Prize Orations of the Intercollegiate Peace Association. Intercollegiate Peace Association

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СКАЧАТЬ that they shall for all time shape his activities to the end of righteous conduct in all international dealings. In particular, the aim is to cultivate in the young men of our colleges and universities such sentiments and standards of conduct as will insure their devotion to the furtherance of international peace through arbitration and other methods of pacific settlement rather than by battleships—standards of conduct based upon the fundamental truth that conflicts between men, and therefore principles of right and justice, can be rightly settled only through the mediation of mind, and that every effort to settle them by force is not only illogical, a psychological impossibility, but is the way of the brute, not the way of man, whose nature touches the divine. All the more important must this work with the undergraduate be considered when we reflect that it is the young men in our colleges and universities to-day who will mold the public opinion and the national and international policy of the next generation; for it is such young men as these that will control the pulpit and the press, the legislation and the diplomacy of the future. It is this fact that gives such peculiar importance to the work of the Intercollegiate Peace Association. To quote from the report of the secretary for 1912:

      "Other peace societies are laboring to create a public sentiment to-day in favor of international peace, through arbitration of all international differences. This is very essential. But the Intercollegiate Peace Association is founded upon the belief that the cause of peace will not triumph in a day, and that it is therefore of the utmost importance that right ideals be rooted into the minds of those who will give expression to the public opinion of the future. In brief, it is building more for the future than for the immediate present. The millennium of peace will not come until the ideals of a Christian civilization take deeper root in the minds and hearts of those who are the leaders of thought and action. One of the crying sins of to-day is that professions of righteous living in accordance with Christian ethical ideals are not taken seriously. Note the disgraceful policy that has been pursued with regard to Turkey by the nations of Europe that profess to be disciples of the Prince of Peace. Hence it is of the utmost importance that those who are to become the future translators of ideals into action shall be imbued with right principles of life and of human relations. To this end it is sought to cultivate the right sentiment against war, and for international peace, among the undergraduates of our colleges; for what the undergraduate thinks about and reads about to-day will very largely determine his future principles and his conduct, and it is he who is destined to mold the ideals, shape the policies, and determine the actions of the people of to-morrow."

      Methods and Results. To carry out these purposes two things are essential: an awakened interest in the cause of peace, and some definite and effective method for molding sentiments and habits of thought that will persist with such vitality that they will give shape to future conduct and activities. To arouse an interest in the subject, on the part of both professors and students, it was believed at the outset that public addresses would be effective, and it was hoped that the association would be able to inaugurate a course of such addresses in our colleges and universities. It was, however, soon found that to finance such a course would require more money than we could hope to command for some time to come. In consequence, very little has been done along this line further than to arrange for occasional addresses and to encourage chapel talks. It is this field of work that the Lake Mohonk Conference voted to adopt at the suggestion of Dr. Gilman. The conference also found it difficult to carry out the plan, and our association was invited to assume the whole of this work—a request we would gladly have accepted, but which we were compelled to decline for want of funds. It is a very important field of work and could be made very effective toward realizing the ultimate goal of the Intercollegiate Peace Association, for its effect would undoubtedly be the enlistment of a much larger number of the students in the oratorical contests, which must be our chief reliance for getting international peace ideas to take a vital root in the undergraduate mind. If we cannot secure the necessary funds for carrying on this important work, it is hoped that some other peace society will do it for us, for such addresses could be made a most effective complement to our work.

      Being compelled to abandon the public addresses for want of money, we have concentrated most of our efforts upon the intercollegiate oratorical contests as perhaps the most effective method for carrying out the purpose of the association. The contests are bound to arouse an interest in the subject, while the preparation of orations is sure to ingrain thoughts, sentiments, and convictions that will be indelible in the character of the young men who participate in the contests. While the contests are oratorical in their nature, their primary purpose is not the cultivation of oratory. Oratory is simply used as a means to an end—the cultivation of right ideas of justice and righteousness between nations. That such a result will accrue is assured both in psychological principles and in experience. Every student who produces a well-prepared oration in bound to make the thoughts and sentiments expressed a part of his being. The oration would not be effective if it were otherwise. The writer has heard scores of these orations, and he is convinced of the sincerity and earnestness of the orators. Moreover, letters written to him by those who have won prizes, attesting their interest in and their devotion to the cause, by reason of their participation in the contests, give ample evidence that the contests are bearing fruit. Nor can one read the orations in this volume without being convinced of their sincerity.

      Indeed, the reason why we do not have intercollegiate debates instead of contests in oratory is because of the psychological truth, amply justified by experience, that the student who prepares for the negative side of a peace question would tend to have his thoughts permanently fixed along the lines of the advocates of great armaments. It is not that the student should not know the arguments opposing the ideas of the advocates of peace by arbitration. We would not cultivate bigotry even in a good cause. We would have him know the facts, as indeed he must before he can present any arguments for peace that would have any significance. But an acquaintance with the opposing arguments is quite a different thing, in its effect upon the thought of the student, from making that thought his own and publicly defending it.

      Other results may be mentioned. While the cultivation of oratory is not a function of the Intercollegiate Peace Association, it does foster oratory as a valuable if not an indispensable instrument for effecting its own end. In fact, the oratorical contests are something more than agencies for interesting undergraduates in the peace movement. The cultivation of the art of expression and of public speaking, now very generally provided for in college and university curriculums, is of especial significance to the work of this association. For it is not alone of importance that the graduate who leaves his alma mater should be indoctrinated with a message of peace for the world; that his message may be effective, he must also have attained some proficiency in the art of clear and forceful diction and in the art of delivering his message in a pleasing and convincing manner. Therefore, it is not without reason that our contests are for the most part under the immediate direction of the department of English, or of whatever departments have charge of the public speaking in the various colleges and universities.

      A further factor in these contests is their cultural value, both moral and intellectual. They necessarily cultivate the highest ethical conceptions, historical and political knowledge, and careful and logical thinking. To quote from the secretary's report for 1912: "The work of the Intercollegiate Peace Association is a great force for righteousness between nation and nation, and so between man and man, and therefore may be considered as supplementary to the more strictly moral and intellectual culture in our institutions of higher learning. The ethical value is not the only value of the contests. In the preparation of orations the undergraduate necessarily informs himself of historical conditions, of the economic and social effects of war, of the legal and constitutional principles involved, and of the problems, difficulties, and principles concerned with international relations. It is this early beginning of an intelligent understanding of the problems involved, together with the right moral insight, that must count for future effectiveness in shaping international policies and practices." Finally, while these contests have chiefly in mind the shaping of the public opinion of coming generations, they are by no means a negligible factor in their influence upon the public opinion of to-day. The contests—local, state, and interstate—are heard by many hundreds of people every year, and in many cases by persons who would otherwise seldom come in contact СКАЧАТЬ