AID TO PERIODICALS Since 1912 it has been the custom of the Division to grant annual subventions in the form of payment for subscriptions for a specified number of copies to certain European periodicals. For the year ending June 30, 1916, subventions were granted as follows: At a meeting of the Executive Committee held May 20, 1916, it was decided to grant subventions for the next fiscal year only to Die Friedens-W'arte and La Paix par le Droit. Die Friedens-Warte. The editor, Dr. Alfred H. Fried, reports that the abnormal conditions which during the previous year had hampered the work of this monthly journal have become more and more difficult. In Germany the Friedens-Warte was absolutely prohibited from the mails in 1916. With great difficulty and at additional expense other means were then found to secure delivery to a considerable number of subscribers in Germany. After being suppressed in Hungary it was again permitted to appear, through the efforts of its many friends. The leading members of the Hungarian opposition party are appreciative readers. The distribution in neutral European countries has been unhindered, but the censorship has apparently interfered seriously with copies mailed to America. Such conditions have made it impossible to collect a great many subscriptions and have thus reduced the financial returns. After the war, however, it is anticipated that the journal will meet with a larger measure of success and plans are under consideration to increase its size and to publish it twice monthly. La Paix par le Droit. The regular issue of La Paix par le Droit numbers 6,500 copies. While a few former friends and collaborators have withdrawn their support since the beginning of the war, a larger number of new adherents has come in. During the year under review about 200 new subscribers were obtained. The editorial policy of this courageous journal is well expressed in the following extract from the report of M. Auguste Laune: With regard to the contents of our Revue, we faced real difficulties; on the one hand we have to bear in mind the extreme sensitiveness of the public, and on the other we have to contend with the severities and some times the arbitrariness of the censorship. We have endeavored to deserve public esteem through the moderation and high purpose of our articles. We have done so without sacrificing our convictions. We have continued our opposition to the unhealthy excitations of chauvinism and against annexationist pretensions; and we are endeavoring to prepare the ground for an enduring peace, while insisting upon the patriotic duty of the French people to give their support to this war which we did not desire, until Prussian militarism, and hence all militarism shall have been extirpated. A further explanation of this policy is included in the annual report of M. T. Ruyssen, from which the following paragraph is significant: It seems that some of its readers have been surprised and even shocked because "a pacifist review" has dared, loyally and vigorously, to uphold the effort of the nation which as one man has risen to its defense, and that it should have advocated "a war in behalf of right," rather than an immediate peace; this astonishment may of course be explained with regard to those who in simple minded fashion contrast the terms "war" and "peace" without taking into account that in certain circumstances war itself may become the condition of peace. Anyhow, only those could have been astonished by our attitude who but ill understand the principles to which we have invariably remained faithful. We have never advocated a peace at any price, a peace involving injustice or dishonor; we have advocated "peace through right," thus making justice the inseparable condition of peace as we conceive of it; and when rights are violated, when a neutral country is violated by one of the powers which made themselves the guarantors of its neutrality, when our country is invaded and no neutral power intervenes to restore justice, are there any other resources left, even to pacifists, except to endeavor to defeat force through force, since force systematically repudiates the settlements of justice? If, therefore, by means peculiar to our institution, we have supported the defense of the nation, and put our friends on guard against the conclusion of a hasty peace which would be followed by more and bloodier wars, we have done so, and we are proud of it, because we felt that we were performing our conscientious duty as citizens and civilized people, and not because of a cowardly condescension to the mighty passions astir in our generation. Special Correspondents Dr. Alfred H. Fried, the Vienna correspondent, has remained at his temporary residence in Berne, Switzerland. Under date of October 6, 1916, his annual report summarizes conditions in the Teutonic countries from the point of view of a German whose view is perhaps clarified by his position in a neighboring neutral country just beyond the seething tumult of passions and emotions that pervade those countries which are actively belligerent. He analyzes the increasing force of the struggle between democracy and autocracy and records certain significant psychological changes which have taken place in the German people during the past two years. Mr. Francis W. Hirst, the London correspondent, has severed his connection with the Economist and has established a new periodical, Common Sense, to deal specially with economic and international problems. Owing to the strict censorship Mr. Hirst considered it advisable to send only a small portion of his annual report. A significant summing up of modern methods of war is contained in the following excerpt: Neutral observers outside the whirlpool of agony and passion have the best chance of forming a correct judgment on the military, naval, and diplomatic history of the second year of the war. From the standpoint of international law, this much at least may be said: events have confirmed Bagehot's remark that it is only the existence of neutral states that preserves any sort of international law in war time. Threats of retaliation may sometimes be effective in curbing or limiting atrocities; but retaliation for wrongs inflicted on innocent individuals by inflicting other wrongs on other innocent individuals is itself an atrocity. The development of mechanics in war has unsettled not only strategy, but policy and usage. The diabolical inventions of the last twenty years have revolutionized warfare, and by all accounts this war for those who actually do the fighting, as distinguished from those who direct it, is far more horrible than anything which has previously been experienced. Thousands of soldiers and officers who have been untouched by shell or bullet, have been reduced to a state of lunacy or of nervous prostration from which they will never recover, by the sheer horror of the scenes they have witnessed or the overwhelming din, caused by the great guns or bombs. The airships and the submarines have extended the limits of warfare, and have brought and have caused much suffering and inconvenience to non-combatants and to neutrals. But they are responsible after all for only a tiny fraction of the sum total of human agony caused by this conflict. Mr. T. Miyaoka, the Tokyo correspondent, has continued to send instructive reports on international affairs particularly with reference to Japan and China. Among the most significant of these was an account of the fall of the cabinet of Marquis Okuma with description of the new cabinet accompanied by a clear outline of the constitutional government of Japan. Of particular interest also were reports on the Chinese government and on political conditions in China. Mr. Miyaoka has gladly rendered valuable service to Americans and other foreigners visiting Japan. Dr. Otfried Nippold, the Berne correspondent, has rendered regular detailed reports to the Acting Director. He has published many articles in periodicals, mainly in Switzerland. His reports have discussed present conditions and ways and means by which international organization may prevent the outbreak of international anarchy in the future. Professor Dr. Wilhelm Paszkowski, the Berlin correspondent, sends advice in a letter written January 4, 1917, and mailed from Sweden, to the effect that he has written regularly to the Acting Director each eight weeks. However, only two letters have been received from him since June, 1915. These two letters bear dates January 1, 1916, and January 4, 1917. It is probable that his other letters have been suppressed by the military censorship. In the letter of January 1, 1916, Professor Paszkowski states that he is preparing an important report and collecting literature bearing on conditions in central Europe during the war, to be forwarded to the Acting Director when practicable. Relations with Other American Republics One of the results of the Second Pan American Scientific Congress held at Washington, D. C., December 27, 1915, to January 7, 1916, was to establish close and friendly personal relations between this Division and many leaders of opinion in other American Republics. Plans that have been developed for future educational endeavor include provision for bringing a student from Chile to the Library School conducted by the New York Public Library for two years' study of library methods in order that he may return to do service in the National Library of Chile. Consideration is also being given to the possibility of sending a limited number of students from the United States to continue their studies at universities in South America. During the next academic year a member of the faculty of the University of Washington will be exchange professor at the National University of Chile at Valparaiso and will at the same time be a correspondent of this Division. A visit to South American countries made in 1916 by the director of the Pan American division of the American Association for International Conciliation and the presentation of a North American library to the Museo Social Argentino at Buenos Aires will be referred to below (pp. 67-70) under the caption Pan American Division. Relations with Japan and the Orient The war has continued to prevent the exchange of visits of influential men between Japan and the United States. Through the Japan Society of New York much useful information has been distributed. A subvention of $6,000 granted April 16, 1915, to the Japan Society was entirely expended before June 30, 1916, mainly in distribution of books and other literature to libraries, societies and individuals. 4,200 copies of the book Japan's Message to America, edited and compiled by Naoichi Masaoka and published in Tokyo in 1914, written by a number of distinguished citizens of Japan; 4,500 copies of the corresponding book entitled America to Japan, published in 1915 by G. P. Putnam's Sons, written by citizens of the United States, and 1,000 copies of The Japanese Prob lem in the United States, by Professor H. A. Millis, published in 1915 by the Macmillan Company, were among the books distributed both in this country and in Japan. The Secretary of the Japan Society and the editor of its monthly bulletin, visited principal cities in sixteen states, conferring with the librarians, the officers and active workers in Boards of Trade, Chambers of Commerce and other industrial organizations, editors and other newspaper men, officers of educational institutions, as well as other representative and prominent citizens. Particular effort was made through public and private libraries to encourage the public to read the most authoritative and accurate books on Japan. One of the best indications of the favorable result of the Society's work is shown in the large number of requests for information about Japan that are received from all parts of the country. Careful study has been given to ways and means of solving the difficulties which have arisen in the past decade between the governments of Japan and the United States as well as into the causes of those difficulties. International Visits of Representative Men It has been deemed inexpedient to arrange for visits of representative men between the various nations during the war. Association for International Conciliation The Conciliation Internationale at Paris, under the direction of the Président Fondateur, Baron d'Estournelles de Constant, has despite the war carried on effective work through appeals, correspondence, conversations, visits and the publication of quarterly reports. A very valuable exchange of views is kept up by correspondence with the secretaries in branch associations in allied and neutral countries and with the Acting Director. The special series of letters on the progress of the war begun in 1914 by Baron d'Estournelles de Constant now numbers more than 200. In these letters which embody in detail the observations and philosophic deductions of an accomplished senator of France who had made every possible endeavor to prevent the outbreak of war, the Acting Director has had the high privilege of studying the progress of events in Europe and particularly in France through a medium of keen vision, clear logic and wide international experience. The branches of the Conciliation Internationale are: American at New York Argentine at Buenos Aires Brazilian at Rio de Janeiro Canadian at Ottawa Japanese at Tokyo Peruvian at Lima World Friendship Society at London Secretary Frederick P. Keppel Secretary J. Bautista de Lavalle |