Page:Jay William Hudson - America's International Ideals (1915).djvu/20

 they minister to the welfare of the individuals for whom all social organization exists. American civilization has insisted more and more that the individual is priceless: that he is an end in himself, and not a mere thing to be used as a thing. Thus the great watch-cries of American progress have been Freedom and Equality; the freedom of the individual to realize the best that is in him in terms of an inexpugnable personal identity; and the equality of opportunity which carries the doctrine of the pricelessness of persons to its practical conclusion in giving every soul an equal chance in government, in legal recourse, and in the advantages of social institutions.

But this doctrine of the value of the individual, the practical realization of which has been one of America's greatest contributions to modern civilization, is another principle that is being denied and imperilled by the very existence of the European conflict. For the war system which Europe is exemplifying at the present time utterly ignores the individual as such and makes the nation or race the unit of civilization. In the first place, the war came into being not only without the initiative of the average man, but probably counter to his fundamental wishes. The vast armies of individuals who are now engaged in killing each other and in destroying what the average man has built were not consulted with regard to the issues concerning which they are now fighting; they find themselves absolutely ignored as individuals and recognized only as soldiers,—as so much material to be used up by the state as it may seem fit. Furthermore, at this stage of human progress the war system itself involves more of a denial of the rights and welfare of the average individual than ever it did before. For, while the European conflict is waged in terms of supposingjay hudson new internationalism?