Page:William Howard Taft - America Can't Quit (1919).djvu/21

 have got to stop advancing civilization that way or there will be no world. The next general war will be more destructive than this, as much more than this as this was more so than the last war. The developments that were made on the improvement of machines for destroying men and blowing them up were not given full scope in the last year of this war. If it had continued, the destruction would have been frightful and the next war, if it comes on, will be in the nature of a world suicide. Now do I have to argue against the proposition that it is not worth while to kill one-half of the world in order that the other half may get on? Isn't there some other means of advancing the civilization of God? If Mr. Beveridge's view of it is correct, we ought to sit down and write a note to Germany and say, Take back your Kaiser and go on with your war. Because Germany's plea was exactly that of Senator Beveridge. They said they were improving the world. They said they invented kultur; they had a patent on it but they were willing to license it to God in his work of advancing civilization on condition that it should be done through the machinery of the German army. That is all. If you shut your eyes and consider William Beveridge's proposition, you will see a label on it, "Made in Germany." So I will pass on from that. If you think with Senator Beveridge, I cannot argue with you and you can't argue with me. We will just part peaceably.

The next argument against Article X is a formidable one. It is one that is used by most of the objectors to the League in order to appeal to the women of the country. They realize that the women are more sensitive to war than men. They realize that the memories of women are longer than men's, that men are thicker skinned. Women do not forget the midnight vigil; they do not forget lying awake worrying and anxious over their dear ones exposed in war,—they are no jingoists. They are in favor of peace, and they are sincerely in favor of the League as a means of trying whether we cannot maintain peace and avoid war. So these objectors to the League seek to reach them with the argument that this League and Article X will involve us in more war than if we didn't have them at all. Now, is that so? It is said that we are going into constant wars, little wars all over the world, remote,—and that our boys are to be summoned and sent to remote quarters for the purpose of suppressing wars between countries in whom we have no legitimate interest.

In the first place, that is not the way it will work even if we have