into the most intimate relations with all other powers of the world is surely liable to find itself involved in war as long as wars continue upon this earth.

Referring to the canal, Lewis Nixon, one of the greatest marine authorities, says:

We shall have to fight some day for the canal, unless we are willing to give up most of our rights in it without fighting, and adopt the policy of acquiring property, developing it, and giving it away to foreigners.*

Furthermore, between Japan and the United States there are numerous and serious questions which will not be decided for years to come, unless it be by force of arms. All of these are matters so delicate as to be classed among those questions most provocative of war. Large among these looms the question of the relations with Japanese emigrants in the United States, and, in addition, those desirous of coming to this country. These persons acquire land, they underbid American labor, and secure the positions of American laborers; they secure white mistresses, their male adults demand admission to American public schools. The American looks upon the proud Japanese as of an inferior race; he does not want him as a neighbor; he is jealous of the positions which the Japanese may secure; he will not have his child-daughter brought up with a Japanese male adult. These controversies, due to difference *New York Herald.

of race, religion, characteristics, and morals, as well as to agricultural and commercial rivalry, are the kind that arouse the passions of man. Hatred, jealousy, fear, pride, contempt, all powerful agencies indeed, are stirred up by these matters, and these are the agencies that may at any time precipitate conflict between nations.

Only a few years ago, an incident reported widely in the press of both countries occurred at Pasadena, California. The accounts stated that a certain hotel had planned a grand ball in honor of Admiral Yashiro and his officers a Japanese squadron at that time being nearby. American society girls, however, remarked that they would "just as soon dance with niggers," and in consequence the ball was postponed. Said the New York Herald, shortly after:

When the school children of North Beach, in their best bib and tucker, accepting what was supposed to be an invitation to go aboard the Japanese war ships, were about to take the cars for San Pedro a curt telegram from Rear Admiral Yashiro informed them that they would not be received.

True or not, that is a question which makes no difference. The fact that the dispatches telling of this seemingly trivial incident were published all through the United States and Japan is what counts. Americans have forgotten the incident, but do you think that the Japanese have done so? Would

America have forgotten had the insult or fancied insult been reversed? It was perhaps too trivial to warrant an official explanation, but it is the kind of thing that rankles in the breast of the patriotic citizen of any country. These little incidents occurring fre quently in our western states are brooders for the passions that can bring on war.

Nor can financial and commercial consideration act as a strong preventive of war, either now or in the future, Doctor Jordan excepting. This we shall consider at length in a succeeding chapter. General Chittenden, the pacifist, sees and admits all these possible war causes in his work War or Peace, as do all other careful students of our international relations.

Surely, as eminent peace advocates state, the era of universal peace is not yet at hand. Certainly the United States enjoys no special dispensation which will excuse it from the wars which are common to all nations.

CHAPTER IV

WILL WAR EVER BE ABOLISHED?

HETHER or not arbitration, disarmament, socialism, finance, commerce, new economic theories or some hitherto unknown agency may some day entirely abolish war, we cannot pretend to state. Certain it is that but little progress has as yet been made toward that end; and equally certain is it that neither history of the past, present day facts, or arguments of the pacifists afford much encouragement for the future. It is too much, however, for one to state that facts, convincing though they be today, will not be altered with the passing of time. We cannot foresee accurately the world of the future because one unforeseen change may upset all calculations. We can, however, consider facts both past and present and determine what the future must be until the present essential facts or laws are changed.

Thus it is that we are limited in considering the probability of perpetual peace in future years. We can determine its possibilities under existing laws of nature, but none is so wise as to know positively that these laws may not some day change. We cannot foresee these changes -to our human mind they

seem impossible —and we must, therefore, apply laws and facts as they exist today. By so doing we will find that neither arbitration, socialism, economy, or philosophy are likely to bring peace that disarmament or limitation of armament appear to be as far off as ever, and that wars will probably continue till the end of mankind. The arbitrationist hopes to end war by a tribunal of justice; the socialist by convincing the masses that it is in their interest not to fight; the school of Angell by convincing the world that the victor gains nought through war; disarmamists (feeling that military force causes war) by doing away with that force.

For the purpose of illustration of the impracticability of any of these methods under the laws of nature as they are today, we will present an imaginary situation arising between the United States and Japan, and attempt to apply the various methods for peace thereto. We do not say that such a situation will ever arise, yet it is one that is by no means improbable. We are not desirous of selecting any nation as our probable enemy and, therefore, we do not express, herein, our opinions as to the imminence of the Japanese question; merely do we present an imaginary condition of affairs which might well be the outgrowth of matters as they now stand.

Let us assume that Japan with a population of sixty-seven million, or two-thirds of that of the United States, and an area only one-third larger than