War and Waste by David Starr Jordan

8/13/2019 War and Waste by David Starr Jordan

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War and Waste. by David Starr JordanReview by: Edward van Dyke RobinsonPolitical Science Quarterly, Vol. 31, No. 1 (Mar., 1916), pp. 152-155Published by: The Academy of Political ScienceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2141712.

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I52 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY [VOL.XXXIthechoicebetweenrialby udges nd" trialby battle"; and on thepart fnations hefreedomf choice s essrestrainedecausenoformoforganizationas as yetbeenfoundbywhich hephysicalorcen apopulousnd highly eveloped ountryan be held n check s effec-tuallys can that f the ndividualna populousnd organizedom-munity. But thefact thatnationsn a particularnstance o towarmay indicate ot thatthe disputewas incapable r even difficultfjudicial r other micable olution,ut simplyhat ne or both f thecontestantsreferredotakethechance f obtaining y forcewhatus-tice could notconcede. The difficultyasnot in thenature f thequestion ut n thedispositionfthedisputants.Preciselyhe amephenomenareseen inthehistoryf arbitrationamong the Greeks. Theyunderstood he theoryf arbitration ithperfectlearness,nd they arried t practicallyo a high tageof de-velopment; ut thefact hatthey sed t successfully,nd withmoreor essmethod, idnotprevent hem rom astingt aside when op-ularpassionsmovedthem to do so. Mr. Raederhas industriously-collected nd systematicallyrrangedll thecases of Hellenic rbitra-tionwhichmodernnvestigationsavedisclosed. The results re in-structive.He gives ighty-onexamplesfarbitrationsnd agreementstoarbitrate.Nor did the utonomousreekstates nvariably efusetoextend heprocess o their elations ith ther ountries.It is only n recent ears hat hefactsnregardoarbitrationmongtheGreeks avecometolightufficientlyo enable he tudento treatthe ubjectn a philosophical anner. This end has beenattained ythe tudy f inscriptions,hich re thechief ource f informationnthe ubject. By thismeansthedetails f numerousrbitral ecisionshave been disclosedwith uch fulnesss to show he procedurem-ployed nd theformalitiesbserved. In bringingogethernd sum-marizingheresultsttained n this ield f research,Mr. Rader has.performeduseful ndhelpfulervice. J.B. MOORE.War and Waste. By DAVID STARR JORDAN. Garden City,.Doubleday, ageand Company,923.-Xi, 296 pp.

The volumeof President ordan ntitledWarand Wasteconsistsof a seriesof essays, ddressesnd newspaperrticlesn furtheranceof the perpetual eace propaganda, hich ppearedshortlyeforeheoutbreak f the European war. The fundamentaldea in it is thereversediological election ue towar. This idea is expressedndillustratedith rippingorce, ruth ndpathos.

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No. il REVIEWS I53On the political and economic sides, the book is less convincing.The principalpolitical idea seems to be that,if onlyarmorplate and

munition obbies and journalscould be rendered nnocuous, all of thevariousnations could be trusted o keep thepeace forever ecause (asthe authorbelieves) none of them has any interest nwar or any desireforwar. If this faith is well founded, one wonders whypolice arenecessary to keep thepeace between individual citizens, or a nationalgovernmentand army to keep the peace between cities and stateswithinthenation. This idea that peace can be kept byagreement,without he backing offorce, which seems to be held by most of theperpetualpeace propagandists, s either the real " great illusion," orelse it implies that nations re incomparablywiser, juster, ess selfish,and more faithful o theiragreements than are individualcitizens orthe lesser political units. Whether this is so, let history nswer-especially thehistory f the last threeyears.On the economic side, impressivefigures re offered f debts andwaste due towar,thoughtheseare admittedly oughestimates. More-over, not content with arguing that increased military xpenditureshave been an importantfactor in the increasingcost of living,theauthor goes further nd maintains that the decreasingvalue of goldsince ic897 is not reallydue to the increased productionof gold, aseconomists have usually held, but to increased taxation formilitarypurposes. Thus he asserts that " the percentage [of taxation] col-lected on everydollarofworking apital or incomehas its reflex ffecton reducing the value of that dollar in the clearing house of theworld ; and, further, as the purchasingpower of a dollar will beless in tenyears,the rate of interest tends to rise." This suggestionhas certainly hemeritofnovelty. Anotherconstantly ecurring deais thatall things t bottom re controlledbythe House ofRothschild,otherwise he " Unseen EmpireofFinance." Thuswe are told thatA gigantic ationaldebt nvolves n invisible mpirewhich halldirect ndcontrol credit.... Nathan Rothschild at Waterloo and at London forcedthe downfall f thehouse of Bonaparteto insure therise of the house ofRothschild.... From the battle of Waterloo until his death NathanRothschild was the actual ruler of Europe. . . . The drastic exactions ofGermany in I87I] werefixed ythe nvisibleEmpire.... The nations fEuropehave no independent xistence, hey re one and all provinces ftheUnseenEmpireofFinance.Somehowin readingsuch simpleand sweepinggeneralizations, ne isreminded of speeches and editorials about Wall Street. Again, in



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I54 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY [VOL.XXXIharmonywith this emphasis on the role of finance, he authoralwaysreturns to the proposition that war is chiefly matter f money, ormore specifically, f gold. This is to mistakethe symbolfor the thingitself. The reallydecisive factors in war are men and materials,notmoney. If need be, the printing-press an supply the money, ashappened in England during the Napoleonic wars and in theUnitedStates duringthe Civil War.On the otherhand,when it comes to the role ofthe economic factorin causingor preventingwar, there s hesitationand confusion, f notdownrightontradiction. Thus it is maintained, n linewith the con-tentionsof Jeande Bloch and NormanAngell,thatthe steady xtension f unificationn internationalife s a guarantee hatinternational aramongcivilizednationshas already ome to an end....No warcan bring inancial, ocial,orpolitical aintoany nation.... Warsofspoliation,mperialwars,mustgo thewayof international ars,as toocostly for the people of a modern industrial state.... War is dying. Itdies because it cannot pay its way.... We shall never see another waramongthegreatnations fEurope. . .. The influencef soundbankingseverywhere and automatically opposed to war. . . . We have all the inter-ests of commerce otallynd openlyopposedtowar.Yet in contrast to these optimistic iews as to the roleof economicinfluencesn worldpolitics,we encounterthefollowing:The interlocking irectorates a successfulmethodn Europe.. . . It isespecially he gencybywhich heresourcesfweak orbarbarous ountriesare drawn o swell hewealth fthegreat entres f xploiting hristendom.... Throughts agencywar is no longer matter femotionalism r ofpatriotism.Wherewar s permittedt is strictly matter fbusiness....The late Italianwar had its motive . . in the speculationsf the Bank ofRome.... The planofexpelling heTurk [fromheBalkans] found avorboth in Paris and Berlin[ ] . .. Of thehundreds f revolutionsinLatinAmerica] probably ineoutoften havehad behind hem hemoneyof some syndicate ... with a concession of some sort at stake.... The" higher olitics oftheday .. . runs on all fourswiththe ape and thetiger. . . Its interest ies in helpingto place capital of individuals nforeignands,where ythreat rpersuasiont shallbe made toyieldbetterreturnsthan investmentsat home. . . . The governmentsof the world taketherisks f mperialism; hegreat rading,miningnd exploiting orpora-tionsreceive hegains.... The interlockingf nterestsf all kinds, nci-dentto thesedaysofrapidtransit . . has brought he clashof exploitinginterests,nd theresultingccentuationf nternationaluspicion.

If these things re so, whatbecomes oftheprevious ontentions hat



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No. I] REVIEWS I55-commercend financeend opeace,and thatwaris dying becauseit cannot pay ts way"? Certainlyhe authorhas signally ailedtomakeclearhisopinion s to theeffectfeconomic orcesncausing rpreventing ar.Several othereconomicdicta seem equally nconsistent ith hegeneral enorndpurpose f the book: notablyheadmissionpage78) that tariffrotection. . mayhave increased he ggregate fnationalwealth (throughivertingapital nto essproductivendus-tries); the tatementpage 8o) that if nyone rows ich na com-munityhewhole ommunitys thericher or t" (regardlessfhowhegets t); andfinally,hedeclarationpage 73) that thecost ofhighliving alls n themanwho iveshigh (eventhoughtdoescheck heincreaseof capital). All of these strike he reader withsurprise,coming rom he ccomplisheduthor f TheFate of ciodoeum.EDWARD VANDYKE ROBINSON.COLUMBIAUNIVERSITY.The Audacious War. By CLARENCE W. BARRON. Boston,1The oughtonMifflinompany,915 .-I92 pp.

During hewinter,heWallStreet ournalandseveral ther inan-cial paperspublished series of articles escribing hatMr.Barronsawandheard n England and France. These articles rereprintedwithittle hange nthebook nowbefore s,bearing ateofFebruary15, 9I5.The cause of thewar sdeclared ohave beeneconomic,pecificallytheBagdadrailroadnd thecommercialreaty hichGermany orcedon Russia after heJapanesewar,thereby urningRussia into aneconomic rovincefGermany.Thistreatyxpiringn I9I6, Russiawasunwillingorenew,utrequiredighteenmonthsmore ocompleteherpreparationsor esistance. Germany,n theother and, ccord-ingto the uthor,wasresolvedoforcets renewal t thepoint f thebayonet,ndpreferredot towaituntilRussian reparationshould ecomplete;hence heAustrian ltimatumo Serbia, heGerman lti-matum o Russiademanding emobilization ithinwelve ours,ndtheGerman eclaration fwaronRussia number fdaysbeforeheRussian mbassador ad evenbeenwithdrawnrom ienna. Thebulkof thebookconsists f summaryiscussionsfwarfinances,speciallyin England ndFrance.The author sdistinctlynti-Germannpoint fview, houghlaim-ing to knowGermanyetter hanFrance, nd predicts or he lliesspeedy riumphshich ventshavesignallyailed o ustify.

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War and Waste by David Starr Jordan