[ p. 134 ]
NO government can last long without the support of the majority of its citizens. This is as true of Mankind or International Government as it is of national governments. The weakness of France in the present war was due in great part to the fact that the existing government was not strongly supported by its people. French patriotism was at a low ebb.
Mankind Government should not be undertaken until the majority of the people in all participating states are heartily in favor of it. This means that work lies ahead. The people of Russia, Great Britain, China, the United States, and many other nations who favor some form of World Government after the war, run into the millions. Many books have been written in which World Government has at least been suggested as a way to permanent peace. College forums and church groups in every land are discussing it. Much is being said and done, but as yet there are not enough of us. Those heartily in favor of Mankind Government must write and speak for it, organize groups, seek publicity for it in every possible way. We must make it the subject of a mighty crusade.
[ p. 135 ]
We must think of ourselves as prospective citizens of this Mankind Government, not with a lack of loyalty to our own nation but with a desire to defend our nation against future wars.
It is a well-known fact that the public opinion of America postponed our entrance into the first World War, and, had not Tokyo given us a stab in the back at Pearl Harbor, public opinion would have postponed our entrance into the present conflict. Public opinion as strong as this can make Mankind Government an assured success. Our job is to see that this public opinion is roused to such a white heat against the war gods that it will throw its entire strength into the establishment of a World Government that will stand the test of time.
The standards of international citizenship must be early established, but this is a matter which should be gradually introduced as a result of continuous education. After twenty-five years it should be so arranged that no person could be an official of the international or regional governments who had not studied to prepare himself for the task in some school of international citizenship.
Every national and regional government must be provided with chairs of international citizenship in connection with their schools, and these chairs must be occupied by teachers designated by the international chief of government.
[ p. 136 ]
How strange will be the contrast between the principles taught in these courses of international citizenship and those being taught today in certain schools of higher learning in the United States! I refer to courses designated as “studies in the science of geopolitics.” A strange word that, geopolitics. “Geo,” the first part of geography, means “earth,” but “politics” indicates the study of the relations of nation to nation, with emphasis on the supposed probability of ever-recurring wars.
The word geopolitics comes from Germany. So, too, does the so-called science. Some would insist that it is only a pseudo-science. But we are told it is a “pure science,” which means that it is concerned with facts and not at all with human values and emotions. How the practice of this science affects your boy crouching in a foxhole on some Pacific island does not interest the exponents of geopolitics in the least, for geopolitics is the study of political planning for war, not for peace.
How human beings are affected by the conclusions of the “geopoliticians” does not interest them at all. They look at certain mass movements of populations as logical and inevitable. As Lin Yutang puts it, “Populations may be transplanted like carrots, and the ‘World Island’ may be cut up, examined, and redisposed to the advantage of the expanding state, like a melon. Whether a few dozen school [ p. 137 ] children have to be bombed or a million inhabitants slaughtered in the process is unworthy of concern of such globe-cutters. It is exactly that detachment from human values, the mathematical concept of physical forces determining human events, and that ‘naturalistic’ view of the human world as a jungle, that gives it its scientific character.” (Between Tears and Laughter, page 152.)
This teaching, which has spread like wildfire across our nation and can only be excused, if at all, because we are engaged in a global war in which this study may be of help, is exactly the opposite of our theory regarding Mankind Government. Geopolitics starts with the assumption that wars must go on, perhaps for centuries ; that cities must be destroyed, governments uprooted and billions murdered in brutal conflicts until some powerful dictator or vast empire shall have all the world at its feet. This is where this so-called “pure science” leads us. We are, according to the geopoliticians, mere automatons, worked upon by outside forces that impel us first this way, then that. We can do nothing about wars because we can do nothing about anything. We do not have wills because there is no such thing as a human will. If we have been going in one direction and suddenly decide to go in the opposite one; it is not because we have changed our minds but because certain “motivations” entirely from outside ourselves have thus worked on our brain cells.
[ p. 138 ]
One exponent of this school of thought explains the proper attitude of a geopolitician in this manner: “The statesman who conducts foreign policycan concern himself with the value of justice, fairness, and tolerance only to the extent that they contribute to or do not interfere with the power objective. They can be used instrumentally as moral justification for the power quest, but they must be discarded the moment their application brings weakness. The search for power is not made for the achievement of moral values. Moral values are used to facilitate the attainment of power.” (American Strategy in World Politics, page 18, by Spykman.)
You might think Hitler wrote this or appropriated it from some other German writer. But it happens to come from a book written by an American professor of high standing. We have been aping the German university professors in our acceptance of “pure science” for many years. This geopolitics is the climax and the maximum. If we do not at once begin to crawl out of this foxhole of unemotional intellectualism where human values and human lives count not at all, we shall soon be buried so deep we never can get out.
The best thing we can do right now is to reassert the existence of a human will, the enduring value of love, justice, altruism, fair dealing, and the “dignity [ p. 139 ] of man.” Then we shall inevitably find ourselves working as never before for a Mankind Government that will bring peace and justice to all mankind.
Two thousand years ago the world was told that it must believe in the brotherhood of man. Ever since that time small groups of sincere believers in this gospel have been making their way to every corner of the world — to frozen wastes, tropical isles, and the hearts of dark continents — that they might pass along the message. Their voices have been all too weak, the distances too great, but everywhere a few have believed.
Now, if a mighty chorus of voices shouts this same message as they carry forward the work of establishing a World Government in the interests of lasting peace, they will go far toward putting an end to this gross variety of realism which, after all, is nothing more or less than ancient, gloomy fatalism in a new suit of clothes.
Liberty, fraternity, equality should be emblazoned on a new banner. We are not equal in wealth or education perhaps, but all are equal in their resolve to live for that which is noble and to die if need be to avoid that which is ignoble, cruel, and base. Never since the world began, has the human race been faced with a greater opportunity to assert with vigor its belief in the dignity and worth-whileness of man.
[ p. 140 ]
We are now living and fighting at one of those decisive moments, moments which have occurred but five or six times in all human history. Against the brutality and pagan ideals and objectives of the dictator nations we are fighting for the preservation of liberty, for freedom, even for the freedom of our present military enemies. Today, the human progress of centuries is in the balance — to be either destroyed or enhanced and advanced for the good of all mankind.
The only way we can have equality among either men or nations is to resort to the equality of law. All doctrines of human equality which are not predicated on law are a deception and a delusion.
And now comes the next step. Any law enacted by a legislative body, but which is not backed by adequate enforcement power, is nothing short of a farce, a mere empty gesture.
I think it is a safe conclusion that the concept of equality without law can only eventuate in war. Without international law and international military power to enforce that law, peace will prevail on earth only as long as the weaker nations are willing to remain in subjugation to the stronger governments, and as long as these overcontrolling and stronger nations can among themselves maintain the so-called “balance of power.”
We know very little about what goes on in the conquered countries, but we have reason to believe that, [ p. 141 ] once the war is ended, and once the nations have counted their dead, and people have settled back sadly in their villages, then from Europe there will come such a cry for peace as the world has never known.
This demand for peace will be a mighty force. When this vast throng has been shown a sound and trustworthy plan for lasting peace, and when worthy leaders are found to establish it, no warmonger can stand in their way. Without this force Mankind Government might fail. With it there can be nothing but triumph.
Russia, the eternal question mark, appears to be pointing the way. Today the greatest military power on earth, she might be supposed to be planning after the war an invincible military government. Quite to the contrary, she is offering, in part, to decentralize her power, delegating to the fourteen republics of whigh she is composed military and governmental powers greater than those enjoyed by the forty-eight states of our nation. Those who returned from the Teheran conference testified to the great earnestness of the Russian delegates as they talked of their plans for making their country after the war such a land of peace and plenty as even the new world has never known. In such a program there is no room for vast armament factories and drilling armies.
[ p. 142 ]
It is very important that we relate our new Mankind Government directly to the individual citizens of every country, not in opposition to their relationship to their nations and communities, but rather in supplementation thereto. This will call for a more inclusive loyalty that rounds out the whole without sacrificing any of the parts.
The government of mankind must have a magnificent capitol located at some point which is truly international in the geographic concept. As someone has suggested, the administration building of the international capital must be the most imposing structure on earth. Its picture must be in every hut and home, in every office and factory, throughout the whole world. In the upper right-hand corner of this picture should appear the international flag; in the upper left-hand corner, the international seal; and just below this picture of the governmental headquarters of mankind should hang a picture of the international executive father. This picture would of course be changed every ten years.
Now, of course, this relationship (of individuals to world organization) must take concrete form. Not only must there be a well-integrated organization at the center with a definite seat of government at the world capital ( a sort of District of Columbia outside the boundaries of any nation), but this organization [ p. 143 ] must have definite direct lines of contact with every last person, wherever or whoever he may be. In other words, all individuals must become citizens of the world, with all that the term citizen implies in the way of common loyalties, rights, and responsibilities.
The broadening of our loyalty to include Mankind Government should not be difBcult to achieve. In the past our loyalties have always been divided between community or city, state, and nation. Our town may not be large or important, but it is our town. We back up its ball teams, march in its Decoration Day parades, and show in every way that we are proud of it. Our town may be large or small, but our loyalty is there just the same.
Our state too gets its full share of loyalty. On far-oflf world battlefields we continue to advertise our state. And the fact that our boys by the millions accept the call to arms in defense of their country and march quietly away to die, if need be, is proof enough of their loyalty to the good old U. S. A. To take one step forward and give our loyalty to a world government which we have helped to organize in the interest of lasting peace should be easy, as natural as the loyalty a naturalized citizen bestows upon the land of his adoption.
The heart of the propaganda of all crusades for the government of mankind must consist in the ideals of global fraternity, the idea that “God has made of one blood all nations” — human brotherhood.
[ p. 144 ]
The more we, the citizens of Mankind Government, have in common, the closer will be our union. A common language would certainly form one more bond between us. It may well be that the present movement for “basic English” is a practical approach to this language program, or if other nations protest the use of our tongue, then we might choose Esperanto. More likely, the basic international language will be made up of words chosen from the leading world tongues. Newspapers or magazines could carry lessons in this language. It could be taught in the schools of all member nations, and every moving-picture program could devote the first five minutes to lessons in the new tongue. The official news of all regional governments and the international government of mankind would be published in this international language.
There must be an international flag. Man is basically an emotional animal; human beings are ruled by their hearts and not by their heads. You cannot successfully carry on long-lasting and far-reaching movements among men and women unless their basic appeal is emotional as well as moral and intellectual. The flag of Mankind Government might always be flown at the head of every national emblem in public, but it must never be more than one half the size of the national flag. In a way there is precedent for [ p. 145 ] such an arrangement as this. This may not be generally known, but it is a fact that each Sunday on shipboard, when religious service is in progress, the flag of the church flies just above Old Glory.
Likewise there should be an international anthem, and that anthem might be sung every morning as the flag goes up. The national anthem of each country could be sung in that country as the flag comes down at sunset.
There should be an international insignia. This insignia would appear on all documents and publications of the Mankind Government.
There should be an oath of allegiance to Mankind Government. The international oath of citizenship would not in any way abrogate or compromise national loyalty. This allegiance oath would pertain only to those matters which national sovereignties had willingly entrusted to the custody and safekeeping of the international government of mankind.
Our Mankind Government should guarantee to its citizens everywhere freedom and justice — or “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” It should work for the liberation and elevation of individuals everywhere. It should protect the citizens of all nations in their right to travel between nations, on the highways of the world, and to engage in international trade.
[ p. 146 ]
But there are no privileges in this world without corresponding responsibilities. If I, as a citizen of this World Government, am free to go where I please in this world and to trade with whom I please, then I am bound to respect your rights to travel and trade as you please. But on us both will rest the responsibility of keeping the laws of this World Government. If these laws say we may not trespass on the grounds of other citizens, if they tell us that we must trade fairly with other members of our World Government, never taking advantage of ignorance or poverty, and always dealing justly, then this is what we must do. And if we fail to obey the laws, we shall be punished. These laws of Mankind Government should be as few as possible, and so simply stated that all may readily understand. Once again, in the light of present ponderous legal literature, we seem to approach Utopia. But Mankind Government should be for all mankind and not especially for lawyers.
Of course, where there are laws there must be courts. These courts should be so located that they are easy of access to all world citizens.
Every means within our power should be employed to further the growth of world solidarity. Before the present war, a considerable program for the exchange of professors and students between different lands was in operation. This should be so increased that at times, if one were set down on the campus [ p. 147 ] of any great university and did not know where he was, he could not tell from the students he met on that campus what the country was. Why not? The future should witness an ever-increasing interchange of students between the civilized nations of the world.
One tendency must be avoided, that of doing special reverence to the universities of any particular land. There was a time when a man was not considered completely educated unless he held a degree from a German university. From our contact with these men we know that this was folly. Many educated fools have emerged from German universities, and many educated wise men came from the universities of France, Great Britain and the United States. If in the future the universities of any nation give promise of lording it over those of other nations, some of their professors should be traded for those of other lands.
A university might well be established at the world capital, where the world language would be used and where special emphasis would be placed on the laws of Mankind Government. Here too might be set up an international press, from which would be issued world newspapers, world magazines, and certain books, all published in the world language. A world bank and a world mint might be established. Citizens of all lands could own stock in the World Bank. International currency would [ p. 148 ] be for use in international trade only, and should not be accepted for any other purpose.
Mankind Government might set up an office of copyrights and patents. To this office the citizen might bring his book or invention and at once secure protection against infringements in every land. This, however, could not be put into practice until consent of the governments of all states had been given, or at least that of a two-thirds majority.
All this need not seem so strange. Even today nations of the world have a common culture. The great operas and symphonies of Europe are heard in every land. Find me the country where the Bible and the works of Shakespeare are not known. The homesick American can find American movies at the foot of the Pyramids and in the heart of India, yes, and in all probability he can dance to the tune of American jazz.
At the present time the people of our nation seem to be concentrating their thoughts upon home problems. We are being told how soon the assembly lines will be turning out automobiles and farm tractors, how long it will take for us to build a million pew homes, and how we are prepared to solve all the economic problems within our borders. This, we are told, will insure for our people and our returning soldiers continued employment and prosperity.
[ p. 149 ]
This may all be true, but this prosperity will last much longer if we broaden our outlook. As we look around, we shall discover that beyond the problem of relieving sheer starvation there are gigantic tasks to be undertaken.
We shall find China ready, not for exploitation, but for vast development. At first we shall be obliged to keep our tariff up to avoid competing with China’s cheap labor, but just as soon as it is possible, we should help lift the standard of living and wages in China to a point at least approaching our own. China should be helped up, not held down, as our geopolitic friends suggest. The conquered nations of Europe will be looking for this same treatment.
Mankind just must have something to fight. Human beings are the acme of efficiency when they are crusading for some cause which they deem to be allimportant and eternally worth while. For those who thus wish to fight we shall provide adequate enemies. Both Europe and the Far East are even now ravaged by disease. Here is an enemy of all mankind. Let us fight it. A man who gives his life endeavoring to isolate the germ that causes some terrible plague may be more of a hero than a soldier who, amid din of battle, leads his comrades to victory. And we also will fight ignorance, inequality, injustice.
Among other things on which the Mankind Government and its component national groups could declare war are the following:
[ p. 150 ]
And all of this means that the international government must take over in its entirety the administration of those activities and ministries which are now carried on by the national and international Red Cross organizations.
Great numbers of the earth’s population must be moved, not as Hitler has moved them, with whips and guns at their backs, but by voluntary emigration. Vast areas of Africa remain undeveloped. Perhaps some of the hungry hordes of India can be transplanted there.
One of the great secrets of Russia’s success today is the fact that for twenty years she has done her utmost to educate her people. When the war is over, we shall have an oversupply of engineers, mechanics, and mathematicians, for this is a mechanical [ p. 151 ] war. Let us lend many thousands of these to backward nations, for a man who can figure is well on his way toward success in some field of endeavor.
No one can deny that a high degree of repression has been applied by the empire builders to all the peoples of the Far East, with Japan a possible exception. Like liquid air, masses of humanity will stand a considerable degree of confinement, but there comes a time when, if too much “heat” is put on them, they blow off the lid and tear up everything in sight It is high time that these overcrowded masses of Asia were given an opportunity to expand in a normal manner and to develop those rich resources that remain untouched within their own lands.
It is well for the people of the United States to remember that if and when the tides of the human race that have been moving westward for generations, turn about face and move eastward. North America will be the first mass of land that they will reach. It may well be that before our century closes, little brown men will dry their nets on the ruins of San Francisco, and plant their mulberry trees and weave silk from cocoons where Chicago once stood. We must have a care lest we reap the wrath once sown by empire builders.
Shall we endeavor to shape the governments of the world toward the popular and democratic form? Well, not too much nor too soon, perhaps. We must not appear to dictate. One thing we can do. If a [ p. 152 ] nation, large or small, declares itself for democracy, we can do all within our power to help make that government a success. And that is a great deal more than we did for the fledgling German democracy after the first World War.
Man’s highest good can be realized only by the common striving toward a goal that will be beneficial to all. Former practices that have led to international rivalry and anarchy must give way to higher ideals of co-operation and unity.
Strong in the minds of many even today is the belief that wars are a necessary evil; that without wars the world would in time become greatly overpopulated; and that in the end mankind could not survive. This belief was beyond doubt born in the days of the Pyramids. It would seem to be one of those half-truths that live like parasitical growths down through the ages.
Let us dedicate the next fifty years to the task of laying this ghost. By promoting safe and sound birth control; by reducing the subnormal elements in the world’s population; by discovering new sources of nourishing food; by reclaiming unproductive areas of the earth’s surface ; by combating disease that saps men’s strength; by passing laws that will retire the aged under favorable living conditions, while doing away forever, all over the world, with child labor; [ p. 153 ] and by promoting peace, generosity, and fair dealing among all peoples — by doing all this — we shall be sure to have proved, or at least have gone a long way toward proving, that for centuries to come wars may remain only a memory.
And when our fifty years have come and gone, a healthier, happier generation will cheerfully take up the torch, prepared to carry it forward for another half century. Then, indeed, the curse of war will be gone forever.
Mankind Government must have the support of world opinion. The greatest need of today is for more enthusiastic crusaders.
Standards of international citizenship will eventually be established. National and regional governments will provide courses in world citizenship.
World citizenship is the antithesis of the Germanic geopolitics taught in many institutions of higher learning.
Geopolitics is fatalistic — it assumes that wars must go on forever. It is the archenemy of Mankind Government.
The time is ripe to reassert human dignity — to exalt the absolute values of love, justice, altruism, and fair dealing.
If the present epochal struggle is productive of liberty, fraternity, and equality, then our sacrifice [ p. 154 ] might contribute to the emergence of the long overdue brotherhood of man.
Man can only have equality under law. And law is a farce unless backed up by unchallengeable powers of enforcement.
Before this global war has ended, the thinking people of all nations will clamor for peace — permanent peace.
Mankind Government must have a magnificent capitol. Its picture and its flag must be displayed throughout the world.
Mankind Government’s capitol should be located in a “District of Columbia,” outside the boundaries of all nations.
World citizenship will in no sense detract from the privileges, obligations, and loyalties of national citizenship.
Global fraternity should be the keynote of our crusade for Mankind Government, There must be a universal language.
Mankind Government must have its symbols — an international flag, an anthem, an insignia, and an oath of allegiance.
World citizenship will have its responsibilities, and its citizens will be guaranteed the opportunity for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
International law must be simplified and enforceable by the International Courts located throughout the world.
[ p. 155 ]
Mankind Government will foster international education. The universities of no one nation will be exalted above all others.
The World Government will sponsor a literature in the universal language and will foster a system of international finance.
The World Government will wage war on fire, floods, earthquakes, famine, plagues, and social degeneracy.
Mankind Government will take an interest in all mankind regardless of race, culture, religion, or geography.
When we once have Mankind Government and enforceable international law, we can at last say farewell to war.