Today We Live

(Ed. Note--The Crimson does not necessarily endorse opinions expressed in printed communications. No attention will be paid to anonymous letters and only under special conditions, at the request of the writer, will names be withheld.)

To the Editor of the CRIMSON:

"Eight thousand veterans of all battlefields of Europe, many of them blind, crippled and gassed, met here today in an anti-war demonstration that moved spectators to tears. Representing 8,000,000 men who were trying to kill each other 15 years ago, and speaking for 13,000,000 who had killed each other, they came to save our children and our civilization' from danger of the 'return to barbarism' they saw looming." so a New York Times dispatch described this very significant meeting in Geneva on March 19, 1933. These men who had seen and felt the horrors of war were not willing to have their descendants endure the same experiences. "Peace, peace at any price, peace by every means, a peace above all" was the slogan of the conference, as expressed by the presiding officer. Thinking people everywhere are echoing these sentiments with fervent hopes.

That the Brown Herald drew a large amount of criticism upon itself by its recent anti-war ballot was due to the fact that so many members of the student body were definitely of the conviction that war was an inexcusably absurd method of setting international differences of opinion. The same attitude was responsible for the declaration on the part of Oxford, Edinburgh, and other British university student bodies to the effect that they would under no circumstances go to war for "king and country."

Peaceful modes of setting international arguments are as vital to the perpetuation of civilization as they are in deciding domestic differences. If a sufficient number of people the world over would absolutely refuse to fight for any cause, the militant and militaristic elements in the population would be unable to bring wars about.

Therefore I suggest that the CRIMSON create an opportunity for peacefully inclined students to express their opinions. Such a ballot might be worded thus:

1. I pledge myself never to fight in any war whatsoever.

2. I pledge myself to fight only in a war against invasion of the United States.

3. I am prepared to fight in any war which the American government decrees.

Every student might thus express his personal opinion. The collective attitude of the university student body would then be clearly placed before the eyes of the public. Robert Levi '33.