Prize Orations of the Intercollegiate Peace AssociationIntercollegiate Peace Association
History
Prize Orations of the Intercollegiate Peace Association
Intercollegiate Peace Association
Peace; War
To-day the financial relationships of nations are inextricably
entangled. The big banks in the capitals of the world are in
communication with each other every second of the day. During the
American crisis in 1907 the bank rate in England went up to seven per
cent, forcing many British concerns to suspend operations. Because of
the Balkan War the bank rate in Berlin, Paris, and Vienna is the
highest in twenty years, and European securities have depreciated over
six billion dollars. Foreign investments are raising insuperable
barriers to war. Should the French bombard Hamburg to-day they would
destroy the property of Frenchmen. Let Emperor William capture London,
loot the Bank of England, and he will return to find German industry
paralyzed, the banks closed, and a panic sweeping the land. Let
English regiments again move to invade the United States, English
warships draw up in battle line to attack our seaports, and four
billions of the earnings of the English people would bar the way. To
the victor of the present the spoils of war are valueless. Japan,
victor over the great Russian Empire, staggers under a colossal debt.
The Italian government hears rumbles of discontent, because the cost
of winning a victory has been too great. What better proof do we need
that war is profitless, that it means financial suicide? It has been
transformed from a gainful occupation into economic folly, and war
will cease because the price is becoming prohibitive.
In this movement for peace, capital's strongest ally is her most
active enemy. Raised to a position of independence and power by the
Industrial Revolution, labor is wielding an effective influence. The
complexity of modern business has aroused workingmen in every country
to a common interest and sympathy. The International Congress of Trade
Unions, representing twenty countries and over ten million men, has
declared for universal disarmament. Just last month eighty-five
thousand coal miners in Illinois resolved that if the United States
declared war on a foreign power, they would call a general strike.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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