Page:Jay William Hudson - America's International Ideals (1915).djvu/8

 all, it means that the great American public which is reading this literature is receiving a practical education which enables it more than ever to think in terms of world problems and international outlooks. Never be fore has the average man of any country so had his vision widened by a compelled attention to the questions of international welfare and ideals. Every phase of the fundamental principles involved in the relations of nations and races has been emphasized and brought to his notice and has become part of his daily thought and conversation. This daily reaction in intellectual terms upon a great international situation is perhaps the most pervasive and important educational force that has ever molded the popular mind of any country. It will contribute mightily to the formation of the character not only of the American of this generation, but of the American of the future.

Second, this appeal to the American public is significant as showing that civilization has at last reached that stage where certain codes of righteousness inherent in the popular convictions are to be reckoned with. Whether any nation in Europe is really justified is not the point: the great and illuminating fact is that they seek justification. In other words, the world has come to a stage of progress where it is so well recognized that might alone does not make right, that might must perforce approve itself on grounds of morality before the conscience of the world. This is a phenomenon new in the history of war; and, to those who see deeply, it means the beginning of the end of the attempt to solve great problems by the use of mere force. For Europe so much as confesses that mere force and the victory that comes therefrom is not sufficient; force in itself can no longer