The New York Times Current History of the European War, Vol. 1, January 9, 1915: What Americans Say to EuropeVarious
Philosophy
The New York Times Current History of the European War, Vol. 1, January 9, 1915: What Americans Say to Europe
Various
World War, 1914-1918
"Not only are the physical difficulties which would hamper an invasion
practically insuperable, but the reception enemies would get, if any of
them landed, would be wholly without parallel in the world's history.
"If our liberties really were threatened, every man, and very nearly
every woman, in our vast population would rise to their defense as never
any people yet has risen to any national defense. Americans, young and
old, en masse, would sweep to the protection of what they know, and what
the world knows, would be the cause of right and human liberty.
"I, myself, should wish to be invited to advance and meet invading
forces if they came. I would approach them without any weapons on my
person. I would not shoot at them. I would make a speech to them.
"'Gentlemen,' I would say, 'here's the chance of your life to win life's
chief prize. Now you are peasant soldiers. You have the opportunity to
become citizen kings. We are all kings here. Here the least of you can
take a rank much higher than that of any General in your army. He can
become a sovereign in a republic.'
"I think they would hurrah for me, not harm me, after they had heard my
speech.
"Striving for peace, we shall become so powerful that if war comes we
shall be invincible. Peace, not war, makes riches; the rich nation is
the powerful nation.
"Perhaps I was as much a peace man in my youth as I am now, but when I
was asked, during the civil war, to organize a corps of telegraph
operators and railroad conductors and engineers and take them to
Washington, I considered it the greatest of all privileges to obey the
order.
"I was the last man to get on the last train leaving Burkes Station,
after Bull Run, and, now, if the country ever should be invaded, I would
be, I hope, one of the first to rush to meet the enemy--but I think my
haste would be to convert, not to kill, him.
"The man who has done well in business, however, learns to abhor all
waste, and I must admit that it does pain me to see hundreds of millions
of our dollars spent on battleships which will but rust away, and
thousands of our able men vegetating on them or in an army.
"The men who urge this vast waste of our money and men mean well, no
doubt, but they do not know the nation of which they have the good
fortune to be citizens--they do not realize how very potent a force we
have become in the wide world, nor the fact that one of the great
reasons why we have become a force lies in the circumstance that our
national development has not been hampered by the vast expense of
militarism."
Mr. Carnegie paused.
Some weeks ago, in an interview granted me for publication in THE NEW
YORK TIMES, Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, President of Columbia
University, predicted that the present war would find its final outcome
in the establishment of the United States of Europe. I asked Mr.
Carnegie to express his view upon this subject.
"Nothing else could occur which would be of such immense advantage to
Europe," he replied.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account