ics may continue their
indictment, and, pointing out the crises of the hour, paint in dismal
hues a picture of the problems never to be solved except by shot and
shell. Her skeptics, blinded by thought of the errors of the past, may
prophesy the desecration of her honor and the disappointing failure of
her hopes. The press may pen a graphic story of the military spirit of
the age, and frowning patriarchs relate the deeds of golden days gone
by. But underneath this cloud that overhangs, and almost hidden in the
gloom of history's disparagement, the new world-citizen discerns the
birth-light of a brighter and more steadfast star,--perceives the
coming triumph of good will and peace,--and the awakened eyes of
expectant America look forward with promise to the dawn of that new
day when a nation shall be judged by the weight of its cross and not
by the wealth of its crown.

THE ROOSEVELT THEORY OF WAR

By PERCIVAL V. BLANSHARD, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

First Prize Oration in the Western Group Contest, 1912, and in the
National Contest held at Mohonk Lake, May 16, 1912

THE ROOSEVELT THEORY OF WAR

Ex-President Roosevelt has made this astounding statement, "By war
alone can we acquire those virile qualities necessary to win in the
stern strife of actual life." These words, coming from the lips of a
nation's idol, have fallen like a bomb shell in the camp of the
pacifists. Not that Mr. Roosevelt's opinion was of overwhelming
weight, but that he was voicing the opinion of some of the most
influential thinkers of the modern world. Not long before the German
philosopher Nietzsche had taken a like position, and he was indorsed
by Von Moltke, the statesman; Ernest Renan, the historian; Hegel, the
philosopher; Charles Kingsley and Canon Farrar, the divines. We must
have a care, we peace advocates, how we treat such men's opinions. If
they are right; if, as they maintain, war develops a nation, then we
are fighting against the instrument of our own salvation and
smothering the only hope of the nation itself.

But are they right? Does war make for national greatness? Before we
can give a rational verdict we must answer certain other questions.
What is our nation, anyway? What are the factors that make for its
greatness? And how does war affect these factors?

Plainly our nation is not some abstraction that haunts the marble
halls at Washington. Nor is it our vast dominion on which, like
England's, the