Page:Paul Samuel Reinsch - Secret Diplomacy, How Far Can It Be Eliminated? - 1922.djvu/204

 blic, it desired at first to abolish the entire diplomatic establishment, and to allow all international busi- ness to be done by the consuls. That proposal may have resulted from an instinctive feeling that there was something incompatible between a really free community, and the sense of absolute power embodied in diplomacy.

A change can be brought about only when the underlying unity of mankind is more intensely felt and when the common interests in science, commerce, industry and the universal language of art are valued at their true importance to the welfare of the people of all nations. Joint effort in the constructive work of developing resources, particularly in the tropics, will make it possible for vastly increased populations to live in com- fort on their present sites, without the need of crowding each other. A higher valuation of hu- manity, a more just proportion in the influence permitted different interests, a keener scrutiny of traditions and watch-words all this is neces- sary. Men and women to-day feel an intense ap- prehension, when they think of the fate of their children in a world in which the unreasoning prejudices and unenlightened practices that have recently again come to the fore in international life should prevail, leaving mankind in a dazed