Washington, D. C. (Established by Order of the President, April 14, 1917.) 1. RED WHITE AND BLUE SERIES 1. How the War Came to America. 32 pages. (Translations into German, Polish 2. National Service Handbook. 246 pages. (15 cents.) 3. The Battle Line of Democracy. A collection of patriotic prose and poetry. 134 4. The President's Flag Day Speech, with Evidence of Germany's Plans. 32 pages. 6. German War Practices: Part I-Treatment of Civilians. 91 pages. 7. War Cyclopedia: A Handbook for Ready Reference on the Great War. 321 pages. 8. German Treatment of Conquered Territory: Part II of "German War Practices." 9. War, Labor, and Peace: Some Recent Addresses and Writings of the President. II. WAR INFORMATION SERIES 101. The War Message and the Facts Behind It. 32 pages. 102. The Nation in Arms. Two addresses by Secretaries Lane and Baker. 16 pages. 103. The Government of Germany. By Charles D. Hazen. 16 pages. 104. The Great War: From Spectator to Participant. By A. C. 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A AMERICAN AND ALLIED IDEALS AN APPEAL TO THOSE WHO ARE NEITHER HOT By STUART P. SHERMAN Professor of English in the University of Illinois FTER several months of war it is becoming steadily clearer to men of discernment that the victory of our soldiers in the trenches will be achieved in vain unless their cause triumphs behind their lines. At the present time their cause is still compromised by the lukewarmness of many of our so-called leaders of light and learning who, in spite of all their opportunities, have not yet discovered what we are fighting about. The remedy indicated by the symptoms is beset with grave dangers for the unwary. It is a resolute participation, on the part of educated men and women, in propaganda for American and allied ideals. A more cautious writer would say participation in "public information"; but public information is not all that I have in mind. In this matter of inculcating American and allied ideals, every one awake to the need of the hour should be ready to cry in the words attributed by Webster to John Adams: "Sir, before God, I believe the hour is come. My judgment approves this measure, and my whole heart is in it." Let us not mince words: propagandism means zealous campaigning to make ideals and principles take hold upon characters and prevail in conduct. Most educated Americans of this generation have been bred and trained to look with suspicion upon the propagandist. Most of us have been indoctrinated with the ideal which is said to guide the investigator in the fields of science, namely to follow truth, patiently, dispassionately, wherever it leads, without reference to its practical consequences. Accordingly, most of us have adopted the attitude of neutral enquirers and expositors. We seek to create the impression that we have no axe to grind. We have accustomed ourselves to studying and presenting our facts with true impartiality, all that there are on one side and 3 all that there are on the other, concealing our point of view, abstaining from advocacy, withholding our conclusions, leaving the verdict to a jury which our own apparent indifference has frequently rendered genuinely indifferent. To depart from this position of personal reticence and neutrality is for some of us distasteful and for all of us dangerous, unless we know precisely what we are about. To participate, in the fever and excitement of war time, in a zealous campaign for political and cultural ideals is frankly to forsake the still air of delightful studies for the arena of violent and angry passions. It is to be occupied no longer with "mere literature" but with high explosives. Just as soon as we come out into the open, and proclaim our faith, and bend our efforts towards making a powerful application of our ideals to life, towards making our faith prevail, just so soon shall we be exposed to three major temptations. The first temptation of the propagandist is to become a wily liar, betraying the cause which he advocates by false emphasis, garbled reports, and the suppression of evidence. His second temptation is to become a blind and venomous hater of every one and all things that oppose the propagation of his faith. His third temptation is to yield to megalomania and national egotism-signs of that madness which, according to the ancient proverb, appears in those whom God has marked for destruction. Why run these risks? What extraordinary crisis challenges the academic person to emerge from his academic retreat and throw all that he has of personal force into the advocacy of American and allied ideals? The obvious answer is: The same crisis as that which calls upon the soldier to incur the risks of wounds and death. The answe: is good. It is a sufficient answer. But it does not directly illuminate the peculiar tasks and responsibilities of scholarship in the war. It will appeal to men of "fighting blood"; but I should like to make an answer that will appeal also to men who are not of fighting blood, who hold themselves somewhat aloof from the combat, and, like that eminent Frenchman of letters who has retreated to Switzerland, inhabit an air of intellectual tranquillity above the clouds. The so-called intellectual class in America is still infested with Laodiceans, who think they have done enough if they acquiesce |