The Life and Letters of Walter H. Page, Volume II by Burton Jesse Hendrick
page 34 of 510 (06%)
page 34 of 510 (06%)
![]() | ![]() |
|
have three white English-speaking men to every two in the British
Empire: we are sixty per cent. of the Anglo-Saxons in the world. If there be any obligation to please, the obligation is on her to please us. And she feels and sees it now. My point is not that, nor is it what we or any other neutral nation has done or may do--Holland or any other. This war is the direct result of the over-polite, diplomatic, standing-aloof, bowing-to-one-another in gold lace, which all European nations are guilty of in times of peace--castes and classes and uniforms and orders and such folderol, instead of the proper business of the day. Every nation in Europe knew that Germany was preparing for war. If they had really got together--not mere Hague Sunday-school talk and resolutions--but had really got together for business and had said to Germany, "The moment you fire a shot, we'll all fight against you; we have so many millions of men, so many men-of-war, so many billions of money; and we'll increase all these if you do not change your system and your building-up of armies"--then there would have been no war. My point is not sentimental. It is: (1) We must maintain our own self-respect and safety. If we submit to too many insults, _that_ will in time bring Germany against us. We've got to show at some time that we don't believe, either, in the efficacy of Sunday-School resolves for peace--that we are neither Daughters of the Dove of Peace nor Sons of the Olive Branch, and (2) About nagging and forever presenting technical legal points as |
|