Adventure Magazine Cover — page 192: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

190 things it needs are Christianity and guts. If you don’t like the last word and find yourself dodging the main issue by sound- ing a noble charge against a monosyllable, change the word to “faith.” Or “faith and works.” Or “courage.” Or “‘sincerity.”’ GUETOPE that, instead of coldly calcu- lating just how many dollars our debtors would be capable of paying and then trying to extract the last dollar, we had said to Europe, in effect: ‘You are impoverished by the war. We are enriched. We are Christiansand your brothers. Therefore this debt is forgiven, as we would have you for- give it if we were the debtors.”’ Idealistic? Yes, it’s Christianity. Dan- gerous to give them wherewithal for greater armaments? ‘That fear is lack of faith. There are many real Christians in this country who would be willing to do just that. But they are a minority. The others and most of the non-Christians would have to be shown that it would pay us to do it, that it would be good business. Well, it would have been. The use of the money for armament could have been pre- vented by making a condition, say, that the amount of the debt should be raised by each nation and then devoted by it to extra and direct benefits to its people. Or we could have collected it and given it back in the form of such benefits. And that one act of forgiveness, unique in history, startling in its practical application of Christianity, would have done more to ensure lasting peace than has all the wrangling over World Courts and Leagues of Nations. It would have made us friends where now we have enemies. It would have been a magic touch that no diplomacy could even approximate. POk if it is the diplomats and the lords of finance who make wars, it is the people who do the fighting. Economic determinism or no economic determinism, there can be no wars unless the people do the fighting. The few have always been able to diddle them into it if they showed reluctance, but since the awfulness of the World War new ideas have been growing among the peoples of many nations. Hence the insistent demand for the settlement of disputes by other means than war. Hence the complaints against secret diplomacy, - against other and more fundamental phases of existing government. Hence youth and Adventure woman movements against war, and paci- fist leagues pledged to refuse war service. Hence the proposal to draft capital and labor as well as fighting men. The people themselves are going to become more and more a factor in determining whether a country goes to war. The question of their friendship versus their hate becomes more important than ever before. As things now are, not only do the peoples of Europe hate us, quite naturally, but the careful diplomacy of some governments seems to be fostering that hatred. This fostering may not be preparatory war propa- ganda but nothing else could be better adapted to that purpose. The peoples have not forgotten the old lies of war propaganda but they are still susceptible to new meth- ods of approach. Our dollar-grabbing pol- icy provides the diplomats and financiers of Europe with an ideal tool for building up a war sentiment against us. All this, of course, is no higher than materialism, since it all translates into doing good for profit and is likely to add the smudge of hypocrisy. At least it shows that materialism has not proved itself really practical in this case. UT, however the craze of materialism may haveswept our country, thereis still in many Americans a something that prompts the forgiveness of these debts for more decent reasons than ultimate self- gain. Real Christianity, courageous Chris- tianity, even though we do not call it by that name, is not yet dead among us. We do not entirely forget our brotherhood with those who chance to live on the other side of international boundaries. Individually we have given millions to Europe’s needs. Sympathy, kindliness, helpfulness have not ceased to exist. Materialism and wealth have turned America’s head; they have not yet turned her heart. But you would not think so from the per- formance of our representatives. Nor can you greatly blame those who call us Shy- locks. From even the materialistic point of view our representatives have been stupid. The dollars they grab for are likely to cost us many times that number of dollars. They remitted most of the debt and, instead of getting any kind of credit for so doing, got only hatred. Having remitted the greater part, in striving to extract the remainder COR£CLOOO S CO