the central powers, no uncertainty of principle, no vagueness of detail. The only secrecy of counsel, the only lack of fearless frankness, the only failure to make definite statements of the objects of the war, lies with Germany and her allies. The issues of life and death hang upon these definitions. No statesman who has the least conception of his responsibility ought for a moment to permit himself to continue this tragical and appalling outpouring of blood and treasure unless he is sure beyond a peradventure that the objects of the vital sacrifice are part and parcel of the very life of society and that the people for whom he speaks think them right and imperative as he does.

There is, moreover, a voice calling for these definitions of principle and of purpose which is, it seems to me, more thrilling and more compelling than any of the many moving voices with which the troubled air of the world is filled. It is the voice of the Russian people. They are prostrate and all but helpless, it would seem before the grim power of Germany, which has hitherto known no relenting and no pity. Their power, apparently, is shattered. And yet their soul is not subservient. They will not yield either in principle or in action. Their conception of what is right, of what it is humane and honorable for them to accept, has been stated with a frankness, a largeness of view, a generosity of spirit, and a universal human sympathy which must challenge the admiration of every friend of mankind; and they have refused to compound their ideals or desert others that they themselves may be safe. They call to us to say what it is that we desire, in what, if in anything, our purpose and our spirit differ from theirs; and I believe that the people of the United States would wish me to respond, with utter simplicity and frankness. Whether their present leaders believe it or not, it is our heartfelt desire and hope that some way may be opened whereby we may be privileged to assist the people of Russia to attain their utmost hope of liberty and ordered peace.

No More Secret Diplomacy.

It will be our wish and purpose that the processes of peace, when they are begun, shall be absolutely open and that they shall involve and permit henceforth no secret understandings of any kind. The day of conquest and aggrandizement is gone by; so is also the day of secret covenants entered into in the interest of particular governments and likely at some unlooked-for moment to upset the peace of

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the world. It is this happy fact, now clear to the view of every public man whose thoughts do not still linger in an age that is dead and gone which makes it possible for every nation whose purposes are consistent with justice and the peace of the world to avow now or at any other time the objects it has in view.

We entered this war because violations of right had occurred which touched us to the quick and made the life of our own people impossible unless they were corrected and the world secured once for all against their recurrence. What we demand in this war, therefore, is nothing peculiar to ourselves. It is that the world be made fit and safe to live in; and particularly tha. it be made safe for every peace-loving na tion which, like our own, wishes to live its own life, determine its own institutions, be assured of justice and fair dealing by the other peoples of the world as against force and selfish aggression. All the peoples of the world are, in effect, partners in this interest, and for our own part we see very clearly that unless justice be done to others it will not be done to us. The program of the world's peace, therefore, is our program; and that program, the only possible program, as we see it, is this:

of

1. Open covenants of peace, openly arrived at, after which there shall be no private international understandings any kind but diplomacy shall proceed always frankly and in the public view.

2. Absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas, outside territorial waters, alike in peace and in war, except as the seas may be closed in whole or in part by international action for the enforcement of international covenants.

3. The removal, so far as possible, of all economic barriers and the establishment of an equality of trade conditions among all the nations consenting to the peace and associating themselves for its maintenance.

4. Adequate guarantees given and taken that national armaments will be reduced to the lowest point consistent with domestic safety.

5. A free, open-minded, and absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims, based upon a strict observance of the principles that in determining all such questions of sovereignty the interests of the populations concerned must have equal weight with the equitable claims of the government whose title is to be determined.

6. The evacuation of all Russian territory and such a settlement of all questions affecting Russia as will secure the best and freest co-operation of the other nations of the world in obtaining for her an unhampered and unembarrassed opportunity for the independent determination of her own political development and national policy and assure her of a sincere welcome into the society of free nations under institutions of her own choosing; and, more than a welcome, assistance also of every kind that she may need and may herself desire. The treatment accorded Russia by her sister nations in the months to come will be the acid test of their good will, of their comprehension of her needs as distinguished from their own interests, and of their intelligent and unselfish sympathy.

7. Belgium, the whole world will agree, must be evacuated and restored, without any attempt to limit the sovereignty which she enjoys in common with all other free nations. No other single act will serve as this will serve to restore confidence among the nations in the laws which they have themselves set and determined for the government of their relations with one another. Without this healing act the whole structure and validity of international law is forever impaired.

8. All French territory should be freed and the invaded portions restored, and the

wrong done to France by Prussia in 1871 in the matter of Alsace-Lorraine, which has unsettled the peace of the world for nearly fifty years, should be righted, in order that peace may once more be made secure in the interest of all.

9. A readjustment of the frontiers of Italy should be effected along clearly recognizable lines of nationality.

10. The peoples of Austria-Hungary, whose place among the nations we wish to see safeguarded and assured, should be accorded the freest opportunity of autonomous development.

11. Roumania, Serbia and Montenegro should be evacuated; occupied territories restored; Serbia accorded free and secure access to the sea; and the relations of the several Balkan States to one another determined by friendly counsel along historical established lines of allegiance and nationality; and international guaranties of the political and economic independence and territorial integrity of the several Balkan States should be entered into.

12. The Turkish portions of the present Ottoman Empire should be assured a secure sovereignty, but the other nationalities which are now under Turkish rule should be assured an undoubted security of life and an absolutely unmolested opportunity of autonomous development, and the Dardanelles should be permanently opened as a free passage to the ships and commerce of all nations under international guaranties.

13. An independent Polish State should be erected which should include the territories inhabited by indisputably Polish populations, which should be assured a free and secure access to the sea, and whose political and economic independence and territorial integrity should be guaranteed by international covenant.

14. A general association of nations must be formed under specific covenants for the purpose of affording mutual guaranties of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike.

In regard to these essential rectifications of wrong and assertions of right we feel ourselves to be intimate partners of all the Governments and peoples associated together against the imperialists. We can not be separated in interest or divided in purpose. We stand together until the end.

For such arrangements and covenants we are willing to fight, and to continue to fight, until they are achieved; but only because we wish the right to prevail and de

sire a just and stable peace, such as can be secured only by removing the chief provocations to war, which this program does remove. We have no jealousy of German greatness, and there is nothing in this program that impairs it. We grudge her no achievement or distinction of learning or of specific enterprise, such as have made her record very bright and very enviable. We do not wish to injure her or to block in any way her legitimate influence or power. We do not wish to fight her either with arms or with hostile arrangements of trade if she is willing to associate herself with us and the other peace-loving nations of the world in covenants of justice and law and fair dealing. We wish her only to accept a place of equality among the peoples of the world-the New World in which we now live-instead of a place of mastery.

Neither do we presume to suggest to her any alteration or modification of her institutions. But it is necessary, we must frankly say, and necessary as a preliminary to any intelligent dealings with her on

our part, that we should know whom her spokesmen speak for when they speak to us, whether for the Reichstag majority or for the military party and the men whose creed is imperial domination.

We have spoken now, surely, in terms too concrete to admit of any further doubt or question. An evident principle runs through the whole program I have outlined. It is the principle of justice to all peoples and nationalities, and their right to live on equal terms of liberty and safety with one another, whether they be strong or weak. Unless this principle be made its foundation no part of the structure of international justice can stand. The people of the United States could act upon no other principle; and to the vindication of this principle they are ready to devote their lives, their honor, and everything that they possess. The moral climax of this the culminating and final war for human liberty has come, and they are ready to put their own strength, their own highest purpose, their own integrity and devotion to the test.

(The man who knows but one side of a debataole question is not qualified to express an opinion upon it. To take the affirmative one should be familiar with the negative-and vice versa. The editorial from the London Times and the letters to which it refers-which follow-and others that will be printed later-give us a rare chance to "see oursel's as ithers see us"-an interesting and enlightening experience. Of course we dissent from much that the editor and the contributor say-some of the statements made and conclusions drawn are amusingly naive and absurd, as is to be expected when men discuss a movement they know only from the outside. But they write dispassionately; they try to be absolutely fair-and they believe that they are. And they speak from the inside and with authority for the owning and the employing class, not only of Great Britain but of all countries. They see clearly that the working and living conditions that existed before the War belong to a departed day; that privilege is passing, institutions crumbling, and that conditions in industry will continue to change with ever increasing rapidity until the end of the war and the return of the millions of fighting men to the field, the work shop and the mine bring the crisis.

With clear understanding of the significance of the tremendous changes impending, these spokesmen of the few who own the means of life and through that ownership govern their fellow men, seriously urge the adoption of measures through which they hope it may be possible to suppress or control the growing movement for radical changes in the existing industrial and social order and to maintain their grip as lords and masters of men. They do not deceive themselves; they realize that

the issues are joined and that the time is at hand for the supreme struggle to determine whether life and its fullness shall be for the few or for all; whether autocracy or democracy shall rule in industry, commerce and government.

The successful refusal of our owning class to submit to the conscription of wealth and the agitation for the conscription of labor carefully planned. and now being worked out with patience and painstaking effort makes these letters instructive and suggestive.)

E recently referred to the revolutionary movement carried on within the trade unions and promised to deal more fully with it. Today we publish the first of a series of contributed articles on the subject. * * * Onr correspondent treats them fairly and judicially, even with a certain sympathy; but his dispassionate tone adds gravity to the lesson he draws. No intelligent reader will fail to be impressed by it, and though some persons in responsible positions may seek to make light of the danger described they will do so just because they know how real it is. The facts which will be set out in these articles

are no news to the Government or to the official heads of trade unionism, but their cue has always been to turn a blind eye, and, when that is impossible, to minimize the extent of the mischief and soothe the public with "optimistic" assurances, which the public are always ready to swallow. That policy is natural, and up to a point defensible; but when the result is a continued and rapid increase of the evil on lines that promise no decline but certain development into a national danger, then it is time to adopt a different policy, and at least to let the nation know what is going on. In our opinion, and in that of the most competent judges fully conversant with the facts, that time has come. It is this conviction that has moved the writer of the articles, who is wholly disinterested except as a patriotic Englishman, to put forward his analysis of the situation. We beg our readers to take it as seriously as it is meant and to pay careful attention to it.

The central fact is that behind the meaningless and stupid term "labor unrest" lies a conscious revolutionary movement which aims at the complete overthrow of the existing economic and social order, not in some uncertain future, but here and now.

* The theory is that labor hired for gainful work is always and inevitably exploited by the hirer, who takes for himself all the product that remains over the cost of production and only gives the laborer enough for bare subsistence, whereas labor does all the work and ought to have the whole of the product.* This is the "capitalist system," under which the rich employers get ever richer and the poor employed ever poorer. Two circumstances make the present movement much more formidable than its predecessors in the past. One is the great growth and strength of trade unionism, which furnishes an instrument of enormous power; the other is the unique opportunity afforded by the war. We would not be misunderstood. The trade unions are not revolutionary organizations and the bulk of the members are anti-revolutionary, patriotic, and determined to win the war; but they are permeated by a revolutionary ferment, which cares nothing about the war and is quietly bending them to its own purpose by the simplest means in the world. British workingmen have no taste for theories, but, like other people, they desire more

The implication here is that organized labor holds that manual labor does all the work. This absurdity was never asserted by organized labor in Great Britain or anywhere. Socialists contend that the worker should receive the full social value of his labor but they include the brain worker and the employer who does necessary or Reeful work.

They

money and they understand strikes. have learned during the war that they have only to strike or threaten a strike to get more money, and they do not see why they should not get it. They see other people making a great deal of money, and they have to pay more for what they buy. It is natural to ask for more and success encourages the appetite. One union sees another getting a rise, and each concession is a stepping-stone to increased demands. So it goes on like a snowball, and the policy of "demand upon demand, strike upon strike, blow upon blow" is completely realized without the slightest violence. It is fatally easy. The men themselves do not see whither they are going; they are unconscious agents, and the public are narcotized by platitudinous phrases about "labor unrest." The upshot is that obscure revolutionaries have the Government and the nation by the throat and mean to strangle them.

I.

The Letters.

There exists at the present moment a revolutionary movement in this country which has gathered considerable momentum; it has long passed the stage of mere talk, and has realized itself in formidable action.

The purpose of these articles is to set in a clear light this revolutionary movement, to isolate it from other agitators with which it is often confused, to interpret the mentality of its promoters, and to record the successes which it has already won. When this has been done the ground will have been prepared for the consideration of policy. Sound statesmanship must reckon with this ferment as a very serious consideration in the present position of the country.

The matter is by no means disposed of by the series of reports issued by the Commissioners on Industrial Unrest. For all the Commissioners (with the partial exception of those for Wales) have chosen to deal with troubles that lie on the surface, and to ignore the movements which are at work below.

What "Labor" Means.

Under the general name of labor the observer at a distance is apt to confuse a whole series of movements which are distinct and often contradictory. There are the Labor Party Conference and the Trade Union Congress, in which the official heads of the labor movement endeavor to formulate the demands of their members as a whole, in the one from the political, in the other from the economic standpoint. There are the labor leaders, mostly men who have

won their position in the past, and find it hotly disputed now. At the other extreme are the millions of individual working men drawn together by the fact that every one is in receipt of wages reckoned by the hour and paid by the week.

This calculation does not allow for the revolutionary ferment which is at work between these extremes, and has its stronghold in the intellectually inclined young men and young women of the better-paid wageearning class. These men and women have no leaders and no set organization; but they are united in fellowship by a string of theories incompatible with the present organization of society; they have at their disposal a propaganda by which these theories are being forced into every working-class home; and they are the chief fomenters of the local and general strikes which from time to time bewilder the trade union executives and paralyze the forces of government, and in which the individual working man often participates either through misunderstanding or by compulsion. (?) These revolutionists are men who do things, and their power is in proportion to their unity and their zeal, and altogether out of proportion to their numbers.

Our first duty is to examine the theories which hold these men together. Revolutions are made by minorities, not by majorities.

Socialism and Syndicalism.

On the question of economic government the theorists have been successively disciples of State Socialism, Syndicalism and the system of national guilds.

According to State Socialism, the State (or its subdivision, the municipality) administers all production through a hierarchy. But the ideal State Socialism must not be confused with the State administration which is already in force-as, for instance, on the railways.

According to Syndicalism, all the wageearners engaged in a particular industry must be combined in a single union, as, for instance, the Union of Miners, of Engineers, or of Shipbuilders. This union must first own the means and regulate the entire machinery of the industry, appointing all officials and setting up codes of labor law; and, secondly, it must sell the products in the market at a price fixed by itself.

The National Guilds System.

The system of National Guilds, now by far the most popular of all constructive revolutionary schemes, is a cross between State Socialism and Syndicalism. Industries are divided up as proposed by the syndicalist,

but all of them are to enter into partnership with the State. The State alone will fix the price of the product of each guild or great trade society; the labor laws will have to be submitted for its approval, and it will regulate all disputes between the trades. It may even provide for the independent economic existence of individuals who do not belong to any guild. Schemes for National Guilds usually provide some attractive ideals in the way of liberal provision for science, invention, journalism and the fine arts; and in their latest form arrange also for a subdivision of the guilds into various self-regulating minor industries.

Let us take the evidence of one of the propaganda journals:

In the crowd of petty magazines and periodical fly-sheets which are industriously circulated by the propagandists not a word is ever written as to the progress of the war, and no concern is ever expressed for the country's victory or safety. Occasionally room will be found for a sympathetic reference to "pacifism," not because the revolutionists as such are in favor of peace (though some are), but because "pacifism" is also in its way a revolutionary movement. But occasionally we come upon a discussion of the war, and then it is couched in terms like the following:

"War came-a war for liberty, or the rights of small nationalities, for the freedom of the seas, for the destruction of militarism, for all the catch phrases and illuminated signs with which these high-souled hucksters have pushed their wares. It is a war for liberty-the liberty to exploit, unhindered by the other fellow's dastardly competition. It is a war to emancipate small nations and subject peoples by the aid of the moneylenders of justice and civilization. It is a war * to fill the highways of the nations with the tumult and the whistling and the tooting of the freight trains, the motor lorry and the steamship; to festoon the wilderness with telegraph, telephone and electric power cables, to erect mineheads and oil shafts, mills and furnaces, hotels and grain elevators, to the Lord God of Profit, whose temple they have vowed to build of beaten gold that he may make his everlasting abiding place among his chosen people. Such is the vision that has been revealed to the crusaders of commodities. The mark, the dollar, or the Sovereign-in that sign will they conquer?"

This is not the place to consider whether these complaints are just; they are certainly eloquent, and would have equally delighted Rousseau and John Ruskin. They are one expression of the never-ending revolt of individual human nature against its material conditions, of the cry for a Golden Age of idleness and plenty. What we must