Prize Orations of the Intercollegiate Peace AssociationIntercollegiate Peace Association
History
Prize Orations of the Intercollegiate Peace Association
Intercollegiate Peace Association
Peace; War
The day of triumph is not far distant. Already the moving finger of
Time paints on the wide horizon, in the roseate tints of the dawn, the
picture of Peace--Peace, the victory of victories, beside which
Marathon and Gettysburg pale into insignificance; victory without the
strains of martial music, unaccompanied by the sob of widowed and
orphaned; victory on God's battlefield in humanity's war on war.
THE NEW NATIONALISM AND THE PEACE MOVEMENT
By RALPH D. LUCAS, Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois, representing the
Central Group
Third Prize Oration in the National Contest held at Mohonk Lake, May
28, 1914
THE NEW NATIONALISM AND THE PEACE MOVEMENT
Nationalism is a precious product of the centuries. The world has paid
a tremendous price to widen the political unit until its boundaries
include continents. It has been an equally difficult task to weld the
spirit of diverse peoples into a homogeneous whole. And the story of
this development constitutes a heritage not soon to be given up. The
tales of victory and defeat are held even more dear to a united people
than life itself. Rightly will any nation jealously defy him who dares
advance to plunder its possessions. And it is well that men do not
wish to surrender it upon slight provocation. That has been a good
diplomacy that sought to protect the nation by war. By the extension
of political unity peoples gain moral and physical strength. Thrift
becomes more common and moral courage greater when a people strike
forward with common aims. And in proportion as the nation as a whole
enjoys these advantages and opportunities, the individual widens his
horizon in peaceful association with fellow men and receives a benefit
beyond computation.
But, good as nationalism has been in the past, a gradual change seems
to be overtaking the world's politics. National diplomacy hesitates
where a century ago it was firm. Forces which once drove the nations
apart seem now to be drawing them together. The discord of disputes
seems to be disappearing in the harmony of coöperation. It is no
longer possible to determine easily what a nation's interests really
are. And it is of the forces that are bringing about this change in
the policies of nations, of this new nationalism and its bearing upon
the peace movement, that I wish to speak.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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