III.

It may seem the idle conceit of a dreamer out of touch with reality to
assert that it is principles which mainly matter and that it is the
ideal which is the ultimate reality. It may seem a ludicrous
exaggeration to assert that a mere abstract scientific theory,
apparently so innocuous as is the German race theory, could be held
responsible for so titanic a catastrophe. Surely there seems to be
here no relation and no proportion between cause and effect. Yet it
does not take a prolonged effort of profound thinking to understand
the portentous political significance of the German race heresy. It is
not difficult to understand that according as we believe that history
is mainly a conflict of ideals or according as we believe that history
is mainly a conflict of material interests, or a conflict of races, we
shall consistently either believe in peace or in war as the normal
condition of humanity. Conflicts of ideas ought rationally to make for
peace. Conflicts of material interests will frequently, although not
necessarily, make for war. Conflicts of races must inevitably and
always make for war.

If you believe in the materialistic theory that human history is
mainly made up of the inevitable antagonism between Aryan and Semite,
between Slav and Teuton, between Celt and Anglo-Saxon, then you must
also believe that war is the permanent and beneficial factor in human
history. For the conflicts of races for supremacy can only be solved
through war.

On the other hand, if you believe in the idealistic theory that human
history is mainly a conflict of spiritual and moral and political
ideals, then peace is the ultimate factor. For human experience and
human reason equally teach us that a conflict of spiritual ideals
cannot be solved by violence. They can only be solved by discussion
and argument, by persuasion and conversion, by the spread of
education, by clear thinking and strenuous working, by the diffusion
of sweetness and light. Both reason and wisdom teach us that truth and
faith are like love--they cannot be imposed by force.

IV.

Underlying the theory of race there is a first assumption that there
is such a thing as a distinct racial type; that there are definite
breeds of men, Aryans and Semites, Celts and Teutons, just as there
are definite breeds of dogs and pigeons; that human breeds are
evolved by similar selective processes; that those distinct racial
types are the main factor in the history