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Show 378 379 feelings. It is in this speech that the Prime Minister said that the moVement for the establishment of peace upon earth is "the greatest of all reforms." More than this could hardly be said or done by any govern- ment to recognize the peace movement, but besides it all, King Edward, the man who bears the peerless title of all the rulers, "King Edward, the Peacemaker," received a deputation from the congress, to whom he said these words, that ought to go down into history with the sayings of earth's greatest souls: "Rulers and statesmen can set before themselves no higher aim than the promotion of national good understanding and cordial fellowship among the nations of the world. It is the surest and most direct means whereby humanity may be enabled to realize its noblest ideals, and its attainment will ever be the object of my own to the progressive thought of the times, the five hundred peace constant Cl‘lfilCHVOl‘S.‘ THE CHAIRMAN: lt is probable that the most productive work done today in the interest of this great movement of the boys and girls with reference to what we plished. Mrs. Fannie Fern Andrews, of Boston, which is being is the teaching desire accomwill tell us of the work which is being done by the American School Peace League. The American School Peace League MR5. FANNIE FERN ANDREWS. The American School Peace League aims to secure the co-operation of the educational public of America in the project for promoting international justice and equity. The peace movement began in the early part of the nineteenth century as a reaction against the devastating warfare of that time. It was then that the first peace society in the world was formed in New York City. For many years the leaders in this world's philanthropy endeavored to create a sentiment against war by showing its injustices as well as its inconsistencies with ethical and humane principles. Although the movement began as a moral revolt against the cruelty and wickedness of war, it soon emphasized the economic and governmental arguments With this appeal societies in the world constitute the organizing and directing force in the great political and economic readjustment that is swiftly leading the world on to international peace-to the establishment of a permanent international court and a World Congress. An organized world is the prerequisite for world peace. The First and Second Hague Conferences, held in 1899 and 1907, respectively, resulted in the establishment of an Interna- tional Court of Arbitration, the unanimous approval by forty-four nations of a Permanent World Court, and the agreement for periodic world congresses. The Hague Conference of 1899 was the beginning of a new epoch in international politics; and so quickly have events followed one another in the past ten years that we may well describe this period as ushering in the age of the new internationalism. A striking manifestation of the new spirit is evinced in the official recognition, by the governments, of the Interparliamentary Union, composed of over twenty-five hundred representatives from the parliaments of the different nations, unitedly working for an organized world. No less important, however, and perhaps more subtle in effect, are the economic and social forces which are unconsciously drawing the interests of the civilized nations into harmonious action. The more prominent instances of these agencies are the great medical congresses, in which the science of the world is assembled to devise means for the control of contagious disease; the international tuberculosis congresses; and those of applied chemistry, which have rendered great service to many lands in securing pure food by regulation of traffic in foodstutls; not to dwell on the periodic congresses of hygiene, moral training, pure science, geology, sociology, the Public Health Association, or the international exchange of university professors, and public school teachers. These are significant milestones in the onward march toward world peace. Side by side. then, with the political march of events, runs this great economic and social current. in the United States these activities are receivingY an ever-wideningr impulse from the Mohonk Arbitration Conference. which has secured the co-opcra- tion of over one hundred boards of trade and two hundred col- leges; the American Peace Society, whose literature reaches |
