World Affairs Institute

Sweden and the Peace MovementAuthor(s): ARVID GRUNDELSource: The Advocate of Peace (1894-1920), Vol. 72, No. 8 (SEPTEMBER, 1910), pp. 196-197Published by: World Affairs InstituteStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20666013 .

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196 THE ADVOCATE OF PEACE. September,

it is the duty of pacifists to keep before them this ideal as the ultimate goal of their efforts and the definitive means by which universal peace can be assured. Mean

while, they should seek to promote and develop all partial approximations to this ideal, such as:

1. International Unions (postal, railway, industrial

property and the like). 2. International Courts of Arbitration and Arbitral

Justice.

3. Federations of neighboring states, including Cus toms Unions.

4. The regularization and consolidation of the Hague Peace Conferences.

Sweden and the Peace Movement. by arvid grundel.

[The following account of the peace movement in Sweden, published and circulated at the time of the Congress, will be found most interesting in view of the recent meeting of the International Peace Congress at Stockholm. ?

Ed.] It was in 1869 that modern peace ideas were first dis

seminated in Sweden, and it was in the Parliament that

they were set forth. It is interesting to notice that the

promoter of these ideas was a peasant. This man, Jonas Jonasson of Gullaboas, made that year a proposition to the Chamber of Deputies with a view to disarmament, in which Sweden was to take the initiative. The prop osition was, of course, rejected by the Chamber. This same man, in 1874, made to the Parliament the proposi tion that a memorial be addressed to the government to solicit its aid in favor of arbitration. This proposition was adopted by the House, but rejected by the Senate.

Consequently no memorial was prepared. In 1883 K. P. Arnoldson and Claes Adelsk?ld, Repre

sentatives, made a proposition asking for the declaration of the permanent neutrality of Sweden. This proposi tion was rejected by both the House and the Senate. The question of neutrality was taken up again in Parlia ment, in 1894, by P. P. Waldenstr?m and, in 1899, by S. A. Hedin, the most eminent member of the Swedish Parliament in recent times. He renewed his proposition in 1902, and was supported by a large number of Repre sentatives and Senators, who, however, did not succeed in obtaining the approval of the Parliament.

On the initiative of Edward Wawrinsky, a Representa tive, a Swedish Parliamentary Peace Committee was founded in 1892. This soon transformed itself into a more permanent organization, called the Interparliament ary Peace Group of the Parliament, which now numbers one hundred and eighty-seven Representatives and Sena tors out of three hundred and eighty, or forty-one Senators and one hundred and forty-six Representatives. This

group, as well as the two other Scandinavian groups, are represented in the Scandinavian Interparliamentary Union, founded in 1907, and whose second conference took place this year at Stockholm July 30. The present president of the Union, as well as of the Swedish group, is Baron Carl Carlson Bonde, a Representative.

Since 1901, through the efforts of Edward Wawrinsky, the International Peace Bureau at Berne has received from the Parliament a yearly contribution of one thou sand francs. The Interparliamentary Union has been

receiving from the Parliament since 1909 a contribution of the same amount.

The organization of the peace movement is likewise due to the initiative of the Parliament. It dates from 1883, when K. P. Arnoldson, the above named Repre sentative, and others, founded the Swedish Peace and

Arbitration Society. This Society was founded exclu

sively by Representatives and Senators, who were at first the only members of it. But other persons soon enrolled themselves as members and later took the direction of the Society. At the beginning the Society had an ex

traordinary succ?ss, which, however, soon weakened.

During a long period it led a feeble existence in spite of the energetic efforts of a small number of friends of peace. During the last ten years the Society has been considerably enlarged, and at the present moment it is more powerful than ever. It is composed of thirteen local committees, that of Stockholm (three hundred and thirty members), Gothenburg, Uppsala, Orebro and other great centres, and has in all about a thousand members. There are also seventy-two local groups counting more than a thou sand members; and there are about thirteen hundred members in different places who are connected directly with the mother Society. This makes a total of thirty three hundred members. In 1905 an independent organ ization was formed called the Swedish Peace Federation, of which Dr. N. A* Niisson is president. But this year this federation has affiliated itself with the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society. The leaders of the Society have been Carl Sundblad, a teacher, and, for the last two years, Knut Sandstedt, superintendent of the census, and also, at certain periods, Edward Wawrinsky. The

Society holds an annual general meeting and publishes a

monthly organ, "The Peace Banner" (Fredsfanari), of which the editor is Emii Larsson, the secretary of the

Society. In 1898 the Swedish Women's Peace Society was

founded, of which the president is Mrs. Emilia Broome. In spite of the fewness of its members, this Society has carried on a very useful propaganda. It publishes a series of pamphlets and an annual report.

Besides these organizations, which have members every where in Sweden, independent societies have been formed in certain cities as Malm?, Norrk?ping, Lund and Sunds vall. Peace has also a large part in the program of the

Society " Internationalis Concordia" at Stockholm, the

president of which is Mrs. Fanny Petterson. These various organizations created, in 1907, an associa

tion entitled " The Collaboration Committee of the Peace Societies," whose president is Mrs. Emilia Broome. This committee, in 1908, extended to the peace workers the invitation to hold the eighteenth International Congress at Stockholm.

The Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society, in 1893, took the initiative in a memorial to the king and parlia

ment urging a pronounced pacific policy. This petition was signed by not less than two hundred and fifty thou sand persons, a fact which proves the great peace enthu siasm of the Swedish people. The petition was presented in 1896. When, in 1899, the Swedish Women's Peace

Society set to work to collect signatures to a petition addressed to the first Hague Conference, just about the same number of signatures (two hundred and twenty eight thousand) were secured in two months.

Sweden made a very great contribution to peace work when, in 1896, Alfred Noble, an engineer and inventor,

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1910. THE ADVOCATE OF PEACE. 197

made the important bequest known throughout the world and called the Noble Foundation. Among the five im

portant prizes which the Foundation distributes each year, one is awarded to him, or to those, who have contributed in the largest measure to the fraternization of peoples and to the abolition or the restriction of armaments, or to the organization of peace congresses. This prize, which is awarded by a committee selected by the Nor

wegian Parliament, was, in 1908, given to a very deserv

ing Swede, K. P. Arnoldson, a deputy and a man of

letters, who divided the prize with his friend and Danish

companion, Fredrik Bajer. It was in 1901 that this

prize was awarded for the first time, and it has been

given, in addition to the two persons named, to Henri Dunant and Frederic Passy, in 1901; to E. Ducommun and A. Gobat, in 1902; W. R. Cremer, in 1903; the Institute of International Law, in 1904; to Bertha von

Suttner, in 1905; to Theodore Roosevelt, in 1906; to E. T. Moneta and L. Renault, in 1907; to A. Beernaert and Baron d'Estournelles de Constant, in 1909.

During the last years of the union of Sweden and

Norway, the Swedish peace workers often had occasion to intervene in order to preserve peace, because of the differences which arose in respect to the union. Meet

ings were organized throughout Sweden on several oc

casions, especially in the years 1895 and 1905. The friends of peace of the countries of the North met in " Scandinavian Meetings," the first of which took place at Gothenburg in 1885, and was followed by others in 1895 and the meeting this year on the 30th and 31st of

July Finally, the year 1905 was one of great trial. The

union was severed on the 7th of June. The Swedish

people underwent the trial with honor. The friends of peace carried on during that year a vigorous propaganda for the preservation of peace. King Oscar II found himself at that time confronted by difficulties almost in surmountable, but his grand, pacific character brought him the victory. The title of " A Prince of Peace " is

always attached to his name, and the laurels of the peace movement are his. The remembrance of that year will

always remain fresh in the heart of the Swedish people, and especially of the friends of peace.

Four years from now the two neighboring peoples, firmly united, will have reason, unique in the annals of

history, to meditate upon and celebrate the benefits of peace, for, in 1914, the two peoples will have enjoyed a hundred years of peace

? of mutual peace and of peace with the other powers. This example ought to open the eyes of all the nations to the possibility of universal I-* _

Peace Work in Japan and Korea. Letter from Rev. Gilbert Bowles, Head of the

Friends Mission in Tokyo. *

Friends Mission, Tokyo, Japan, June 29, 1910. Dr. B. F. Trueblood :

Dear Friend: I have been trying to get the facts relative to the question raised by Mr. Uchimura's card, which I now return. Upon careful investigation I find the following facts:

The head teacher of one of the primary schools of

Tokyo, Toyokichi Mitsuno by name, being very much

interested in the question of the relation of Japan to America, proposed to the children of the sixth grade of his school that they send to the school children of America a statement of their friendship and their hopes for continual peace. The pupils of this grade approved, a photograph of the class was taken and the statement

agreed upon was translated and sent to America by Dr. K. Wadagaki, professor in the Tokyo Imperial Univer

sity. The resolution, as printed in The Advocate of

Peace, was correct for the upper grade of this school in

Ushigome Ward. The work of the Peace Society is moving on steadily

but quietly. The American and British ambassadors have become members of the Society and are much interested in its work.

News has just come of the organization of the Korean Peace Society. The movement has had the hearty sup port of the Japan Peace Society and of the leading Jap anese in Korea. Among the latter is Judge Watanabe, chief judge of the highest court of Korea. When the

Japan Peace Society was organized Judge Watanabe was chief of the Tokyo local court. He was one of the strongest supporters of the Peace Society from the

beginning, serving on the board of directors until his transfer to Korea.

The organizer of the Korean Peace Society is Mr. Chin, an influential Chinese scholar who spent some time in Tokyo this spring. While here, he studied carefully the work of the Japan Peace Society and met with the board of directors at Count Okuma's.

Baron Shibusawa and Mr. Nakano are both members of the Japan Peace Society, and are both seeking to put the society in a position to do more aggressive work. Count Okuma is really giving time and thought to the work. Very sincerely yours,

Gilbert Bowles.

Field Secretary's Report for July and August, 1910.

BY CHARLES E. BEALS, FIELD SECRETARY OF THE

AMERICAN PEACE SOCIETY.

Chicago made an earnest effort for a " Sane Fourth n

this year. Unfortunately the " Sane Fourth " movement was linked up with a great military tournament. Most of the $60,000 generously contributed for a "Sane Fourth " was expended on a spectacular military pageant. The Field Secretary, in an address given at the Abraham Lincoln Centre, commented on this aspect of the " Sane Fourth " movement. The address was reported by the newspapers and some editorial discussion evoked. Suffice it to say that the military encampment resulted in two hundred and fifty recruits for the army and the enlist ment of two hundred Boy Scouts. Let us hope that next year a more rational Fourth may be planned.

As a result of Rev. Walter Walsh's recent visit to

Chicago, the Congregational Ministers' Meeting adopted a resolution protesting against the military features of the Boy Scouts' movement.

Through the kindness of Henry C. Morris, Esq., a member of the Chicago Peace Society and vice-president of the Hamilton Club, the Field Secretary addressed the latter organization July 20. Many of the members

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