opportunity to ask what was happening to the human faces peering out there behind the framework and the setting.

Every time the expert impartially studies the output of the expanded schools and colleges which we have been laboriously building in America he gives us solemn warning that all is not well with us, that our education too often does not actually educate, that in our maze of pedagogical systems and schemes we are too oblivious of the concrete human faces and the potential lives with which we ought to be concerned.

We are still dominated by what Francis Bacon in the early seventeenth century called "idols." One of these present day "idols" is the assumption that a method of teaching that fits one mind must consequently fit all minds, and so we forthwith [Page 388]proceed to "wholesale" our supplies of truth to all who come, instead of studying individual aptitudes and adapting our method and our technique to fit the special needs of the particular case.

Another one of our "idols" is the fetish we make of educating for "credits" instead of educating for ends and values of life. We are busy asking what will get a person on from one grade in the educational factory to another as though he were a Ford car, instead of asking what will make a person richer and deeper in character. A disillusioned college president tells us that "students are considered as so many logs of pulp-wood to be turned into a certain number of paper degrees at the end of the senior year." Sooner or later we must smash that old bastile of examinations and grades and find new and freer ways of discovering and estimating intellectual progress. That will be the beginning of a new day. It may be said emphatically that education which focuses on passing off examinations is not in any true sense real education. Few things do more to develop hampering complexes in children and youth than do the grueling fears of grade examinations and the depressions that result from psychological tests.

Another of our "idols" is our fancy for a vast variety of casual lines and fields of scrappy information instead of the mastery of some continuous, unified, coherent and cumulative plan of work that brings a growing interest to the student and the steady development of his mental powers. A few subjects pursued with diligence and accurately mastered give a far better basic education for life than does a multitude of half digested fields of study. Time spent in getting a thin smattering of one or two foreign languages, not sufficiently mastered to be of any practical use or to supply any formative culture, is time wasted.

The most ominous of all the educational "idols" is our excessive emphasis on the mere accumulation of information and our failure to stress the importance of formation of personality, the cultivation of imaginative power and the appreciation of those things by which men truly live. Professor Whitehead. with his usual insight, says that "a merely well-informed man is the most useless bore on God's earth." These are some of the [Page 389]

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"idols" among others that must be smashed before there can be again, as in Bacon's time, a new "advancement of learning." Fortunately the dawn is breaking and the new day is at hand. It has already begun in many places, especially in the lower grades of education. What is now called "progressive education" has passed beyond the experimental stage and is proving to be the inauguration of a new epoch for the child. Nearly every hope I have expressed as achievements of the new day has been already realized in some degree in some of these "progressive schools."

The culture of imagination, which I should consider the highest mark of successful education, hi been carried to a very high level in more than one school. Hugh Mearns in his interesting book, Creative Youth, has shown how a school can set free the creative spirit and in his reports of actual work he has supplied us with a new basis of faith and hope for an era of creative education. Everybody who teaches knows that the arousal of interest and expectancy is the essential task that confronts the teacher. The "project method" has proved to be an immense stimulus in this direction. It introduces creative ingenuity, it gives scope for muscular activity and skill, it develops originality and leadership, it appeals to the dramatic instinct, it arouses international interests and sympathies and it gives every member of a class something personal to do. The springs of curiosity and discovery are brought into play and education is linked up as it ought to be with actual living. One of the most important laws of character formation is the law that control of instincts and emotions is best secured by the organization of systems of interest, or systems of sentiment and loyalty, under the guidance of ideal aims. The best "progressive schools" have been strikingly successful in that constructive task of education.

History teaching ought, as far as is humanly possible, to be liberated from the incubus of propaganda. One of the most terrible devises for the distortion of truth, and for the permanent injury of souls, is the use of a history class-room for the cultivation of hate in innocent young minds toward the people of a [Page 390]rival nation or race. It is bad enough to use the scenes of past battle-fields for the purpose of arousing national pride and for glorifying one country at the expense of another one, but it is far worse to make use of battles and of the enflamed passion that has been born of past wars to create a new passion in the hearts of children that can be cashed in as an asset toward preparation for new wars. History impartially taught can be made one of the most potent forces of culture for the discovery of the laws of life and for the formation of social idcals. The honest use of it as a genuine method of culture ought to be as sacred an obligation to the teacher as is the impartial study of the laws of nature.

It is peculiarly important that all education should clearly bring out the fact that no one in this world can live unto himself, that one person alone is no person, that every individual is like the half of a return ticket, "no good if detached." The selfish aspirations of a boy, his decision to aim to get his own isolated pleasure, his snobbery toward others, would tend to fade away and weaken if he were made to see with clear insight that there can be no such thing as an "isolated" person, that it is as impossible as having a stick with only one end to it, that in actual fact we are all "conjunct" with others in life, in interests, in gains and in relationships and that consequently we must share ourselves and surrender ourselves and give ourselves if we are to make any kind of life that is worth living.

The interesting facts of "mutual" aid among animals can admirably be used to illustrate the working of this "conjunct" character of life. The tribal habits of primitive man will supply another set of illustrations. Then may come vivid pictures of the impossibility of life for a child in the years of helplessness without the care of others, the supply of food and clothes, shelter and warmth. The pupil can quickly be made to see that no language can be learned unless one is embedded in a living group of persons who speak the language and pass it on to the new-comer. The same is true of our ideas and ideals. We must get all the material of our thinking and of our imagining from some social group Nobody can be a getter and a receiver unless he is at the same time [Page 391]

EDUCATION FOR HUMAN BROTHERHOOD

a giver and a contributor. All these solemn facts need to be driven in and made an inherent part of any true culture. Some of our greatest authorities in science are telling us that the most inclusive law in the universe is the principle of concretion or organism, or, as General Smuts has called it, "organic wholeness"—the tendency to produce wholes out of units. If the principle is a sound one, as I believe it is, it means a momentous revolution in thought. However important the "unit" may be it can never be comprehended until it is seen as a "cell" in a larger organic whole. We do not understand an "atom" until we know how it is bent to conjoin with more atoms to form a "molecule" and the molecule, again, will have its nisus toward a larger whole. As soon as life emerges the organic feature is even more in evidence and we find ourselves carried on and up from single "cells" to ever higher organic wholes. A man is an immense congeries of cooperative cells, but a man is not a "person" until he, too, finds his place in a living cooperative social whole, of ever more inclusive scope and range. Genuine education in the future must aim to train personal units to become living, cooperative parts of inclusive social wholes.

Every opportunity must be seized during lessons and in sport to drive home the importance and the significance of cooperation. Young people need constantly to gain insight into the value of understanding other persons' minds and thoughts and emotions, and with these processes should go the cultivation of respect for personality at every stage of its development. Everything should be done that can be done to illustrate and demonstrate the effect of getting the other person's point of view and of coordinating with others rather than aiming to outdo and to worst those with whom one has dealings. The cultivation of kindness and thoughtfulness in all relations toward those who have physical defects and peculiarities is an essential part of true education and it ought to extend to differences and peculiarities of race and color, so that it becomes "second nature" to be respectful to persons of other races. [Page 392]In speaking favorably, as I have done, of progressive education, I do not want to say anything that would imply sympathy with any methods of education that neglect mental or moral discipline. I do not believe that robust personality can ever be formed without a constant insistance on the restraints and sanctions of nature and the no less important sanctions and restraints of society. If there is to be any freedom that is based on reality, it must be a freedom that respects everybody else's rights and, too, a freedom that conforms to the eternal nature of things. It takes long experience to discover where the curve of freedom runs and the wise teacher must not let those in his charge suppose that freedom is a soft and easy thing.

I am convinced that there ought to be a good deal of experimental work done on the deepening and expansive effects of silent meditation for children and for the discovery of ways to feed and fertilize the deep sub-soil of the child's mind out of which his ideas and his volitions emerge. When anyone discovers how to stir the deeps within, to free the child from fears and to bring this deep-lying life of the individual into closer relationship with the essential Life of the universe, great moral energies are liberated. Schools, which for one reason or another. do not have a daily period for Bible reading or Prayers would find a short period of corporate silence of great value for deepening the life of the children and for training them in control and concentration. It would be well if everybody gave some time each day to consider seriously his own deepest aspirations and to ask himself in a silent confessional what are his most cherished ideals for his life.

The time is coming when every sound teacher will realize that it is fully as important to have expert treatment for children's mental "complexes" as for their defects of eyesight and hearing. The child who is abnormally shy, embarrassed and bashful, or who withdraws from all social activities and sports. or who is possessed by peculiar fears or who is sullen, moody and petulant, will never be successfully educated until he is delivered from his handicap, and no ordinary teacher can set [Page 393]

EDUCATION FOR HUMAN BROTHERHOOD

him free unaided. An expert in mental hygiene, or, for extreme cases, a thoroughly good psycho-analyst can work what seems nothing short of a miracle in a boy who has acquired the unfortunate reputation of being "bad." The men and women who swell the ranks of the criminal class and who seem distinctly anti-social might under the right guidance and skill be on their way to be good citizens, if not forty horse-power saints, instead of criminals.

One of the greatest advantages in introducing some degree and some form of self-government in schools will be found in the way in which it develops a sense of responsibility for honor and truth in the life of the school and for corporate order. It helps to make every pupil realize that he bears obligation not only for his own personal conduct but that he enters into and shares in the successes and the failures of the whole group to which he belongs. He thus discovers through experience what it means to be a unit in a social organism.

In connection with discipline and control every one needs to receive instruction both by practice and teaching, in the use of gentle forces. It is a well-known fact that persons who shout and scream and threaten have no power of discipline. A calm and quiet tone and manner accomplish vastly more than storm and bluster do. Every way that can be devised of getting moral results by other methods than resort to force should be tried, if, for no other reason, because of the educative effect of it on the pupils and students themselves. There are few things more worth learning than the secret that the greatest forces are soul-forces, that the supreme power of one life over another one lies in the spirit and not in the muscles.

It is a notable fact that the children in schools which are efficiently using progressive and creative methods test in mental scope and power all the way from six months to two years ahead of the average in other schools. Interests are quickened, imagination is kindled, loyalties are formed and there is a steady, unconscious pull forward. Discipline has ceased to be a major problem for teachers, and parents in many cases have found their [Page 394]children almost re-created by their newly awakened interests and expectations.

What we need to do next is to adapt and carry these successful new principles of education up into the work of the college. Good beginnings have already been made in some institutions Way must be opened for an increased degree of individual initiative for search and discovery under expert guidance in place of the general lecture method. To a large extent the trained tutor must supplant, or in any case supplement the lecturer, and that will sooner or later end the great factory system of education in favor of a small, compact college of hand-picked, wisely guided students, every one working under expert direction. Each student’s work must become more correlated and concentrated and he will be tested on it to discover his insight and mastery rather than his capacity to pass off a given course.

The present system of high-powered, competitive mass athletics with its commercialism and its close kinship to professionalism, must give way to real sport of many types, with the opportunity for every student to play some game himself instead of being lined up to produce mass enthusiasm for the inspiration of a few highly trained players in an arena.

There can be no question, I think, that our youth today. have suffered an immense loss in their education in that they have not been held more seriously to the task of carrying their intellectual problems through to ultimate issues. That has not been considered to be the concern of science. Science has quite properly confined its operations to a less ambitious mission. It never pretends to go beyond the domain of things and events that occur in time and space. It declines to deal with mind or spirit as an actual factor in the processes of the world. It refuses to raise ultimate questions of origin and destiny. It cannot. therefore, make the universe a completely intelligible affair. The world that science deals with hangs loose in space without any rational ground or foundation. It tends to become a meaningless clank of spinning atoms. Life, too, seems to have come from nowhere and to be going nowhere. And this confusion of thought is [Page 395]

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playing havoc with our generation. We are no nearer any rational solution when we go back of the little old-fashioned golf-ball-like atoms to the genuine ones, as we now believe, composed of electrons and protons. We are no nearer a meaning when we define in terms of knots or kinks of energy instead of the old solid particles. The discovery of a new planet or planets out beyond the orbit of Neptune throws no light on the significance of the solar system. We need to find a principle of intelligibility and insight rather than more new facts in behind old facts. Here lies the central weakness and the main confusion of our present educational methods. This emphasis has swung the center of gravity very strongly over to the material side and the mental and spiritual and social factors of life have been missed to far too great an extent in the culture of our time. That is one of the deepest tragedies in the life and thought of today.

The tide has already turned, the new and deeper currents of thought are in evidence. The wiser leaders are conscious that the whole business of life suffers and goes awry as soon as the meaning and significance and high destiny of life fade away. That means that the scientific method of approach in all college work must be supplemented and balanced by a discipline of philosophy, by the study of the fundamental nature of mind and by a consideration of the central values of life and the social issues of it, as they have been revealed in the spiritual history of the race.

Science has given us a new perspective in its prediction that man has a prospect of a thousand million years more to go here on the earth. That opens up quite a vista of hope, no doubt, but it does not guarantee progress unless we ourselves take the steps that will achieve progress. And the most important single step is a progressive and creative educational system for the children and youth that God has given us.

The fourth contribution to a symposium on "The Coming World Order," edited by Archie M. Palmer. [Page 396]

THE CONSCIENCE OF EUROPE

by ROBERT MERRILL BARTLETT Lately on the Faculty of Peking University

II

STEFAN ZWEIG's villa is a part of the seventeenth century Capuchin monastery on the Kapuzinerberg in charming medieval Salzburg. On entering the great library in his artistic home I heard Dr. Zweig's greeting, "Aren't you disappointed in Europe?" I was attracted by his curly hair, black eyes and tanned skin. He was dressed in short leather pants, heavy stockings and sandals, with a soft open shirt spread over his red and black checked jacket. I protested at his question, but he went on.

"The spirit here is bad, distressing and ominous. Everywhere reactionarism is in evidence. In Germany the class of younger men who are coming into power are nationalistic. They have grown into leadership since the war, and all they sense of its terrible lesson is the burden it has set upon their shoulder. The sins of their fathers have been laid upon them. They are restless because they are impeded and exploited. They readily become belligerent. roll up their sleeves and grow pugnacious because they sense the oppression into which cruel circumstance has plunged them.

"Italy is dangerous. Her designs may bring war becaus is growing and craves colonies. Of course the world is not goi to give her anything, and she is apt to raise a quarrel. Souther.. Europe is a hot bed of antipathies. Austria is struggling but making little progress in her efforts to become a republic. She has few promises of success. France and Germany glower over their blood-stained borders. Never was a more insane peace [Page 397]concluded, a settlement which tied unbearable loads on the vanquished nations! Is it reasonable to perpetuate the war hatred over a number of decades? Would it not have been better to have saddled the whole burden on those who engineered the war, and although it might have all but crushed them, they could have battled to square things up, and then struck a balance and called off retaliations? Preserving war grudges causes strain and jealousy even among victorious allies and puts the world under the crisis of wrecking itself by extortion and collection.

"What if a local man came in and handed me a bill saying, 'Your grandfather killed a cow in my pasture and you must settle now in full with interest.' I would resent it! Likewise these second and third generations who carry the burden of their father's follies. This is the fundamental cause of unrest in Europe today."

A tone of disillusionment crept into Dr. Zweig's voice.

"It is dark. I was always hopeful up to the war, fired with the great ideal, but I saw how easily we rushed into barbarism and forgot our ideals. During those dark days I wrote 'Jeremiah,' cloaking my revolt and anguish in terms of symbolism because no one dared to speak the truth. I suffered terribly during those hideous years, although the Austrian government was more tolerant than most of the warring nations. Now I find it increasingly difficult to believe in the progress of peace.

"There are few thorough-going pacifists in Europe today. There are many who are parading under the label because political parties find it fashionable to dress some henchmen in that garb and flaunt their love of peace before the world. If some nation gave provocation they would immediately forget their peace vows and begin to uphold their fatherland in its defense against the enemy. They receive honors and medals and play the role of hypocrite. There are only a few free spirits who stand fearlessly for peace. Romain Rolland is one of them. No government can buy him; they all fear and respect him. He is the only man I have ever known who speaks the truth persistently, regardless of consequence. He is discouraged and alone, unable to go back to France, opposed by the people whom he has served, still [Page 398]unrecognized for his masterful services. But he is a fierce worker, who keeps the affairs of the world at his finger tips, and works like a giant for tolerance and peace.

"Thomas Mann is perhaps the leading literary figure in Germany. Einstein is a lover of freedom. He is one of a group of scientists, who are broad minded, and fearless. Stresemann is a loss to Europe. He was one of the old Prussian school who was educated by the war and became the exponent of a new diplomacy. But no group is as significant as American men of letters today, where men are not enslaved with traditions or bound by party politics. Dreiser and Dos Passos represent the new questing spirit, which seems to be characteristic of the frank and direct outlook of your young American students.

"Russia is to me the most interesting country in the world today. I have been there recently and feel that an unparalleled enterprise is under way. The people are not all happy, but they seem to be conscious that they are struggling for a future ideal, just as the Puritans suffered for a day to come, years ahead, when a better time would dawn. In ten years Russia may be the great country because she is beginning to grow rapidly in population, industry and power.

"There are two questions I want to ask you about the United States," my host said as he led me out of the library into a sunny tea room. "The first we have already talked about: Why doesn't America cancel certain war debts? Second, do you still have the 'negro problem'? I saw in your country and have been told by friends of this particular prejudice against one group in the great nation, which the world thinks was founded on equality. We Europeans cannot understand it."

With a sense of shame I struggled to render account to my freedom-loving questioner and give him faith in the causes of goodwill which were at work to remove that national blemish.

"Your country does have a happy and open spirit," Dr. Zweig continued, "because you trust your neighbor more than the European. In Europe no one would stop to pick up a pedestrian as he travels in his car. He would be impelled to ask first [Page 399]

THE CONSCIENCE OF EUROPE

about the man's standing and pedigree. There are haunting suspicions everywhere and they are unhealthy. Too many walls!

"I think the present financial depression in America is wholesome. It will keep your people from the danger of overconfidence. One of the causes of national imperialism is the cocksureness that goes with wealth and success. Reverses must come to save men from pride and self-complacency. Perhaps the general economic suffering of the world will bring us to our senses. One cause of international discouragement today is the failure to make substantial progress in disarmament. Our best minds sit in council and get nowhere and we go on building warships and armies with the smoke of a world in ruins still burning in our nostrils, while millions of unemployed stalk about Asia, America and Europe! When will the exploited masses revolt against the upkeep of this insane system!

"Protestantism has failed woefully to exert a right influence in Germany during the past fifteen years. From the outset of the war its leaders made God and fatherland synonomous, and backing the war nearly one hundred per cent, it became a tool of imperialism. Protestants preached, 'Die for your country and you will please God. The Roman Catholic church in general kept aloof, preaching support of no one nation, but tending to teach that the desire of the church should not be the victory of any one nation, but rather the cause of men and the coming of peace. Protestant pastors could not comfort those who had given their men. They said, 'Be at peace now, you have done your highest duty by making a sacrifice for the fatherland.' Roman Catholic priests would guide the sufferers through prayer to the saints into a supermundane communion with the unseen world. Since the war Protestantism has remained just as blind and nationalistic. For this reason it is losing the favor of the intellectuals, while the Roman Catholic church is making rapid growth among the masses. The literary men I know do not attend church; they may go occasionally through loyalty to tradition, but they have grown beyond its limitations to a freer fellowship. Now that Harnack is dead, I think of only one European Protestant of [Page 400]great proportions, Dr. Albert Schweitzer, the Bach artist and friend of Africa. He is a truly great man. (It was impressive to hear an Austrian artist repeat what I had heard a highly intelligent Frenchman and a group of Oxford students say, 'that the idealist Schweitzer was one of the most brilliant products of the modern age.) Roman Catholicism is changing. The priests who are trained here in this monastery are given a new type of education including biology, psychology and literature. They evidence a new international interest."

We walked cut into the garden, under a canopy of trees up the terraced walk until we came to the towers of the wall. We looked out over the flat, colored roofs and church domes of the city, built along the rushing Salzach, and to the massive Monchsberg and its gray fortress and the snow-clad Austrian Alps. The mystery of a thousand years hovered over the monastery grounds.

"These three psychological studies of Mesmer, Mrs. Eddy and Freud are designed to show how the spiritual power of man can come into leadership. I do not accept all they stand for. Mrs. Eddy was a masterful personality but her religion could not satisfy me, because it seems to be one of self-content, a philosophy which permits one to withdraw the hand of charity and consider self as primary. Happiness is not an adequate goal for life. We must live and strive with men and give ourselves in the great humanitarian causes. Although the fight is uncertain we must be in it. How can any man justly be worth a million dollars in this day, for who could rise to such a peak of wealth without taking advantage of some other person? I do not see how any one can mass up that quantity of possessions if he has had the welfare of his suffering fellowmen at heart. (With this comment I thought of Dr. Zweig's biographies of his heroes and passionate reformers Dostoevsky, Dickens and Rolland.) Only that poet can be necessary to our times who makes the rhythm of his poem nothing else than the echoed rhythm of living things; who adjusts the beat of his verse to the beat of his own days, and takes into his quivering veins the streaming blood of our time!"

(To be continued) [Page 401]

INDO-CHINA AND ANGKOR

’Round the World Log of a Sociologist-V

by HERBERT A. MILLER Department of Sociology, Ohio State University

WE ARRIVED at Saigon early in the morning and went at once to the Continental Hotel, which is a Mecca for this part of the world. We had engaged an automobile at Hongkong for our seven days' trip, paying a large part of the capital investment for it, which could have been secured much more cheaply if we had awaited our arrival. My experience in traveling has taught me that it is inadvisable to make more than incidental use of travel agencies, but I am one of many people who learn reluctantly from experience. The complete arrangement of a long trip this way is a great mistake, as it takes away from both freedom and adventure. I have not yet met anyone who has stuck to his original schedule. Happily we have no schedule, except when we decide to take a boat one week, rather than wait until the next.

Indo-China is a French area, variously governed. It seemed strange after getting the notion that English is a ubiquitous language, to find oneself where even the Chinese speak French. The only "pidgin" French that I have recognised, however, has been used by an Australian. Unfortunately none of the natives, including the guides, speaks a French that fully correlates with what our combined party knows.

The French took Indo-China about 1860, when the general uncontrolled scramble for Eastern Asia was taking place. There are now some 35,000 French and 20,000,000 natives. Cochin-China, in which Saigon is situated, is ruled directly by the French; in addition there are the four kingdoms of the Tonkinese, [Page 402]the Annamites, the Laos, and the Cambodians with kings, whom a Chinese described to me as "birds in golden cages." The Tonkinese at the north are the most advanced; the Laos to the south of them and in from the coast are very primitive and little controlled. South of these are the Annamites, who are also the natives of Saigon, and to the west are the Cambodians.

In Saigon there are forty thousand Chinese, ten Americans, a couple of dozen other foreigners, besides seven thousand French.

The great product is rice, which is almost entirely in the hands of the Chinese, but rubber and mining is mostly in the hands of the French, as the export and import, outside of rice.

Nationalism is developing rapidly in Indo-China. The French secret service is efficient and keeps the lid down tight, but there is much more anti-foreign feeling than a few years ago. Although the Chinese are also foreigners, they share the feeling with the natives, and probably get some stimulus from China. A few months ago a prohibition was placed against the importation of bailed newspapers from the United States which were used for wrapping paper. The reason was fear that "dangerous thoughts" might be spread from them.

One of the specific causes of complaint is the virtually pro-hibitative and meticulous tariff against all imports except from France. The duty on American automobiles, for example, is 95% and only rarely do you see one. There is probably a popular exaggeration of the comparative inferiority of French products. French imperialistic methods, in general, get a good deal of criticism, but they certainly are doing things in Indo-China which must be highly commended. In fact, the motor trip of four hundred miles from Saigon to Angkor, and Angkor itself, have raised a whole new train of thought about domination.

Saigon is a new and prosperous city where there was swamp a few years ago. The excellent roads, through comparatively uninhabited country, not only run to the Siamese border but off to the sides in many directions. All along the way there are many elementary and higher schools. We stopped for lunch at Soiarieng, where there is a thriving village. In the middle of the day we [Page 403]arrived at Pnom Penh (the first and last letters are silent), the capital of Cambodia, which seemed, if possible, more of a boom town than Saigon. The new Royal Palace Hotel leaves nothing to be desired. The native villages, with houses built on stilts, as in the movie "Chang," showed that the roads are playing an important part in the life of the people. In spite of all the good they are doing, hatred for the French is increasing.

My new thought is that we must revise our ethical theory. The object of ethical endeavor is to find the Good. The problem of the individual has been to relate his personal moral Good to the Good defined by his group, but over and above this there is what may be called the Cosmic Good. This Cosmic Good is inevitable, and in a way stands outside in a position to laugh at the serious struggles of the other two Goods. Whatever they do the Cosmos wins in the end.

Another way of approaching this notion is that, in addition to the primary and secondary grouping which sociologists have defined, there is a tertiary grouping. Not so long ago life was organized on a personal or primary basis; more recently we have entered into an era when the all-absorbing question has been the secondary organization of large culture groups, which have often been nations. Now, with the organization of the world as a unit in itself, the problem is that of the relation of group to group. The time element is much longer and the possibility of control much less.

The culture Good generally resists the coming of the Cosmic Good, and the very resistance accelerates its coming. One illustration of the Cosmic Good is the biological amalgamation of races and cultures. Since it is inevitable it may be defined as a Good, but its beginnings in every case are in conflict with the moral codes of all culture groups.

The suggestion for these reflections comes from the fact that Indo-China has been an important area in human affairs for millenniums. In Manila, Beyer, the anthropologist and archaeologist, showed me many relics of very ancient Indo-Chinese culture, and, of course, Angkor is a mute exhibit of more recent [Page 404]power and ability. The ancient peoples sank into a very low decline. The French came and are furnishing the stimulus which may bring them back. The French are seeking their own cultural advantage, and the self-respecting hatred of the French by the natives looks to their own culture Good. The combination will be a Cosmic Good. There will be elements of the French influence remaining in the next cultural stage, just as there were relics of India in the Khmer civilization, which culminated in Angkor. The Good of the culture group is largely accidental and is based on values derived from the past which the group tries to perpetuate or recover with an egotism that is comparable in its dynamic to the confidence of an individual.

Angkor belongs to the past of the people who now live in Cambodia. It is a place which only superlatives can describe, and the people are vaguely aware that it is their own heritage. Angkor is incredible for two reasons: Here in the jungle are ruins both stupendous and magnificent, in many ways surpassing those existing anywhere else in the world, and yet for centuries completely unknown, and, when discovered, a baffling mystery. The archaeologists, however, have an uncanny way of adding two and two and getting a hundred. They translate a little Sanscrit on a wall, compare architecture in Java, find a letter in China, dig out another ruin, and then much that was mystery is dissolved.

It was immediately obvious when the ruins were accidentally discovered, in 1860, that they were the product of a highly developed and rich civilization, and further discoveries have shown that it was of longer duration and wider extent than anyone at first thought. The greatest mystery was that no one knew about it, and yet it was young as ruins go. The Great Wall of China was built twenty-one hundred years ago, but Angkor was in its glory eight hundred years ago. Twenty years ago little could be read about it, but now there have been many books and articles on Angkor, though much the best things are still in French for the French archaeologists have been both intelligent and indefatigable. "Stupendously superb" was the [Page 405]

INDO-CHINA AND ANGKOR

description of one of our fellow travelers, and that is as good a term as can be applied.

Here in the jungle, covering an area several miles square, are distributed massive stone ruins, still largely erect, covered with miles of carving in low relief, many perfectly preserved. Crowning it all is the great temple, Angkor-Wat, which is across the moat from the hotel where I am writing. It is the newest structure, having been built about two hundred years before Columbus discovered America.

Personally, I dislike sight-seeing, but Bessie is indefatigable, and I have escaped very little, for which I am grateful, but I have been very much absorbed in my reflections about what it may mean for the future.

So far, most of the visitors to the ruins are Americans, of whom there will be between two and three thousand this year. There are a few English, a rare German, an occasional Chinese and Japanese, a few French from France and many from Indo-China. The Australian in our group said that he was the third Australian that had been here.

Since a high culture was once developed here, the question arises whether it can happen again. Since we happen to live in the era when the temperate zone has had its first innings we have been nurtured with the idea that enlightened civilizations are limited to cool climates. This is but another of the rationalizations of history. We have admitted that Egypt, Mesopotamia and Greece had great cultures, but we gleefully think that they are dead and we are alive; but we have not been alive very long. Angkor was flourishing at the time of King Alfred of England.

We overestimate English history because we are its inheritors, but it represents a very crude life until a few hundred years ago. Its period of culture has not yet been as long as that of Angkor, and already there are signs that its most glorious day is not in the future.

Such eminence as England attained was not due to the initiative and energy of the native stock, but to the stimulus that came from the Saxons and Normans and the period of [Page 406]expansion and aggression which gave form to national life. It is evident that a people will go to sleep unless it has some sort of stimulus which comes either from conflict, competition, or oppression. History repeats itself because the psychological processes are similar. Cultures without outside stimulations never come to much fruit, and those that ripen fall into decay. The only apparent exception to this rule is China, where internal conditions have furnished the stimulations up to the present era.

Another generalization which seems fairly clear is that the esthetic culmination comes just before the fall. This was true of Egypt, Babylon, Greece and Angkor.

Putting the above conjectures together, the conclusion is that Angkor may teach of sociological processes as well as archaeological facts. It is near enough the present, while belonging to the past, to make observation possible. The sleeping Cambodians are the same people who made Angkor magnificent. We know that their great stimulation came from India, and that they had to make themselves strong in war against their neighbors.

It is the next step which we may watch. As though it were a dream in their sleep, the Cambodians claim their relations to the Khmers of the past. The French have come with their commercial enterprise, governmental authority, and archaeological interest. All of these are creating, in the Cambodians and the other natives of Indo-China, a feeling of restlessness and restraint which will probably lead to a full waking up. Without the French they might never have discovered themselves. An increasing hatred of the French will turn them back to a consideration of their own ability and former pre-eminence. In addition to the French are the Chinese, whose relatively inoffensive commercial power will increase and, to some extent, identify itself with the various groups of natives.

There is no reason why a high culture may not again develop in a warm climate. Whether it will last as long as those in temperate and cold climates, no one knows. It may be that burning [Page 407]

INDO-CHINA AND ANGKOR

up of energy in colder climates will make their period shorter. Since it is easier to live in a warm climate, there is a larger surplus that can be devoted to refinement.

A new factor in the next step in history is the change from autocratic to democratic systems. Angkor was possible through the existence of slaves. Capital and machinery will give more than their equivalent.

From many points of view, what the French are doing is beneficent, but this does not mean that they will remain. Their culture will be absorbed but they will disappear, as did the Indians in the past. Their work about Angkor is of the highest order. The numerous roads through the ancient city, on which one may ride or roam for miles, are as free as though it were one's own private park. Eight hundred men are employed clearing the jungles about the ruins and reconstructing where possible. There seems to be no ulterior motive, only scientific interest. After paying a nominal tax at the hotel everything is as free as the air. It will take a vast number of tourists to pay for what has already been expended. The freedom and the absence of solicitation to buy souvenirs makes the place delightful. The visitors, however, are creating a generation of beggars by giving money to the young boys.

At Pnom Penh we visited the palace of the king. It is gaudy and pathetic, the "golden cage" of an unimportant bird, but nevertheless it is a symbol to the Cambodians of a "national self-respect that, I am sure, will increase.

We visited a village school, where there are Cambodians, Chinese and French children. The French teacher, of fourteen years' experience, said there was no difference in the ability of the Cambodians and the French.

The visit to Indo-China has convinced me that the conditions are ripe for the recrudescence of a culture in a people whose gentleness and simplicity of life have seemed to show little promise. If we can get the perspective of centuries for the future, as for the past, we may anticipate the development of events just as in history we describe their occurrence. [Page 408]

I THE NEW EDUCATION FELLOWSHIP

International Headquarters: 11 Tavistock Square, Londen, W.C. 1, England. Director, Mrs. Beatrice Ensor; Secretary, Miss Clare Soper

IN AN age in which the foundations of our civilization are being challenged, the concepts and practices of education must to represent the principles and methods of the New Education Fellowship, which draws together those in search of an education more suited to the needs and aspirations of modern life. By bringing educators of different lands together for exchange of ideas, by creating a center for the co-relation and recording of their experiences, by disseminating news of their experimental findings, the Fellowship stimulates international cooperation based on mutual understanding.

Childhood, both as an actual period of living, and as a period in which the foundations of a sane and useful adulthood are laid, is but imperfectly understood. It is being increasingly realized that each individual is essentially creative as well as receptive and cooperative. By the combined efforts of all those who are approaching the problems of education in this faith, it is hoped that the way to release to constructive ends, the powers latent in every human being, may be discovered.

The curriculum should provide direct contact with life situations, allowing for self-expression through activity. It should meet at every stage the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual needs of the child's developing nature. It should introduce him to the cultural heritage of the race and equip him with the fundamental knowledge necessary to modern social life. The child should be regarded as an individual capable of unique development and yet be prepared by social enterprise to take his place in the community. Discipline which is rigid and compulsive [Page 409]

THE NEW EDUCATION FELLOWSHIP

should be replaced by the development of the sense of initiative and responsibility, through which self-discipline is attained. Education, scientifically founded and creatively directed, can lead to the establishment of a world commonwealth free from the evils of wasteful competition and from the prejudices, fears, and frustrations that are the inevitable outcome of an insecure and chaotic civilization. The cooperation of parents and teachers can liberate the children from the trammels of outworn convention and enable them to take their place as constructive citizens in a swiftly changing age.

Activities of the Fellowship

The Fellowship seeks to form a center for progressive education throughout the world. Standing outside all educational theories and methods, extracting and distributing the significant from each, it represents a synthesis of fresh enterprises in educational thought and practice. It promotes closer cooperation between educators themselves in the different grades of the profession (Education Authorities, Universities, Training Colleges, State and Private Schools, etc.) and between teachers and parents. Its members include parents, teachers, psychologists, nurses, doctors and social workers.

Through the Fellowship’s offices and representatives in 28 countries information has been collected and made available on education from the nursery school to the university. Its representatives assist members studying special aspects of education in any country by facilitating introductions, arranging visits to schools, etc., and advise parents in their choice of schools.

The Fellowship has established a service membership for all educational associations by which individual members of an association may avail themselves of the Fellowship’s services when they are traveling abroad in any country.

Commissions

Commissions are being set up to study and collect information on basic aspects of education. These will work internationally [Page 410]and will act in an advisory capacity to Headquarters. Commissions to deal with the following subjects are in process of formation:- Modern Psychologies and Education, The Child in the Home, Nursery Education, Remaking the Curriculum, Training of Teachers for the New Education, Examinations, and The School in Relation to Social Regeneration.

International Conferences

The Fellowship organizes International Conferences every two years. Five have already been held, and the next will be held in August, 1932, in France.

A report of the last conference held at Elsinore has been issued in book form entitled "Towards a New Education" and prefaced by Sir Michael Sadler. This volume is a bird's-eye view of educational advances all over the world.

Associated with the Fellowship are eighteen magazines in seventeen languages. The international magazine is the "New Era, published in London, which records the progress of education all over the world.

The New Education Fellowship has recently effected an American representation by cooperation with the Progressive Education Association, 10 Jackson Place, Washington, D.C.

Bookshop for Boys and Girls, 270 Boylston St. Boston. Price $3.00. † From International News Co., 131 Varick St. New York. $2.75 per year. [Page 411]

THE QUEST OF WORLD PEACE

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

THE PROBLEM OF ARMAMENTS. I.

IN PRECEDING articles I have sought to analyze the two great conflicting theories that underlie contemporary programs for the maintenance of peace; the theory that peace should be maintained by some combination of states which will take common action by force for the punishment of the aggressor, and the theory that it is necessary only to pledge the nations of the world that they will not resort to war, and to embody this pledge in solemn international compacts. Both of these theories have found expression in important international agreements; both will doubtless continue to be widely discussed in the future.

It would be entering the realm of prophecy to attempt to determine which will show the greater vitality; but the action and reaction of one point of view upon the other may conceivably lead to a compromise. This compromise, if it comes about, might recognize the argument of the advocates of peace by force that mere promises are not sufficient; it might, on the other hand, substitute for the appeal to common armed action some other system of sanctions to be applied against a nation which was clearly the aggressor. Such a system of sanctions might involve differential treatment for the aggressed and the aggressor nation; it might involve the limitation of trade or financial intercourse with the latter; it might result in some modification of the old principles of impartial neutrality. Only the future, however, can determine to what extent any such compromise of the conflicting views will actually come about. I shall leave the question at this point for the further consideration of my readers; and I shall [Page 412]turn to another aspect of the quest for peace, the problem of armaments.

It is obvious, at the outset, that men differ very widely in their views of the utility of the protective armaments which all great nations maintain at the present time. There are those who entirely disbelieve in them; and such persons point to the fact that a weak nation like Holland, for example, is able to retain its considerable colonial possessions, and develop a thriving international trade, without the support of a large navy, and that certain European states, like the Scandinavian countries, have gotten along somehow without great armies. There are others, on the other hand, who believe that in the present disordered state of the world, the existence of a protective force for most nations is an indispensable necessity, and the experience of the World War lends force to the view that the weak, if they come in the way of the strong, are apt to suffer from their weakness. But even those who believe in the maintenance of some measure of armament will, I think, in most instances, readily concede that whatever may be said of the desirability of armies and navies, the development of competitive armaments has been a constant source of irritation, and a constant threat to the peace of the world. If it is not desirable to abolish armament, it is at least desirable to limit them. The problem of such limitation is one of the major problems of the present day.

The movement for the limitation of armaments is almost entirely a movement of the last twelve years. It is true that as early as 1817, through the prescience of Castlereagh and John Quincy Adams, the United States and Great Britain entered into an agreement to restrict the naval force of both powers on the Great Lakes, and that this agreement has subsisted from that time to the present, a striking evidence of what is possible under favorable circumstances. But the compact of 1817 stands entirely alone in the history of the nineteenth century, and it is only in the period since the War that the question of the limitation of armaments has attained a genuine importance so great as to make possible the achievements of practical results. I mention [Page 413]

THE PROBLEM OF ARMAMENTS

this fact, and emphasize it, because we ought to see the present movement in true historical perspective. From the viewpoint of the pure idealist, much indeed remains to be done in this year of grace, 1931; but if we consider how young is the limitation movement from the practical point of view, we shall not be discouraged that more has not been accomplished.

The first great step in the movement for the fixing of national forces by international agreement was taken in the Washington Conference of 1921-1922. In this great conference an agreement was reached between the five great naval nations of the world with regard to the building of capital ships, and this agreement was based upon the principal of fixed ratios. Broadly speaking, Great Britain and the United States were to have parity in this class of ships; while to Japan, France and Italy were granted ratios which may be stated as 3, 1.75, 1.75, in relation to an American and British 5. A program of replacements was worked out which would serve to maintain these proportionate figures.

A somewhat similar arrangement was made with regard to aircraft carriers. All other types of ships remained unlimited.

There are two special features of this agreement that deserve a word of special comment. Before Japan would consent to the ratio which has been mentioned above, it was necessary to assure her representatives at the conference with regard to the policy of the United States in the farther Pacific, and there was accordingly written into the treaty statements the practical effect of which is to forbid the increase of the fortifications of the United States in the island of Guam or in the Philippines. This is a matter of profound significance. It indicates very strikingly that the reaching of agreement on arms limitation was possible only by the making of a very considerable concession on the part of the American government. Such a concession most of those who favor the limitation of armaments will not believe to have been unwise; but it ought to open our eyes to the fact that genuine progress in this important question is possible only at a price. Those persons who imagine that the restriction of armaments can be achieved without the sacrifice of purely national [Page 414]viewpoints are living in an atmosphere of unreality. It is also worth noting that the pledge of the United States not to fortify Guam and the Philippines gave to Japan a sense of security in Asia. Here again an important principle is involved. The agreement of the nations with regard to armaments can only be effectively attained when the problem of security is frankly faced. There is no automatic system of mathematical ratios which will in itself suffice.

A second general observation to be made on the treaty of 1922 has reference to the position which it assigned to France and Italy. The ratio assigned to France was accepted with great reluctance by that power; and the chagrin felt by the French representatives was increased by the fact that the French navy, with regard to capital ships, was put upon a par with the navy of Italy. Thus, despite the fine achievement of the Conference, certain resentments were generated, and certain new problems created. The French were left in a mood to resist any further limitation of armaments which was based upon the principle of the Washington ratios; indeed, they took this position very flatly at the Conference itself. The Italians, on the other hand, were encouraged by the parity with France which was conceded to them as regards capital ships, to hope for and desire a similar parity with regard to other classes of vessels; and the issue thus created remains to the present time to confuse and complicate the question of further limitation. While a great step forward was therefore taken in 1922, much remained to be done before the general problem of naval armaments could be regarded as satisfactorily solved.

The Washington conference attempted another type of action which has from time to time been advocated in the movement for the limitation of armaments. It attempted to restrict the use of the submarine in time of war, in such manner that they might not be used for the destruction of vessels among themselves; and it prohibited the use in war of asphyxiating, poisonous or noxious gares as between the signatories. The treaty which embodied these provisions was never ratified by France, and it therefore [Page 415]

THE PROBLEM OF ARMAMENTS

never came into effect; but it directs attention to a method of dealing with the problems of armaments that may well be a matter for serious scepticism.

It is probably true that provisions designed to humanize the conduct of war are not entirely useless; especially in small-scale wars regard for the susceptibilities of neutral powers, and for the public opinion of the rest of the world may operate to secure the observance of agreements of this kind. But it is fairly clear that the value of such compacts is severely limited; and in the heat of a great international conflict, where the existence of the nation itself seems to be at stake, it is too much to hope that restrictions on the use of force will not be cast aside. It may, indeed, even be doubted whether the creation of restrictions is desirable; the illusion of progress is created, and false hopes encouraged; and it can be argued with some plausibility that the more horrible and destructive war appears the greater will be the incentive to avoid it. I, for my part, can develop very little enthusiasm indeed for this type of treaty, nor can I believe that it is along these lines that progress toward the peace ideal is to be effectively realized.

Inadequacies of this type in the Washington treaties should not, however, blind us to their great significance; for the first time in the world's history, at any rate in modern history, the great nations of the West entered into a solemn compact for the limitation of armaments; a precedent of immense value was created for the future; and the task that was begun at Washington was to be pushed further to completion at the London conference. The period between these conferences I shall not consider in detail; it will be sufficient to say that the dangers of competitive armament, removed with regard to capital ships, soon appeared in another field of naval construction, that of cruisers; and that it was only after the abortive Geneva conference of 1927 and the development of a big-navy program in the United States that the way to a new agreement was finally opened. The character of this new agreement, and the problem of naval armaments as it exists at the present day, I shall consider in my next article. [Page 416]

V. Art

by NICHOLAS ROERICH Artist, Author and Explorer

As a prayer, we repeat that knowledge and beauty are the real cornerstones of evolution, the gates to a world community. We affirm this, not only as a prayer, but even as a command, to all humanity. We know that in these spheres all hearts must be united. Love, labor, and noble action are not abstract, misty symbols for the enlightened workers in the beautiful fields of creation. Endlessly we must repeat this command of beauty and knowledge. We must insist that the creative sense of the beautiful should be applied in every-day life; that every household should be beautified, that in each home books should have the place of honor.

Many encouraging signs now manifest themselves simultaneously in all countries. Countless hearts scattered over the world consider art, beauty, knowledge as the most unifying powers. I myself have seen these, our numberless friends; in twenty-five countries, I have witnessed how these vigilant hearts not only rejoiced in beauty, but felt that here lies the one stronghold where their hopes for evolution could be exalted. I have witnessed how through application of the Beautiful they solved so many social and domestic problems. Truly it is cause for the greatest enthusiasm to perceive how so many different peoples in many countries consider beauty and knowledge as the great motive power, which set the stones for the coming progress.

We have the right to regard beauty as a real motive force. For a moment, imagine the history of humanity without the treasures of beauty. For a moment, let us erase from our memories [Page 417]the majestic images of Assyria and Babylon, the dynamic symmetry of Egyptian art. Let us forget the beauty of the Gothic primitives, the enchantment of Buddhist glory and classic Greece. Let us disrobe the tales of heroes and rulers of the garb of beauty. Without the adornments of beauty, how crude remain the pages of history! Truly, not a single heroic achievement, not one constructive victory may be imagined without the sense of the beautiful. In creative enthusiasm, the young generation attains the beautiful. And how else could illumined enthusiasm enter into our lives? Verily, only from the creative fields of art where are expressed all spheres of the Supreme.

Studying the past, we may affirm that creative art has been the motive power for progress of life. The form of life is the synthesis of evolution. Is it not an inspiring thought to realize that the evolution of humanity culminates in Beauty?

Verily, we can evaluate art and beauty as the great motive powers in the new conception of life and in the service to humanity for the construction of the approaching and beautiful evolution. In this justified enthusiasm, we can proclaim beauty as a real motive power.

The history of humanity provides splendid evidences of how the creative thought of beauty was evaluated in ancient times.

From former days, perhaps in the Fifteenth Century in Russia, there has come down to us a legend in which Christ is proclaimed as the highest guardian of beauty. According to this legend, when Christ was ascending to heaven, some troubadours approached him and asked, "Lord Christ, to whom are you leaving us? How can we exist without you?" Are Christ answered, "My children, I shall give you the gold n mountains and silver rivers and beautiful gardens and you shall be nourished and happy." But then St. John approached Christ and said, "Oh Lord, give them not golden mountains and silver rivers. They do not know how to guard them, and someone rich and powerful will attack them and take away the golden mountains. Give them only your name and your beautiful songs and give the command that all those who appreciate the songs and [Page 418]who care for and guard the singers shall find the gates open to Paradise." And Christ replied, "Yes, I shall give them, not golden mountains, but my songs; and all who appreciate them shall find the gates open to Paradise."

Herein you have the essential and vital combination of world brotherhood through beauty, and you see that the highest symbol of human understanding becomes the highest guardian of beauty.

Again we have the quotation from the oldest Russian historical chronicles by the Monk Nestor, indicating how Prince Jaroslav appreciated knowledge and beauty: "Jaroslav founded Kiev the Great and its Golden Gates with it. Loving the laws of beauty and of church and being a master in books he read them by day and by night and wrote them too, thus sowing literary seeds in the hearts of true men, which we now reap. But books and images are rivers that carry wisdom through the world and are as deep as rivers. Also Jaroslav lovingly beautified the churches with images and with splendid gold and silver vessels and his heart rejoiced upon it."

Besides we have also beautiful quotations from some later chronicles of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries, teaching us that the best spiritual achievement for the rulers is to guard art and even to use art in their own life.

Knowing these quotations, one is not surprised to see in the opera "Snegourotchka" that the Tsar is at the same time an artist, and is beautifying his own palace. This is not merely a sophisticated message for royalty, but the fundamental reverence for beauty of the people. For if you ask me what countersign and certificate you would have to show to be allowed to enter a strange village, I would give you the best advice: enter the village singing, and the more pleasing your song the better your welcome. If they ask you for a certificate, show them a drawing or a painting; it is the certificate best understood, and you will be assured that you can remain there forever. You have your shield and your guard.

Beauty is in reality a pan-human feeling, existing alike in [Page 419]

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the city and wilderness. Often the heart nourished upon the beauties from the source of Nature is more open and speaks more vividly the miracle-making, pan-human language.

This we found also in Asia. With real joy we recollect how everywhere there the most beautiful traditions are dedicated to the meaning of creative art. These traditions are vital because in every country of Asia they regard and speak about works of art in the most beautiful way, using the most refined symbols, so that very often we have to learn these refined expressions dedicated to the beautiful. Let us recollect how the simple Mongol speaks of the perfection of art in the following legend:

"In olden times in Kucha lived a celebrated painter. Once, as a deposit against a loan, he brought his painting representing a head of cabbage and a butterfly to a merchant and asked three thousand sar. A boy, who was taking the place of the owner of the shop, gave him the requested loan. The owner returned. He was indignant that, for a cabbage and a butterfly, the boy should have lent so much money. He chased away the boy and considered the money lost. Winter came and on the appointed day the artist brought the money and asked to have the painting back. They took out the painting and the owner, to his terror, saw that the butterfly had disappeared from the picture. The artist demanded his complete picture as described. The owner was upset. The painter said, 'So you have unjustly thrown out the boy. But now only he can help you.' The owner called the boy. For three days the boy kept the picture near the fire and the butterfly appeared again. Then the boy said, 'You have not appreciated the artist, but he is so perfect that his colors have all the qualities of nature. The butterflies appear in the warm summertime. For the winter they disappear. The same happens also in the painting. Only the warmth of the fire recalled the butterfly to life in winter as well. So perfect is this painter! And the owner was ashamed and adopted the boy and made him rich for his wisdom."

The same simple Mongol repeats what the Buddha said in the Suttras: "The greatest crime is ignorance." [Page 420]And let us again recollect all these beautiful legends and stories from the "Tao" and from the Buddhist world, that connect the meaning of art and knowledge with the supreme feelings. What beautiful lines "Tao" dedicated to the true scientists!

During five years of travel in Asia we have seen innumerable libraries in each monastery. In every temple; in every ruined Chinese watch tower, there was a library with a collection of most remarkable books—a collection of famous biographies, dictionaries, books of history and science.

When you see a lonely traveler in the mountains you may be sure that in his knapsack is a book and a work of art. You may deprive him of everything, he will resign it; but he will defend his real treasure, the book or the work of art.

Our motto always was: Humanity is facing the coming events of cosmic greatness. Humanity already realizes that all occurrences are not accidental. The time for the construction of future culture is at hand. Before our eyes the revaluation of values is being witnessed. Amidst the ruins of valueless banknotes, mankind has found the real value of the world's significance. The values of great art are victoriously traversing all storms of earthly commotions. Even the "earthly" people already understand the vital importance of active beauty. And when we proclaim: Love, Beauty and Action! we know verily that we pronounce the formula of the international language. And this formula which now belongs to the museum and the stage must enter every-day life. The sign of beauty will open all sacred gates. Beneath the sign of beauty we walk joyfully. With beauty we conquer. Through beauty we pray. In beauty we are united. And now we affirm these words, not on the snowy heights, but amidst the turmoil of the city—and realizing the path of true reality we greet with a happy smile the future.

And now you see that this is not an idealist's dream, but for the real construction of practical life. Those who are not blind [Page 421]

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must see that the question of art now becomes not a technical matter, but everyone acknowledges that the questions of Beauty and creative knowledge have become most vital factors of life. Formerly one heard stories of artists dying of hunger while rich financiers built their palaces. Today, events have brought out the reverse; I have heard stories of bankers dying on top of mountains of worthless banknotes. And we have already heard how an entire country could be supported by the price of old tapestries. So you see how practically this great evolution is working before our eyes. Beside this, another question of the same deep significance is coming into life. Some days ago a prominent architect told me that he regrets so much not having the constant cooperation of painters and sculptors from the beginning of a project, because only through essential collaboration from the very beginning can something really harmonious result. I have often heard dancers say they needed to know something of sculpture and plastic, and certainly you have often heard that painters require music and that music evokes the significance of color.

In unifying institutions we had a significant experience in this direction, showing how necessary it is to combine under one roof the idea that the unity of arts is also not apart from life, and how all musicians, painters, sculptors, architects and dramatists can be united and supported by each other. Different branches of art do not distract, but evoke some new center of the brain not yet utilized. And certainly we know that the function of many centers of the brain is still unknown to us.

The gates of Paradise mentioned in the old legend are not only imaginary. Truly, especially now, we face a most significant time when the vital medium of art is entering home life. Humanity, distressed by political unrest and surrounded by the debris of its old beliefs, is seeing how easily this new emotion, constructive and vital, may be found in daily life.

We have often mentioned that even prisons must be beautified. This is not an allegory. The great prison of life is so easily beautified and a real key to happiness and joy is to be found [Page 422]therein; the countersign of song and the certificate of a creative work!

Finally, if we have witnessed the beautiful evolution of civilization and culture, we may in the same way understand what a far more beautiful evolution awaits us. It is near. It is vital. It is practical for everyone.

Should someone ask why, in the mêlée of our days, one may be concerned with questions of Beauty, you may safely answer, "I know the way of the future." Friends, if we realize how vital Beauty was during ancient times, what immense uses of the emanations of Beauty we can make in our everyday life. If in the Middle Ages, Beauty was considered as the "Gates of Paradise," and if even a modest old chronicler of the Eleventh Century could assert his joy before Beauty, how necessary it is for us to take all practical advantage of this basis of life, and fully fortified by our contemporary discoveries, to repeat "Love, Beauty, Action!"

How all-embracing is Love; how profoundly must be felt the sense of Beauty; and how vitally must we understand the meaning of that virile expression, Action! This command must not be forgotten once we can introduce it into our daily life. The new era is not far off, and not a single day may be lost. Perhaps you will ask me why we must repeat constantly this prayer of Love and Beauty. Because, frankly, so many avoid Beauty in their every-day life, and erroneously seek a reason for this irreparable mistake. If Beauty is the Shield of the World, if the coming evolution is luminously radiant with discovered rays and energies, even the smallest seeds of this splendor must be reflected in our life. The awaiting ones, the aspiring ones, must be the first to prepare the place of Beauty in life. Thus, incessantly, until we see the results, must we repeat this prayer of Beauty-the crown of Action and Love. Beautiful are the necessities and the responsibilities of our lives.

We have always said: "The main thing is to collect and safeguard all the flowers of beauty. With the years, you may change your tasks and find some more suited to your taste. Do [Page 423]

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not close your eyes to the beautiful, flowery meadows of art and you will carry everywhere the enthusiasm and love for the achievements of far-off and perhaps anonymous creators."

Affirming that the treasures of art and knowledge are the most important impulses in the growth of humanity, we must surround those milestones of mankind with vibrating love. Such is the task of the collector.

The names of many collectors are recorded in history inseparable from the creators, because in collecting, these men themselves became creators. In emphasizing the significance of collecting, we speak of something not abstract, but of something vital, something which gives living impetus to the beautiful. This broadened consciousness will lay the best foundations for a truly creative spirit in the new generation.

Collectors, as the antithesis of destroyers, form a special legion beyond epochs and nationalities. By no means are they retrogrades, imprisoned in their own egotistical desire of acquisition. Every true collector feels it necessary to share with understanding spirits his cultural treasures. In every collector has already flowered the seed of selfless joy towards beauty. Collecting becomes the cultural thermometer of each nation, and one may estimate the cultural level of nations by these revealing milestones.

The collector learns to protect the treasures of creative genius entrusted to him by destiny as an honorary guard. He is not a casual visitor of museums who transfers the complete responsibility upon a curator; he himself is the guard of those treasures which are before him, and which will radiate their light upon many after him. Absorbed in the life of creations, the collector extracts the true wisdom of his treasures. From the covetous Fafnir he is transformed into a guard who has won the right to possess the Ring of Achievement. The process of collecting is something like a dynamo of artistic creative power, which directly acts upon the spirit of the collector. Just as Mime brought up Siegfried, so bliss may be found in art treasures whatever their circumstances. As in heaven, so on earth. And there is nothing [Page 424]extraordinary in the fact that artistic creations are rising in price even in this conventional, earthly valuta. During war and revolutions, the monetary values of the beautiful were conclusively revealed. Whole countries, whole cities who could not protect themselves with land or buildings, found the means of their existence in their artistic treasures. This is a fact of great cultural significance.

Time was when wives prevented their husbands from acquiring real art objects, preferring property with the belief that it was indestructible. They did not count upon earthquakes. To them, a printed bank-note was more valuable than a Rembrandt, an El Greco or a da Vinci. One cannot blame them when one remembers that they simply did not understand the true, unchangeable values. But now the era of womanhood has come, and woman will be the real protector and collector of the beautiful.

It is also very instructive to observe the great variations of collections, from the strictly conservative, which present only one school or even one group, up to individual combinations. These latter collections at the present time represent a special interest. The trained eye of the connoisseur of the beautiful, focuses his attention upon the most modern of these manifestations of art, but is aware as well of the paths and roots of these recent achievements. Such collections cannot remain without giving place to the expressions of creators which were the milestones of the forward movement of art. Superbly instructive instances are coming to the front. Van Gogh and Gauguin are paired with the great innovator El Greco. The latest modernists are hanging on the same wall with Brueghel the Elder. In such coordination, place is found also for Giorgione and Italian and Flemish primitives—all those who laid the steps for the victory of art. In such horizons, collections cease to be narrow and dogmatic, but excluding every possible intolerance, they verily cultivate the broad meadows of mankind for a future artistic harvest.

The records of collecting reveal that these never-to-[Page 425]berepeated treasures enhance in earthly and spiritual values. Happy is the land where the movement of enlightened collecting has begun. There the human spirit will flower, to reveal new evidences of fortune and peace.

Humanity in diverse ways is striving for peace, and everyone, in his own heart, realizes that this constructive work is a true prophecy of a new era. In view of this, it is certainly incongruous to hear discussions on the comparative desirability of various bullets, or on whether one type of ship is closer to the conceptions of world unity than the cannons of two battleships. Let us, however, consider these discussions as preliminary steps toward the same great peace that will tame the belligerent instincts of humanity by the resplendent and joyous creations of the spirit.

The fact remains, however, that the shells of even one of these cannon can destroy the greatest treasures of art and science as successfully as a whole fleet. We deplore the loss of the Library of Louvain and the unreplaceable loveliness of the Cathedral of Rheims; we remember the beautiful treasures of private collections which perished during the world’s misunderstandings. We do not, however, wish to inscribe above them, words of enmity; let us simply say, “Destroyed by human error, and recreated by human hope.” Nevertheless, errors in this or any other form can be repeated and other precious milestones of human achievement can be destroyed.

Against such errors of ignorance we should take immediate measures. And even though these may be only preliminary measures of safeguarding, some very successful steps can be taken.

No one can deny that the flag of the Red Cross proved to be of immeasurable value and reminded the world of humanitarianism and compassion.

For this reason, a plan for an International Peace Pact which would protect all treasures of art and science through an International Flag has been outlined by the Roerich Museum for [Page 426]presentation through America to all foreign governments. The purpose of the project, which has been submitted to the State Department and the Committee on Foreign Relations, is to prevent the repetition of the disasters of the last war on cathedrals, museums, libraries and other lasting memorials of creation of the past.

It is the plan of the project to create a flag which will be respected as International Neutral Territory, this to be raised above museums, cathedrals, universities and any other cultural center. The plan, projected by the Roerich Museum, was drawn up according to the codes of International Law by Dr. George Chklaver of the Paris University, Lecturer in the Institute of International High Studies, in consultation with Professor Albert Geouffre de la Pradelle, member of the Hague Peace Court, Vice President of the Institute of International Law, of Paris, and member of the Faculty of Law, and the Sorbonne. Both are Honorary Advisors of the Roerich Museum.

As set forth in Article I of the Pact, "Educational, artistic and scientific institutions, artistic and scientific missions shall be deemed neutral and, as such, shall be protected and respected by belligerents.

"Protection and respect shall be due to the aforesaid institutions and missions in all places subject to the sovereignty of the High Contracting Parties, without any discrimination as to the State allegiance of any particular institution or mission."

When the idea of an international cultural flag was first propounded, we were not surprised to find that it met with unanimous interest and enthusiasm. Experienced statesmen wondered why it had not been thought of before. When we asked our honorary advisors, Dr. George Chklaver and Professor Albert Geouffre de la Pradelle to frame this idea into an international formula, we received not only a splendidly formulated project of international agreement, but also many answers full of pan-human sympathy. This international flag for the protection of beauty and science would not in any way demean any interests or lead to misunderstandings. On the contrary, it elevates the [Page 427]universal consciousness which must be awakened. As the Red Cross flag needs no explanation to even the most uncultured mind, so does this new flag, guardian of cultural treasures, speak for itself. It is simple enough to explain, even to a barbarian, the importance of safeguarding art and science.

It is imperative to take immediate measures to preserve the noble heritage of our past for a glorious posterity. This can only come if all countries pledge themselves to protect the creations of culture, which after all, belong to no one nation but to the world. In this way we may create the next vital step for a universal culture and peace.

For the individual, what is the way for immediate application of beauty? First of all, let us beautify our homes with the most sincere expressions of beauty. As we repeat, perhaps these expressions will be fragmentary or they will be only fine reproductions of great creations. It does not matter, for even in small fragments of good reproductions great conceptions are reflected and can lead us to great understanding.

The sense of the Beautiful purifies our thoughts-nothing may be a greater stimulus for pure thoughts than this self-sacrificing enthusiasm. And finally, once for all, we must realize that thought, not deed, is the strongest force. And for this reason, the conception of pure thinking is the most practical one. We are not afraid even to use the word practical, because we must be constructive, using all material-matter as well as spirit- and in this way we can understand that even these two conceptions are one.

In this great understanding, we may forget all pettiness and without any sense of destruction we may beautify and build up the unfinished towers of beuty. And in this way, little by little, we shall become accustomed to the great sense of infinity. And to the eternal Great Beginning-the beginning of light, the beginning of enlightenment, the beginning of labor and beautification that shall transform our every-day life, so isolated and timorous, into constant attainment, thus transforming the limited "I" into the unconquerable "We." [Page 428]

HUMANIZED RELIGION

by JOHN HERMAN RANDALL, JR. Department of Philosophy, Columbia University

I

IN TWO recent books a scholar and a preacher look at religion, each from his own point of view, and try to sketch its function and its promise in our distracted world.' Neither proclaims himself a religious humanist, in any of the senses of that much-abused term; the scholar does not employ the word, and the preacher inveighs against those who would reduce religion to mere "sociology." Yet fundamentally both alike picture and counsel a humanized religion adjusted to the temper and needs of the present day, a religion that is man's devotion to the highest, the adventure of the human soul, the supreme human art. Religion is an age-long quest for that which is highest and therefore divine. Neither scholar nor preacher raises the philosophical question of the being of God. The former is content to allow men their human Gods; but religious fellowships will not cluster about metaphysical tenets, he insists, for religion is not a body of beliefs, but a psychic power and social instinct of man's nature. The latter does indeed proclaim "the ancient burden of God;" but he proclaims it because he feels that man must continue to hope in "the essential relatedness of his world of values to the world of universal existence," and four-fifths of his book is concerned with values basically human and social, to whose discussion God is apparently irrelevant.

Nothing could more clearly illustrate, if that be still necessary today, the essential humanization of the religious life effected by those who have embarked anew upon the process of adjusting themselves to modern thought and modern social

Nathaniel Schmidt, The Coming Religion. Macmillan. 162 pp. $1.25. Abba Hillei Silver, Religion in a Changing World. Richard R. Smith. 204 pp. $2. [Page 429]experience. Here is nothing supernatural, nothing otherworldly, no separate realm of spiritual values to which man must attain. Instead, the concern of this religion is with the "redress of ancient wrongs, the removal of long-entrenched evils, the abolition of harmful institutions, and the reform of intolerable conditions," manifesting themselves in the spread among men of justice, mercy, and peace. It is measured by the growth of mind and soul in the discovery of beauty, the reverence for truth, the love of man, the sympathy for human sorrow and joy, the casting off of fear, in inspiration and courage and social idealism. Whatever remnants of traditional symbol such religion may retain, in tolerance of the ingrained habits of the average man, its heart obviously lies with these human values, not with the groping spirit in quest of the Eternal. For it is in these values, this sweet, sad music of humanity, that multitudes of sensitive men now discern the highest, not in the Ancient of Days, nor yet in his attenuated metaphysical ghost.

Any candid observer of liberal Protestantism or Judaism today must admit this increasing humanization of the religious life. This cardinal fact far overshadows the minor question raised by the professed "Humanists," whether the term "God" shall be retained innocuously, and perhaps reinterpreted, or be banished entirely from the religious vocabulary. Such a latter course has perhaps much to be said for it in the interest of intellectual clarity, provided the forbidden term does not take with it the genuine human values for which it has stood. But intellectual clarity, if again we may take these books as illustrative, is not highly regarded in the life of liberal religion, which places an art, a quest, a devotion, an adventure, far above a searching philosophy. Liberal religious leaders will doubtless continue in the main to employ God as an element in the techniques of worship and devotion, and of evoking ecclesiastical loyalty. But in formulating and seeking to realize the Highest Good, they will increasingly find, as these two writers do, that the concept of God hovers as a homeless ghost from the past far above their genuine religious concerns. Any closer [Page 430]determination of this metaphysical element they will leave to the physicists, at present so eager to find God lurking behind every equation. It is surely too much to expect that men will ever rest content to leave metaphysical truth in the hands of metaphysicians.

Nathaniel Schmidt is Professor of Semitic Languages and Oriental History in Cornell University, but he has taken all humane learning as his province, and has mastered in particular all that pertains to what he terms "theology," the science that aims at the accurate description of the phenomena of man's religious life. His aim in The Coming Religion, as befits his scientific interest, is to analyse what religion has been in the past as a basis for forecasting "the more distinct probabilities" in the future. His is not the fiery voice of the prophet, proclaiming what is needful, but the calm and measured conclusion of the scholar reporting in lucid and simple language what has been found out about religion as a great human enterprise. On the many points which still vex the learned, he offers his own position, generally balanced and moderate. The reader will find in his volume an excellent account of the general course of religious development, down to the "fall of Pan" and the emergence of Christianity, and chapters on the relations between religion and science, art, morality, and the state. Throughout his discussion of ancient faiths he has continually endeavored to see in the shifting currents of what to us is magic and myth the matrix of man's spiritual development.

What is religion? "It cannot be monotheism, for some religions are polytheistic. It cannot be theism, for some religions are atheistic. Not only are there primitive religions that have not yet developed a god-conception, but there are advanced religions that have abandoned it. Buddhism and Jainism do not admit the existence of a deity; and of the six leading syst of religious thought in classical Brahmanism only two, Y and Vedanta, consistently proclaim a belief in a godhead, wh four reject it. Religion expresses itself sometimes in polytheism, sometimes in monotheism, sometimes in pantheism, sometimes in atheism. It may exist without any definite belief concerning [Page 431]

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the nature of ultimate reality. Belief in the immortality of the soul, or even in the existence of a soul, cannot be the sine qua non of religion.

The gods, even the One God, have, in fact, had a history. They have been born, at a late date, after earlier stages of "animatism" or mana religion, and animism, and they have suffered euthanasia at the hands of theologians and philosophers. "Whether the name is preserved or not, the new conceptions to which searching inquiry has led have little in common with the idea of a god. No personal relations are possible with 'the infinite, 'the absolute,' 'the élan vital,' 'the ultimate reality;' and sacrifices, ceremonies, prayer, and intercession cease to have any urgency or meaning. Yet in modern thought, when the idea of a limited, created world gives place to that of an infinite, uncreated universe, and the idea of an individual god yields to that of a cosmic order, implying a spiritual ideal, the gradual unfolding in man's experience of its nature and demands may still be called a revelation.".

The definition which Professor Schmidt finds satisfactory is, "Religion is devotion to the highest." Devotion implies an intense direction of thought, will, and feeling, an emotional experience, an active desire, a will to live in a particular way, a mode of behavior, a special trend given to thought. "It is the direction of the mind toward what is conceived as the highest truth, of the will toward the highest duty, and of the heart toward the highest beauty, the most complete harmony and satisfaction. It is the elative faculty, the force that drives man upward, the tendency that impels him, not only toward the better, but toward the best." It is an individual experience, but it is also a product of social life; it is that social factor which reveals itself in devotion to the highest.

Religious history has been the deepening of insight into the nature of the highest. Each stage has added something to man's ritage of ideals. "The religious effect of the tabus derived om the totemic principle has been very great. They have paved e way for the conception of the inviolability of man's life and [Page 432]the sacredness attached to his sexual relations. The significant thing about manaism in all its expressions is that it raised man above himself and directed his thought, will, and feeling toward what to him was a realm of the highest realities. Germinating in various forms of the primitive mana-conception, the belief in a soul and its existence after death, in spirits and gods, has blossomed forth and borne fruit for the nurture and healing of man's nature. Whatever its aberrations, it has enriched and refined his sentiments, forced his mind to face the problems of existence, and supplied his will with motives for deeds of valor, endurance, and unselfish devotion. A magic act looked upon as effective ex opere operato may assist the growth of devotion to what is conceived to be highest. Mysticism is an expression of such devotion, though its value no doubt lies, not in anything actually gained beyond the bounds of rationality in a pathological state, but in the stimulus it may afford to intellectual exertion, moral purification and exaltation of the feelings. Allegory permits a great latitude of freedom, independence of thought, moral discernment, and spiritual insight. On the other hand, a conscious break with the past may be the result of what is sincerely regarded as revelation. Vicarious suffering exists and may produce rich spiritual results. The prophet's death as well as his life may exercise a profound moral influence. Dissent, like assent, is essential to the permanence and growth of religion."

Professor Schmidt's discussion of the relation between religion and the other human enterprises summarizes the position of liberal thought without transcending it. There can be no conflict between science and religion, nor between science and theology, for the latter is now nothing but the general study of religion as a human phenomenon. Science has both illuminated the highest and devised techniques for achieving some measure of good. It has clarified the nature of religion, destroyed dogmatism, and engendered a new feeling of solidarity with the past and the future, and with other peoples. "These effects accentuate the essential harmony between science and religion. Both are concerned with knowledge. But science seeks it in [Page 433]

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every field, for its own sake, without regard to its applications or effects, and by purely intellectual processes. Religion seeks it in the realm of what is felt, desired, and conceived of as the highest, for the purpose of acquaintance with an adequate object of devotion and service and the establishment of a satisfactory relation; and its processes are not only intellectual, but also conative and emotional. Under the influence of science men of strongly religious nature have become more modest and more truly reverent."

Art and religion owe much to each other. Religion must be independent of the state, yet there is nothing with which the state can be more deeply concerned. Morality and religion are distinct in origin and function, the one concerned with relations between men, the other with relations between men and the object of their devotion. Yet they purify and exalt each other. Ethics is a science which seeks to generalize principles of conduct. "It is in the nature of science that no such generalization, no such reasoned standard by which customs and ideas relative to conduct may be judged, can have the attribute of finality, but is always subject to improvement and restatement, as the data of the moral consciousness become more perfectly apprehended." Mere knowledge of varying mores can furnish no norm for conduct. An evolving nature brings forth a fuller but not necessarily a better life. Hedonism confuses the desired with that worthy to be desired. G. E. Moore and Felix Adler are coupled as outstanding ethical scientists, and the spiritual ideal of the latter is judged not necessarily bound up with his philosophic idealism. Yet "only in proportion as morality has been informed by the religious spirit, its utter devotion to the highest, has it attained its widest reach and deepest intensity. Morality must become religious, as religion must become ethical, if each is to perform its supreme function."

All this is the record of a prevalent state of mind; Professor Schmid lays no claim to prophetic insight. It is the body of opinions current among religious liberals; whether so labeled or not, it is an expression of a widespread humanistic religious [Page 434]temper. It is open-minded, intelligent, generous, and humane. But it is informed with no philosophic facing of ultimate issues. It has no well-considered conception of the nature and function of science in human life, nor of the rôle of life in the universe. It does not touch upon the deeper problems of ethics. Nor has it clarity as to the nature of that highest to which religion is devoted. There is surprisingly small concern with any standards within religion; rather the emphasis lies on the value of all forms of religious life. What Professor Schmidt has omitted is precisely what present-day liberal religious thought in its humanistic temper leaves out; and the thoughtful reader will lay down his book with the same perplexities and doubts, the same desire for further clarification, with which those fragmentary and oft reiterated assertions leave him.

In predicting future probabilities, Professor Schmidt can afford to be the mere observer. Present organizations will continue, with diminishing proportions of adherents. Efforts at unification will be made, and may succeed within Protestantism. Cooperation for moral ends will be compatible with the multiplication of sects. Fresh inspiration may come from a return to the personalities of religious founders. Religious leadership will be humanized; men will not look for perfection in their prophets. A violent break with the past, provoked by some moral crisis—another war, perhaps—is a possibility. Secular religions of genuine consecration will win wider allegiance. Yet it may be doubted whether such quests can adequately meet the spiritual needs of those who have broken with tradition. There are signs of a great revival of religion. This coming religion will be scientific, undogmatic, esthetic, and ethical, and will express itself in new types of religious fellowship, on the basis of great social crusades. The spiritual impulse will be wholly humanized. It will establish a republic of fellow workers, not a kingdom of God. One wonders.

The book of Rabbi Silver reflects the same humanistic temper, with less of apparent learning and more passionate devotion to the moral and social needs of our changing world. [Page 435]

HUMANIZED RELIGION

Dr. Silver enjoys a high reputation, far beyond the limits of his own people, as a scholar, philosopher, and preacher. It is not unfair to say that this volume affords an adequate measure of his ability only in the last rôle. Much may be forgiven a volume of sermons—indeed, much has to be. Here Dr. Silver preaches upon social justice, upon preventive social work, on world peace, on social and political liberalism, on the American home, on education, on how to measure life. Sermons upon such themes must appeal to familiar and accepted principles. They can hardly be novel explorations of difficult problems. They cannot afford to wound their hearers by descending to particular cases. They may denounce the acquiescence of the churches in wartime, and call for education in the will to peace, and machinery to effect it, but they must naturally reject pacificism. They can call upon religion to look with benevolence on all programs of social amelioration, kindle a crusading zeal for a kingdom of this world, and maintain the eternal principles of human rights; but naturally they cannot align the church with any one specific economic system, nor tempt it to fritter itself away by injecting itself into every minor economic wrangle of little social significance. They can proclaim like a trumpet the need for social reconstruction; but they must remember the tragic situation of the liberal preacher, so well expressed by Dr. Silver: "It is not so difficult after all to be a voice crying in the wilderness. It is far more difficult to be a voice-clear and courageous-crying for justice amid the pomp and splendor and costliness of a Temple or a Cathedral, which is built and supported by those who must often become the very target of the voice's invective."

Within the limits imposed by the public ministry of the preacher, Dr. Silver has said much that is fine, courageous, and effective. His hearers must have thrilled, and his readers may well rejoice, to find so well ordered and so lucidly expressed the tenets of liberal doctrine. Dr. Silver's appeal is not limited to the Jews, nor to Theists; it is broad enough to include all men touched by the fire of secular social idealism. Indeed, eight out of the ten sermons included would rank very high in any humanist [Page 436]anthology. He proposes a ringing creed of faith in Man on which liberals of all religious belief or none might easily unite. Here is socially-minded humanism at its best.

Dr. Silver is most courageous in opposing current moral tendencies. For in ethics he is a convinced traditionalist. "Little that is really new can be added to the basic inventory of religion and morality. We may discover a better technique for the realization of these maximum ideals, but we have nothing and can have nothing to add to their quintessential truth. Progress in this field consists not in discovery but in fulfillment. There can be no new Ten Commandments for no new Ten Commandments are necessary. They remain forever the digits of civilization. Religion refuses to be impressed by the heathen ragings of our day. Its wisdom is the cumulative wisdom of the ages. Its moral theses have been tested by time and are grounded in the millennial experiences of the race. In a world of shifting standards, religion proclaims today, as of yore, its few simple, strong, unalterable convictions touching the basic sanctities of human life." With the courage of the Pope, therefore, Dr. Silver opposes the neo-paganism of modern marriage, which is "simply the muddy backwash of the saturnalia of war." Indeed, his courage is far greater, for the Pope has a tremendous organization behind him, while Dr. Silver has only a Hebraic tradition from which he has already removed so much that it takes true strength to save the remnant. Fortunately, as he reminds us, "The millions of American homes are still sound."

Indeed, this he perceives to be the true problem of the religious liberal. To attack orthodoxy was easy, with science as an ally. But to face the real foe today—materialism, agnosticism, and atheism—without that ally, and without supernatural bulwarks, is far harder. The liberal has no other-worldly heaven to offer. "Religion finds itself a slow pedestrian irreverently jostled and knocked about and bewildered." His only recourse is to cease walking and climb upon the rock of faith. Science has discovered nothing new since Democritus to shake the foundations of religion. Materialism is no more scientific [Page 437]

HUMANIZED RELIGION

than theism-and no less. The religionist will therefore not look to the scientist to verify his faith. "God's universe is perfect and our destiny is part of His perfection-even our tears and all our broken hopes." Religion must therefore resist change; it is concerned with what is timeless in human experience. It cannot turn itself into a sociology.

The reader may be puzzled at this vigorous reaffirmation of the eternal God, when he remembers that the concept finds no place in the socialized and humanistic religion which fills four-fifths of the book. His bewilderment disappears when he finds that God himself has been humanized in Dr. Silver's hands. God means that "materialism" is rejected, that men can find hope in their social programs, that human life is not worthless, that man's world of values is related to the world of universal existence. In other words, God means that the nightmare of the Alien Universe that haunted late Nineteenth Century thought is perverse. Such a God can well fit into the humanist religion Dr. Silver preaches; for modern naturalistic and anti-theistic philosophy maintains all these theses, which are indeed the postulates of humanistic thought. But philosophic clarity is perforce excluded by the very function of liberal preaching.

There are, however, as Dr. Silver well points out, "men who take ideas very seriously and who react to them more sharply than to external forces. There are men whose peace of mind depends upon the finding of a satisfying philosophy of life."

But there are not enough of them to fill liberal churches.

Such men, however, can well admire the nobility and clarity of Dr. Silver's address on the One and the Many. This appeal for World Unity in Difference is moving and profound. "Clearly the task is not to superimpose an artificial uniformity upon all peoples, races, and creeds. Its aim should not be to force all people into one common mold, so that they will all emerge looking and acting and thinking alike. The task of civilization is not to constrict all groups into a Procrustean bed of uniformity, but to discover their common human needs, and to organize them into voluntary cooperative efforts to meet [Page 438]these needs. Civilization should cherish the inviolability of personality in individuals and groups and should not desecrate it by some enforced and unnatural amalgamation. One religion for the whole of mankind is neither necessary nor desirable. There is but one text but each religion has its own commentary. In place of one religion for all mankind, civilization should foster one reverence for all religions, for all religions have a providential mission to perform in the world. There is no true religion and there is no false religion. For religion is not a science but an art-the supreme art of mankind. To ask of the Jew to surrender his unique religious dogma for the sake of a universally acceptable compilation of theologic abstractions would be to rob him of that which is the most precious and magnificent quality of his faith. Religion is failing to play its proper rôle in society today not because there are too many religions in the world but because there is too little religion in any of them. There are people who would like to acquire goodwill through assimilation. They know that intolerance, in the last analysis, is due to the existence of differences—religious differences, racial differences, cultural differences. They would therefore do away with intolerance by obliterating these differences. But that is paying too high a price! The thing gained is worth less than the thing surrendered. It is when a believing Jew, who is profoundly moved by his faith, and a believing Christian, who is profoundly moved by his, discover a common basis for goodwill, that a significant event is consummated." On such a basis of mutual reverence and common endeavor theistic and atheistic humanist can work shoulder to shoulder. But should both be brought to face the Living God—a genuinely spiritual vision of life the task were not so easy! [Page 439]

LEAVES OF THE GREATER BIBLE

Compiled and Edited by WILLIAM NORMAN GUTHRIE Rector, St. Mark's in-the-Bouwerie, New York

EPITAPH BY PAULINA

(Translated by Charles Bigg)

The glory of my proud ancestral line Was that it made me worthy to be thine. For all my light thou art and all my fame, Agorius, noblest of the Roman name, Light of the senate, and thy fatherland, Not of me only, but of all who scanned Thy genius, worth and learning, which combined The crown of virtue round thy brow entwined. For all that Latin sage or Greek has taught, And all that heaven to earth has nearer brought, In dulcet verse or rugged prose expressed, Flowed from thy lips, which bettered still the best. But these are trifles. In thy pious mind The secrets of all mysteries lay enshrined. Thou knewest well what worship should be given To each of all the many gods of heaven; And madest me partner of thy faith to be, Sister of gods and men, and true to thee. Why should I count thy titles, passing toys Which men heaped on thee? These were not thy joys. These were but fleeting gauds of earth; to fame The priestly fillet was thy highest claim. [Page 440]O husband, teacher, thou whose loving care Discipled me in virtue, saved from the snare Of death, and led within the temple gate, The handmaid of the gods to consecrate, Thou wast my sponsor in the mysteries, Thou Cybele and Attis didst appease For me with blood of bulls; thou didst teach me The triple secret of dark Hecate, And make me meet to worship at the shrine Of Eleusinian Ceres. It is thine, Thy gift alone, that all men call me blest. Thou madest me paragon from East to West, Unknown of all yet known of all, for why Should men not praise me, when thy wife was I? Lo, Roman matrons shape their lives by me, And think their children beauteous, if like thee. Great men, good women own thy master hand, And propagate thy virtues through the land. Now comfortless, thy widow not thy wife, I mourn. O, if the gods had spared thy life And let me die!—yet bliss it is to me That thine I was, and thine again shall be.

VOTIVE PRAYER

So do I pray you, O most holy ancestral spirits, let my beloved be commended to your care, and may the hour of darkness be to him exceeding indulgent, that I may behold him; and may I have power to influence destiny, that painlessly and right soon I can attain to dwell again with him! [Page 441]

CATHOLIC-PROTESTANT-JEW

by HARRY LEVI Temple Israel, Boston

THIS is the day which the Lord hath made, let us rejoice and be glad on it." We have reason to rejoice and be glad. Yet the hour is one rather for humiliation than jubilation and exultation. How long it has taken us to achieve a meeting of this character! There are even those, and I should not wonder if they still represent the majority, who feel that this meeting should not have been arranged at all, that we are not ready for that at which it aims, that we should be content to let well enough alone, happy and grateful that we are privileged to go our own way and work out our own destiny without interference.

Only recently I was visited by a Christian clergyman who asked me to address his people. "I suppose it seems strange to you," said he, "to be called upon by a Methodist minister."

What makes this attitude so tragic is the fact that we who represent different faiths, with all our differences, have so much in common. I would not belittle our differences. We are entitled to them. They give us our individuality. Variety is not only the spice, it is the essence of life. When we are true to ourselves we cannot be false to others., Nay, when we are loyal to our own, we can best give to the communal life of which we are part. Yet for every difference we have a score of resemblances. It is possible to hold a small coin so close to the eye as to shut out the whole horizon. And in like manner we can hold the coin of our few differences so close that we blind ourselves to the many ways in which we are one with our neighbors.

From the cradle to the grave we are alike. We come into the same world in the same way. We are subject to the same laws of [Page 442]nature. We have the same emotions, the same desires, ambitions, aspirations. We have identical needs and interests. We want the same things. We have the same weaknesses and strength, the same virtues and vices. We grow ill from the same causes, die at about the same age and are buried in the same earth. We have practically the same historic background, the same Bible, the same great prophetic figures who have so affected us, the same America, the same problems which must be solved together if they are to be solved at all. What warrant is there for prejudice?

Moreover we pay a heavy toll for all our hates. We pay first intellectually, since much that we learn must come from others, mostly from those who differ from us. "Who is wise," asked an old moralist and promptly replied, "he who learns from others." But we can learn from others only when we meet them and listen to them. Prejudice rears sound-proof walls, which nothing of the wisdom of life can penetrate.

We pay religiously for our prejudices. For if religion means anything it must mean brotherliness, consideration, fair dealing, justice, amity, cooperation for common good, ends which prejudice and dislike make impossible. We preach love and practice hate. We profess religion and live irreligion. Prejudice makes church confession mere hypocrisy.

We pay politically. The hope of America lies not in uniformity but in unity. It is not necessary for us to be alike. But whatever our differences, if we would serve America, if America is to endure and prosper, we must here learn to work together for our common good. And we cannot work together if we do not live together, if we do not meet and mingle, if we cannot discuss, face to face as friends, our common humanity and our common destiny. Prejudice belies religion, but it belies democracy and Americanism as well.

And finally we pay a heavy economic price for our prejudice. Always we pity the hated. Pity as well the hater. Professor Overstreet suggests that fear and worry make for old age. He might have placed hate in the same category. Hate reduces physical efficiency, and industrial capacity. Prejudice exacts more of him [Page 443]

Catholic Protestant-Jew

who initiates it than of his victim. But of course it affects the victim too, reducing his morale, his power to achieve and produce. The more he is disliked, the less he can give to the social life of which he is part. And the less he can give, the less they who dislike him can receive from him. Indeed, though they do not realize it, the less he can achieve and give, the more he has to receive from the community at large.

Hence my regret that this meeting was so slow in coming. Yet it is here. It is the dawn of a new day. And the personnel associated with it, the organized sentiment responsible for it, make not only for gratification but for hope. Other meetings of a somewhat similar character have been held before. I have shared in a number of them myself. But most of these gatherings were initiated by groups representing a particular point of view or a special program. And since those invited were merely guests and the amenities had to be observed, differences of course were taboo, and free discussion of fundamentals was out of the question. Sometimes conferences were called by individuals who had the vision and saw the need, but who were counted radicals by the church organizations of which they were part, and by which they were to all intents and purposes ostracised, and hence could claim no following. I well remember a meeting held some years ago in Temple Israel, in which thirty-eight religious groups were represented. A very distinguished churchman dismissed the interesting venture with the comment, "They are the lunatic fringe." And now we can gather, representing the substantial, conservative, respectable, conventional men and women of the community, with presumably little sympathy for radicalism and heresy, we can meet to discuss our vital differences and seek a way out of our difficulties.

Moreover, I take it we are an educated group, most of us probably college graduates. True, there is no necessary connection between education and liberalism. There are men who have had a so-called liberal education who are intolerant and bigoted. Yet it is a promising sign of the times, when educated men and women can gather to confess the shame they feel at their prejudices, just [Page 444]as churchmen are coming to discover a sense of humiliation at the contrast between their professions and their practices.

Hence I repeat this is an hour not so much for pride as humility, an hour for making not charges but admissions, an hour rather for confession than contest.

If this gathering is to take the form of a confessional there are three questions all of us must ask ourselves. First, what is our personal attitude toward the prejudices we are here to discuss? Are we free from these prejudices? Do we do nothing to create and foment them? What relation do we bear those who are the victims of these prejudices? How do we deal with those who differ from us racially, politically, religiously? What are we doing to cure these prejudices, to rid the world of them?

And the second question, this. How are my people related to these prejudices? Most of us have come here to champion the cause of our people against the injustices from which they suffer. What injustices do they practice on others? Are they free from prejudices? Are they tolerant and just? Do they not hate as they are hated? Are they more liberal than those against whom they inveigh?

And the third question, this. To what degree do my people deserve the prejudices aimed against them? Is there anything about the way they live, the things they do, their manners, their customs, their habits, that breeds prejudice, and makes it almost inevitable? Or are they innocent victims?

It will not be easy to solve the problem. Some of our prejudices are imported, some come from our childhood, some spring from our homes, our churches, our Sunday schools, our secular schools. Some of them have emotional roots difficult for us to reach in our later years.

But many of our prejudices are the product of ignorance. How little we know of each other, of those of foreign lands, of other cities, of other groups, of other faiths. Long ago peoples were separated by physical barriers. Later, artificial barriers were erected to keep them apart. The ghetto for example was devised to make it impossible for Jew and Christian to fraternize. Out of [Page 445]their ignorance of each other grew the wildest rumors, legends, hates. Shakespeare wrote his "Merchant of Venice" when there was no Jew in England, and Marlowe his "Jew of Malta" when there was no Jew in either England or Malta. Hence Shylock and Barrabas. Distance lends no enchantment to the view. It makes only for misunderstanding, suspicion, dislike. But today Catholic, Protestant and Jew are neighbors. We could know better if we would. Most of our prejudices are the product of intellectual inertia. In plain parlance we are mentally lazy.

"Give people new hearts," said John Jay Chapman "and they will get the facts." Possibly if we could give people the truth, let them see facts as they are, they would find a new heart. Not always. Strange how we can dislike even when we know there is no warrant for our dislike! So men of intelligence can entertain prejudices long after they have been shown that their prejudices are contradicted by facts.

Let us practise the truths we here discover, but let us preach them as well. Preaching on the need of a new spirituality in life, Edward Howard Griggs is asked by one of his audience, "What can a man of years do to serve the cause?" "Live so as to affect all about you," was the reply. Henry M. Stanley called himself the greatest atheist in London, and yet admitted that Livingstone converted him without knowing he had done so. Let us live the truth, but also let us preach it, to our children, our families, our friends. Let us preach it in our homes, in our schools, our churches. Compel our schools to socialize their programs, that our children learn the truth not only of things but of people. Demand that our Sunday School teachers and our ministers teach the truth of those of every land, of every faith. Preach the truth to the social organizations to which we belong. I cannot comprehend how intelligent men and women, self-respecting men and women, can retain membership in organizations founded on prejudices and developed by them. Manhood and womanhood should compel either protest or resignation. There is a time to speak. Silence suggests not only assent but cowardice.

Let us believe in this seminar. Mere attendance upon it, or [Page 446]financial contribution to it proves nothing as to our recognition of its necessity. Nor will a discovery of new facts and new truths be of real significance, unless this discovery rouses us to action. Not until we really believe can we really serve. Nor do we really believe, il we become persuaded that the interest with which we are concerning ourselves, is absolutely necessary to our well-being, and that we are divinely appointed to serve it to the full measure of our ability. "Though He slay me yet will I trust in Him." That is belief. "So help me God I can do no other," as Luther said. That is belief. Jacob De Haas tells of an old man who lived through the horror of the recent massacre in Palestine. His children, fearful for his life, begged him to come to America. "There are not enough Arabs in Palestine to drive me out," was his reply. That is courage born of belief, of faith. I know the danger of exaggerated emotionalism. George Eliot pleads properly for a loyalty to both reason and tradition. We need intellect to regulate and control our emotions. But we need emotion too, to I warm our intellects. "Out of the heart are the issues of life." Today we want not only facts, but faith, faith in these facts, faith in the cause we have come here to serve, faith in each other, in all who differ from us, in ourselves and in our God. With this faith we shall emerge from the wilderness and reach the Promised Land. [Page 447]

ROUND TABLE

Rufus M. Jones, whose article on "Education for World Brotherhood" in the current issue gives definite and powerful expression to the profoundest ideal moving colleges and schools today, first contributed to WORLD UNITY in October, 1928, when he participated in a symposium on "The Need of a Spiritual Element in Education." Dr. Jones is author of numerous important works, including: "Practical Christianity," published in 1899; "Social Law in the Spiritual World," 1904; "Studies in Mystical Religion," 1909; and "The New Quest," 1928. Through him the Society of Friends is influencing American religious philosophy as it influenced American religious practice through its unique relief work during the European War.

"Education for World Brotherhood" has permanent value beyond the brief life afforded it in a monthly magazine. It is therefore being reprinted for sale at a nominal price.

Nicholas Roerich, who writes on art not as a critic but as a creative artist, and not alone as creative artist but also as founder of an important center of international culture (illustrated in WORLD UNITY for December, 1930), contributed "Shambhala" to this magazine in January, 1930. He is one of the leaders in the movement promoting cultural unity between East and West.

Harry Levi, rabbi of Temple Israel, Boston, and author of "Jewish Characters in Fiction" and "The Great Adventure," is one of that group of which includes men like Abba Hillel Silver, Rudolph I. Coffee, Louis L. Mann, Isidor Singer and Morris S. Lazaron whom Providence is apparently using in order to identify the religious conscience of America with the world outlook. The inextinguishable Jewish ideal of righteousness may possibly turn the scale in the silent but bitter struggle now going on between sectarian and unifying religious forces. The United States, more than Palestine, should be the rallying point for the heirs of Isaiah and Amos. [Page 448]

INDEX

WORLD UNITY MAGAZINE Volume 7, October 1930-March, 1931

AMERICA AND THE AMERICANS, by Anne Marie Freund, 62 ARMAMENTS, THE PROBLEM OF, by Dexter Perkins, 411 ART AND WORLD CULTURE, by Nicholas Roerich, 416

Titles

ASIA, RELIGION IN, by Herbert A. Miller, 180 BIBLE, LEAVES OF THE GREATER, ed. by William Norman Guthrie, 44, 124, 208, 290, 359, 439 BOOKS RECEIVED, 369 BOOK REVIEWS, 128, 133, 193, 292, 363, 428 CATHOLIC-PROTESTANT-JEW, by Harry Levi, 441 CHINA, DYNAMIC, by Herbert A. Miller, 321 CIVILIZATION ON TRIAL, editorial, 381 COLLEGE EDUCATION, THE CONFERENCE PLAN or, by Hamilton Holt, 351 CONFUCIUS AND THE WAR LORDS, by Herbert A. Miller, 178 COURT OF INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE, THE PERMANENT, by Charles Evans Hughes, 231, 333 EAST, NATIONALISM IN THE, by Hans Kohn, 31 ECONOMICS AND WORLD CULTURE, by R. G. Tugwell, 95, 202 ECONOMIC IMPERIALISM AND WORLD ORDER, by Parker Thomas Moon, 312 EUROPE IN THE COMING WORLD ORDER, by F. S. Marvin, 167 EUROPE, THE CONSCIENCE OF, by Robert Merrill Bartlett, 307, 396 EUROPE, THE UNITED STATES OF, by John Herman Randall, Jr., 293 FARMERS, TOO MANY, by C. F. Ansley, 128 FUTURE, THE SCIENTIST FORECASTS THE, editorial, 305 GERMAN PUBLIC OPINION, CHANGES IN, by Hellmut von Gerlach, 49 GINN, EDWIN, by Denys P. Myers, 24 GINN, EDWIN, illustration, 4 GOD, THE APPROACH TO, by Albert J. Saunders, 213 GOD, THE IDEA Or, by Albert J. Saunders, 116 HINDUISM, CHANGING CONCEPTIONS IN, by Albert J. Saunders, 116, 213 HUMAN BROTHERHOOD, EDUCATION FOR. by Rufus M. Jones, 383 ILLUSTRATIONS, 4, 80, 152, 228, 304, 380 INDIVIDUALITY THROUGH SOCIAL UNITY, by John Herman Randall, Jr., 193 INDO-CHINA AND ANGKOR, by Herbert A. Miller, 401 INTERNATIONAL CULTURE, A CENTER OF, illustration, 152 INTERNATIONAL NOTE IN NOVELS, THE, by A. Evelyn Newman, 155, 253 MIND, THE INTERNATIONAL, 31 NATIONAL SANITY, THE ACID TEST OF, editorial, 153 NEW EDUCATION FELLOWSHIP, 408 PALESTINE, by Herbert A. Miller, 106 PAN-AMERICAN BUILDING, illustration, 128 PAN-AMERICA IN THE COMING WORLD ORDER, by Graham H. Stuart, 165 PEACE BY PROMISES, by Dexter Perkins, 185 POSTPONEMENT: THE ORDER OF THE DAY, editorial, 81 RELIGION AND WORLD CULTURE, by Alfred W. Martin, 344 RELIGION, HUMANIZED, by John Herman Randall, Jr., 428 ROUND TABLE, 74, 140, 221, 300, 372, 447 SCIENCE AND THE HUMAN IMAGINATION, by John Herman Randall, Jr., 133, SCIENCE AND WORLD CULTURE, by Cassius J. Keyser, 7 SOVIET "STATESMANS YEARBOOK," A, by Brent Dow Allinson, 363 [Page 449]TAGORE, RABINDRANATH, by J. Vijaya Tunga, TAGORE, RABINDRANATH, illustration, 80 TREATIES OF LOCARNO, THE, by Dexter Perkins, UNITED STATES, THE WORLD CHALLENGE TO THE, editorial, 229 WAR, HUMAN NATURE: PERENNIAL EXCUSE FOR, by Devere Allen, 83

INDEX

WELLS, H. G., illustration, 304 WORLD, THIS DISTRACTED, editorial, 5 WORLD CITIZENSHIP, EDUCATION FOR, by Horace Holley, 57 WORLD CULTURE, ELEMENTS OF A, by Cassius J. Keyser, 7, R. G. Tugwell, 95, 202, H. A. Overstreet, 141, Alfred W. Martin, 344, and Nicholas Roerich, 416 WORLD LOG OF A SOCIOLOGIST, by Herbert A. Miller, 106, 180, 278, 321, 401 WORLD ORDER, THE COMING, by Archie M. Palmer, 166 WORLD ORDER, THE COMING, a symposium, 166, 167, 265, 312, 383 WORLD PEACE, THE QUEST OF, by Dexter Perkins, 188, 285, 411 WORLD UNITY, APOSTLES OF, 24, 111 ZWEIG, STEPHAN, illustration, 380

Author

ALLEN, DEVERE, Human Nature: Perennial Excuse for War, 83 ANSLEY, C. F., Too Many Farmers, 128 BARTLETT, ROBERT MERRILL, The Conscience of Europe, 307, 396 FREUND, ANNE MARIE, America and the Americans, 62 GUTHRIE, WILLIAM NORMAN, Leaves of the Greater Bible, 44, 124, 208, 290, 359.439 HOLLEY, HORACE, Education for World Citizenship, 57 HOLT, HAMILTON, The Conference Plan of College Education, 351 HUGHES, CHARLES EVANS, The Permanent Court of International Justice, 231, 333 JONES, RUFUS M., Education for Human Brotherhood, 383 KEYSER, CASSIUS J., Science and World Culture, 7 KOHN, HANS, Nationalism in the East, 31 LEVI, HARRY, Catholic-Protestant-Jew, 441 MARTIN, ALFRED W., Religion and World Culture, 344 MARVIN, F. S., Europe in the Coming World Order, 167 MYERS, DENYS P., Edwin Ginn, 24 MILLER, HERBERT A., ’Round the World Log of a Sociologist, 106, 18, 278, 321, 401 MOON, THOMAS PARKER Economic Imperialism and World Order, 312 NEWMAN, A. EVELYN, The International Note in the Novels of the Pre-War Years, 155, 251 PALMER, ARCHIE M., The Coming World Order, 166 PERKINS, DEXTER, The Quest of World Peace, 188, 185, 411 RANDALL, JOHN HERMAN, This Distracted World, 5: Postponement: The Order of the Day, 81; The Acid Test of National Sanity, 153; The World Challenge to the United States, 229; The Scientist Forecasts the Future, 305; Civilization on Trial, 381 RANDALL, JR., JOHN HERMAN, Science and the Human Imagination, 133: Individuality Through Social Unity, 193; The United States of Europe, 293; Humanized Religion, 428 ROBRICH, NICHOLAS, Art and World Culture, 416 SAUNDERS, ALBERT J., Changing Conceptions in Hinduism, 116, 213 STUART, GRAHAM H., Pan-America in the Coming World Order, 265 TUOWELL, R. G., Economics and World Culture, 95, 202 TUNGA, J. VIJAYA, Rabindranath Tagore, 111 VON GERLACH, HELLMUT, Changes in German Public Opinion, 49 [Page 450]

A World Community

By JOHN HERMAN RANDALL

THIS work is a sine qua non for every person attempting at all seriously to understand the problems and also opportunities of the new era.

It has great usefulness as a text for college classes, as reading for courses in modern history, sociology, religion or international relations.

Editorial writers, teachers, lecturers and ministers, as well as men and women identified with offices of public trust or responsible movements of a progressive character, will find "A World Community" absolutely invaluable. The scope of the book is clearly indicated in the following Summary of Contents:-

The New Means of Communication The New Economic Organization The New Knowledge The Emerging Ideal of World Unity Nationalism Economic Imperialism War and Competitive Armaments Ignorance and Old Habits of Thinking The Movement toward Internationalism The Movement toward World Economic Cooperation A Religion for a World Community

Since its publication in February, 1930, "A World Community" has received powerful endorsement.

"Dr. Randall writes with the knowledge of the scientist and the vision of the prophet."-Frank H. Hankins, Smith College. "It discusses one of the great problems of our time, and does so in a most illuminating fashion."-Manley O. Hudson, Harvard University. "A real contribution to international understanding and amity."-Harry Levi, Temple Israel, Boston. "His work has the possibility of greater educational influence than anything of the kind that has been written."-A. C. Senske, St. Paul News.

"A World Community" is published in the World Unity Library sponsored by this magazine. A copy will be sent postpaid for $2.00. The book and annual subscription to WORLD UNITY MAGAZINE, $5.00.

WORLD UNITY MAGAZINE 4 EAST 12TH STREET NEW YORK [Page 451]

THIRD ANNUAL INSTITUTE OF PROGRESSIVE EDUCATION

Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York July 6-August 14

THE Progressive Education Association will conduct its Third Annual Institute of Progressive Education under the auspices of Syracuse University, offering a wide range of courses and outstanding instructors.

Demonstration School

Plans have been made for a Demonstration School utilizing progressive education methods, with the cooperation of the Syracuse public schools. Classes at all levels will be arranged. The Primary School will be directed by Dr. Ruth Andrus, Expert in Childhood Education of the New York State Department of Education. The Secondary School will be directed by Burton P. Fowler, Head Master of the Tower Hill School, Wilmington, Delaware, and President of the Progressive Education Association.

The Courses

The Case Method of Studying Child Development—Dr. Andrus The Methods and Materials of Primary Education—Dr. Andrus The Methods and Materials of the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Grades—Dr. Adelaide M. Ayer, Director of Training, State Teachers College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin The Principles and Practices of Modern Education—Dr. Ayer The Methods and Materials of Secondary Education—Mr. Fowler The Personality Adjustment of School Children—Mrs. Georgia Clarke Matthaei, Psychologist of the Bronxville, N. Y., Public Schools Diagnostic Work in Reading, Spelling, and Arithmetic—Mrs. Matthaei Industrial Arts as a Curricular Tool, a Laboratory Course—to be selected.

General Information

All of the above courses carry college credits.

All students of the Institute will reside in one dormitory.

There will be a Weekly Forum of distinguished lecturers.

Numerous other lectures, concerts, and plays will be given.

Syracuse University offers an exceptional climate, out-of-door sports and trips to places of interest.

The fees for the courses, and for room and board, are inexpensive.

For registration blank, application for room and board, copies of the Institute bulletin, and all information, write direct to Dr. Harry S. Ganders, Dean of the Teachers College, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York. [Page 452]

SEVEN GREAT BIBLES

By ALFRED W. MARTIN

THE publication of this important work places in the hands of the general reader the vital facts about the great historical religions hitherto limited to a few scholars and theologians, or hastily "popularized" in forms lacking scientific method as well as the spirit of reverence and insight.

Here, at last, are the essential truths about Hinduism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Confucianism, Taoism, Muhammadanism, Judaism and Christianity that demonstrate the underlying unity and harmony in the texts from which these religions derive—a very history of the soul of man illumined from age to age by inspired teachers pointing the path to brotherhood and peace.

There can be no soundness of culture nor depth of personality in this new age without a firm grasp of religion from the world-view—no useful scheme of social progress which fails to consider the elements of spiritual vision and enduring faith common to the entire race.

Mr. Martin’s book is therefore at once a challenge and an opportunity, dealing with a subject of supreme concern at a time when formalized religion threatens to collapse, the old conventions and inhibitions fail, lawlessness threatens and responsible leaders seek a new means of social regeneration.

You need no special preparation to read and enjoy "Seven Great Bibles," because it presents each religion as nearly as possible in the actual words and lives of the Founder himself. Proceeding from chapter to chapter you seem to stand among those who discoursed with the wise Confucius, questioned the illumined Buddha, drew inspiration from Muhammad, resisted the principle of evil with Zoroaster, suffered in the wilderness with Moses and received the Sermon on the Mount from the lips of Jesus.

"Seven Great Bibles" is published in the World Unity Library sponsored by this magazine. A copy will be sent postpaid for $2.00. The book and annual subscription to WORLD UNITY MAGAZINE, $5.00.

WORLD UNITY MAGAZINE 4 EAST 12TH STREET NEW YORK