Article December 22, 1917 Issue

Feet of Brass

The Christian Science Monitor

[Editorial in The Christian Science Monitor, Boston, U.S.A., Dec. 1, 1917]

It is about time that the world began to take stock of its position in the great war, and to consider many things which it is only just becoming possible for it to discern, as the days pass giving rise to a clearer perception of what the whole struggle means. Fifty years ago what has happened to-day could not have occurred. The vastness of the world, that is to say, would have reduced the struggle to the dimensions of a comparatively local one, with the result that it would have ended in some sort of a stalemate, such as the peace of Ryswick; some sort of an obvious temporization, such as the peace of Amiens; or else a victorious peace, like the peace of Utrecht. In any case all that would have happened would have been that some country or countries would have gone down for the moment, probably only to recover themselves, and more furiously to renew the combat years later, as France did when she answered the treaty of Utrecht with the armies of Marshal Saxe or those of Napoleon the Great. Or possibly some great power would have sunk into the ranks of the minor powers, as Spain did after Trafalgar; whilst some minor power would have sprung into the ranks of the great powers, as Prussia did at the conclusion of the Seven Years' War.

All this has been changed by what is known as the shrinkage of the world, by the intimate interdependence which has been forced upon nations through the development of communications. Only a hundred years ago if Lord Nelson, in the Mediterranean, had wished to communicate with the Admiralty, in London, a quick frigate would have been the best means at his disposal. To-day the wireless poles on the top of the Admiralty carry their messages into the Mediterranean. In those days, too, the United States was a country apart, largely self-contained, and not particularly interested in European politics. But to-day all this is changed. A modern liner can cross from New York to Liverpool quicker than, a century ago, the ordinary frigate could count on making the passage from Boston to Charleston, whilst the enormous volume of the trade issuing from the ports of the republic has knit the relations of the republic and Europe more closely together than those of many European nations. Therefore, though, in the year 1914, the philosophers proved wrong in their prophecies that the interdependence of nations would prevent war, the very facts on which they based their calculations operated to draw all nations into the war.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

One Governing Intelligence