"
II
The limits of this essay do not admit of detailed examination of the
book named. What I propose to do is make characteristic extracts
sufficiently full to let the reader form judgment. As we are only
concerned for the present with the danger I mention, I take particular
notice of Mr. Angell's book, and I refer the reader for further study to
the original. But the charge of taking an accidental line from its
context cannot be made here, as the extracts are numerous, the tendency
of all alike, and more of the same nature can be found. I divide the
extracts into three groups, which I name:
1. The Ethics of the Case.
2. The Power of Money.
3. The Deal.
Where italics are used they are mine.
1. THE ETHICS OF THE CASE.--"The real basis of Social Morality is
self-interest." ("The Great Illusion," 3rd Ed., p. 66.) "Have we not
abundant evidence, indeed, that the passion of patriotism, as divorced
from material interest, is being modified by the pressure of material
interest?" (p. 167.) "Piracy was magnificent, doubtless, but it was
not business." (Speaking of the old Vikings, p. 245.) "The pacifist
propaganda has failed largely because it has not put (and proven) the
plea of interest as distinct from the moral plea." (p. 321.)
2. THE POWER OF MONEY.--"The complexity of modern finance makes New
York dependent on London, London upon Paris, Paris upon Berlin, to a
greater degree than has ever yet been the case in history.
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