Transcript
Page 1: The Fight for Peaceby Devere Allen;The History of Peaceby A. C. F. Beales

World Affairs Institute

The Fight for Peace by Devere Allen; The History of Peace by A. C. F. BealesAdvocate of Peace through Justice, Vol. 93, No. 2 (May, 1931), p. 126Published by: World Affairs InstituteStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20681571 .

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Page 2: The Fight for Peaceby Devere Allen;The History of Peaceby A. C. F. Beales

126 Advocate of Peace, May, 1931

Book Reviews The Fight for Peace, by Devere Allen. Pp. 716

and index. Macmillan, New York, 1931. Price, $5.

The History of Peace, by A. C. F. Beales. Pp. 344 and index. C. Bell & Sons, Ltd., London. 1931. Price, 16s, net.

Again the conflict between the two attitudes to ward methods of securing world peace is illustra

ted; the first book above shows it in the radical absolutism of the author; the second in the facts of the story, itself, impartially told from an Eng lish point of view. Both Mr. Allen and Mr. Beales have patiently studied the history of the

peace movement. The former, particularly well

steeped in the literature of the American peace movement, is fired by crusading ardor for the non

resistant theory. Nevertheless his chapter on

"Trial and Error," detailing faithfully the story of the peace workers, even including the Quaker

Whittier, who, in the Civil War, were led to sup port war rather than slavery, is actually an ob

ject lesson showing the age-long dilemma of

peace lovers when injustice has already precipi tated war, a dilemma which might so easily happen again unless war can be prevented. But in Mr. Allen's thinking there is an absolutism in the ideal of peace before which all other loyalties should bow. He does, therefore, scant justice to the America Peace Society and its official actions dur

ing war times. As in the days of Ladd, Beckwith and Burritt,

however, the place where all peace workers can meet and labor together is in the construction of better international organs through which dis

putes can be solved in the elimination of causes

of international friction and in fostering a spirit of interpretive and tolerant understanding, not

only between nations, but also between peace workers.

Mr. Allen's final chapter sounds a moving call to all such cooperative labors. "Can the peace forces," he asks, "wrest from war the least excuse

for being by grappling with the world as it is and shaping it to serve a more exacting race?"

Mr. Beales' rather ambitious title is modified in the subtitle to "a short account of the organ ized movement for international peace." Its

atmosphere is academic and correspondingly de

pendable. He divides the theme, after an in

troductory survey of early peace plans, into the

peace movement in its beginnings from 1815 to

1867; its expansion up to 1889; its status at the close of the World War and the international

community since the war. He finds a change be tween conditions in the world of 1815 and 1915,

making war less of an apparent necessity of late and tries to find how far "peace mongers" have been responsible for the change.

All the way through he differentiates between the philosophy of peace, with its "fanatical con

sistency" more widely accepted in the British, Quaker-led peace movement, and the practical schemes which were better developed, he finds, in

America.

It will be interesting to members of this So

ciety, founded by William Ladd, to notice Mr. Beales' final paragraph in which he speaks of en

lightened self-interest as the one quality which men of all nations have now in common and sees aheacl a world of "automatic checks and bal ances." "And this," he concludes, "is no more

nor less than Ladd's Congress of Nations."

Colossal Blunders of the War, by William Seaver Woods. Pp. 269 and index. Macmil

lan, New York, 1930. Price, $2.50.

It is at least encouraging to see that in this intensive study of blunders America spreads over

only 40 pages, as against 70 for England and France together, 74 for Germany and 80 for those

blunders which drove Russia Bolshevik. The main error so far as the United States is concerned seems to have been lack of preparation for war, on the theory, of course, that it is better to be

ready and not have to go, than to go and not be

ready. The facts which Mr. Woods utilizes so bril

liantly are well documented. His lens becomes a

burning glass. The indictments are no less than

scorching. His hope is that similar blunders may be avoided in another war if they are pitilessly acknowledged now. In fact, he says that already certain mistakes of those years are corrected in our Army training.

Admitting that all Mr. Woods' indictments are

true, logic would seem to lead still further and

supplement the four parts here dealing with seg ments of the question to arrive at the most

collossal of all blunders, that of the war itself.

To the ordinary practical mind preventive meas

ures might be pursued more profitably here than

anywhere else. It is evident that the author, too, feels some such truth, for, in the case of Germany's failure to make pre-war peace plans possible, he

says, "Even if we should grant the German claim

the 'the war was forced upon us,' it still re

mains probable that with Germany's active aid, peace could have been forced upon Europe, and

it is now clear as daylight that that was the only wise plan. The other was fatal."

Prevention of war is itself a task to engage all

the wisdom and foresight of all the race. For

when we have eliminated all those losses of life

and property due to faulty generalship or insuffi

cient training and supplies there still remain those

terrific losses incident to any modern war, however

expertly waged, losses which are, seemingly, just as unnecessary as any that are due to faulty

technique.

Political Handbook of the World.?Parlia

ments, Parties and Press, as of January,

1931, edited by Walter H. Mallory. Pp. 200.

Yale University Press, New Haven, 1931. Price,

$2.50.

The Council on Foreign Relations, with offices at

45 East 65th Street, New York City, has been

issuing these reference books annually since 1928.

They are invaluable tools when used for the cur

rent year, or reliable history for the past season.

The countries of the world are alphabetically

arranged; their political officials listed, party pro

grams and leaders described.

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