For War

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 286, 29 August 1931, Page 20

For War

“When the historian is asked Ms opinion as to whether the omens in Europe point to peace or war, he must first of all point out that the old technic of prophecy is no longer valid, that some of the causes of war in the past are now but a stimulus to invention and discovery, that the conquest of nature tends to supplant the conquest of one’s neighbours,” writes Dr. James T. Shotwell in a note of warning in “Scribner’s Magazine.” "The first effect of every new, discovery is to create new strains and stresses, disturbing the poise and. equilibrium of society, so that we have the paradox before our eyes that the growing interdependence of industrial nations is by no means a guarantee against international confllict. “On the contrary, the economic expansion of ithe nineteenth and twentieth centuries has been the source of most international ill will. But, whatever theory one may adopt as to the - ultimate outcome, the pathway to the future is In the hands of the engineer, not of the economist, and no one, least of all the engineer himself, knows what surprises he may have in store. Prophecy in the scientific age is doubly, dangerous, because the potentialities of both war and peace aro increased by a new dimension.” f • '