The Holland Society of New York - Yearbook (New York, NY)

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176 at the great development of the last century, We complain rather that the moral sense has not kept pace With industrial expansion. We are, as it Were, trying to guide. a great ship With the appa- ratus that Was scarcely sufficient for a smaller one. It is like equipping the Celtic With the rudder made for the H ali-M 0014. It is necessary that the moral sense shall be addressed, and When my friend here CMr. Beckj mentions the Labor Grganization as a menace, I feel like suggesting another danger, more menacing, I think, than any organization of men who are earning their bread in the sweat of the brow. I I refer to the conscienceless organizations of capital that plunder stockholders and patrons, and defy the law. Cflpplausej More dangerous, too, than any labor organization is they use of money in elections, money that has debauched our politics and made the purchase of votes- com- mon upon the street. Men sell franchises and legislate for the great corporation. QApplcmse.j The use of money in elections is, to . my mind, a far greater menace to this country than anything that comes from the organization of laboring men. QApplaif,se.j And what is the remedy for labor troubles? The same e remedy that We are to em- ploy in international politics. It is not to iight among ourselves, it is not , to abuse each other, it is to appeal to the conscience of 'thepeople-the most potent force, I repeat, of 'Which We have knowledge. I Mpplausej I . if I I saw at Rome the great Colosseum, and I re- called the time When the Christian martyrs were dragged into the arena and devoured by the Wild beasts. We are told that, .When they entered the

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175 velopment of the human race, physically, mentally and morally. The time is coming when physical perfection alone will not satisfy, when intellectual training alone will not be sufficient, but when the spiritual man will be considered and his welfare guarded. I believe that we are to build this per- manent peace, this permanent arbitration, not upon a plutocracy of wealth or upon an aristocracy of learning, but upon the democracy of the heart, We shall then arraign every evil at the bar of the public conscience, for the most potent force of which man has personal knowledge is the con- science. That conscience can be awakened, and, when awakened, its gentle promptings are more imperative than statute laws, and the invisible barriers which it builds around us are stronger than prison walls. Qflpplausej ' , It is to this conscience that nations to-day appeal when they appear before The Hague trim bunal. One of the members of that tribunal told me that he was interested to note that the great nations that are represented there by counsel spend their time, not in discussing their pe- cuniary loss or gain, but in defending their honor. It is impossible to overestimate the influence of this appeal to conscience. As has been Well said to-night by China's distinguished Ambas- sador, the suggestion of this Peace Conference presented by the Emperor of Russia was not a new discovery, it simply gave expression to a sentiment that had been growing in the hC31'tS Of people all over the world. And this appeal to conscience must be made in this country as Well as in our international relations. We complam 11O'C

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177 arena, they assembled in the c hands to heaven, and prayed and sang until life was extinct. How helpless they appeared! HOW irresistible seemed the forces arrayed against them! And yet those people, upon their bended knees, in- voked a power stronger than the legions of Rome, and it was only a few decades before their prayers were answered, and their doctrine of love over- whelmed the doctrine of force that had con- signed them to their death. QLong and loud applausej , u I found in Russia a peasant philosopherpreach- ing the gospel of love. He lives in a land where they have almost a million soldiers. They do not allow some of his articles to be publishedg they will banish people for circulating themg they stop at the border those who attempt to carry 'them printed into the countryg and yet the doctrine of that apostle of love has so touched the hearts of the people of the world that, while they may punish the people who circulate what he says, they do not lay their hands upon the man himself. What does it mean? It means just wha.t has been said by Carlyle, that thought is stronger than artillery parks, and that' back of every great thought is love. I believe that this movement to substitute reason for force in the settlement of differences between nations rests upon love, upon an all-pervading love, upon a love that must 1171 the end triumph. If we build in this country, We must build upon that foundation. If you ask me if there is any doctrine that will bring pefwe 111 this country, I reply that it is the doctrine, T11011 shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, and that that is the only peace-bringing doctrine- u fG7'eat af' entre, raised their 2 I