THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 HOW TO PAY FOR THE WAR 
 
 A.E.STILWELL
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 ,^.
 
 THE GREAT PLAN
 
 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 HOW TO PAY FOR THE WAR 
 
 BY 
 
 ARTHUR EDWARD STILWELL 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 " ONTVERSAL PEACE — WAR IS MESMERISM," ' CONFIDENCE, OR NATIONAL SUICIDE," 
 
 'CAKNIBALS OF FINANCE," "TO ALL THE WORLD " ETC. 
 
 HODDER AND STOUGHTON 
 
 LONDON NEW YORK TORONTO 
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 AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATES THIS BOOK 
 
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 INTRODUCTION 
 
 The word " Hell " is derived from the 
 Old English helle^ meaning " that which 
 hides," or " that which has a wall built 
 around it." After all these years of hell, 
 while the progress of the world has been 
 arrested, and the development of the great 
 industrial institutions has been at a stand- 
 still, the question arises : " After this, 
 what ? " Shall the world suffer and groan 
 under this consuming power of evil ; shall 
 it still continue to prepare for more evil, 
 piling up debt upon debt, and forging new 
 yokes for men's necks, or shall it go back 
 to the paths of peace and progress, at once 
 undoing the past, and giving to those who 
 are left peaceful years to rebuild and repair 
 the ravages of war ? 
 
 vii
 
 I INTRODUCTION 
 
 race like the German race, and the author 
 agrees with KipHng, who says that there 
 are two races — the human race and the 
 German race ; and it is inevitable that two 
 such races, holding such different ideals, 
 such different view-points, should sooner 
 or later be forced to fight it out, until 
 one predominates, until the human race 
 triumphs, as it assuredly will. The world 
 is now passing over a dark abyss, over the 
 seemingly bottomless pit of despair, and 
 climbing up the mountain passes to reach 
 the heights of holiness where we can see, 
 in the distance, life abundant and peace 
 universal. Into this seemingly bottomless 
 pit have been hurled eight millions of men, 
 the flower and youth of the nations, and 
 over their dead bodies we march onward 
 to the promised land of peace. On our 
 journey we shall take with us millions of 
 maimed men, blind men, men with no arms 
 or with no legs, or hopeless invalids ; but 
 with love and gratitude we shall help them 
 to bear their burdens, knowing that they
 
 INTRODUCTION xi 
 
 willingly offered their bodies if needed to 
 fill the chasm leading to the other side, the 
 long-looked-for land of peace. 
 
 In this upheaval of the last three years 
 wonderful changes have taken place in the 
 world. Kingdoms have been overthrown ; 
 others are crumbling and in time will pass 
 away. Autocratic power is doomed, and 
 will survive only in the records of history, 
 for it can have no place in the re-made 
 world, which will consist of republics and 
 limited monarchies, and in which the 
 republics will predominate. Universal 
 suffrage will be enforced in nearly every 
 nation on earth, and temperance will 
 triumph to a marvellous degree in all 
 nations. Some feasible plan must be de- 
 vised whereby the nations can carry their 
 differences before a tribunal. By this means 
 force of arms will gradually pass away, and 
 all arguments will be settled as amicably as 
 were those of Norway and Sweden. Such 
 a tribunal, if created, must be backed up 
 by a world organization strong enough to
 
 xii INTRODUCTION 
 
 enforce its decrees, and with the means to 
 do so without resorting to military power. 
 Otherwise its verdicts will be, if the nations 
 choose so to regard them, mere scraps of 
 paper. It must police the world when 
 needful, as the streets of every civilized 
 town are policed. It must, when needful, 
 force peace upon nations, as an international 
 army forced peace upon the Boxer rebels. 
 Starvation and exhaustion, not overwhelm- 
 ing victories, will be the main factors in 
 bringing the present war to an end. Life 
 will be hell during this period, the worst 
 hell ever known. The cost of this war 
 will be ten times greater than the cost 
 of all the wars of the preceding century ; 
 and the purpose of this book is to help to 
 point the way to the shortest cut to peace 
 and prosperity. The author believes that the 
 plan suggested in this book, were it given 
 wide circulation, would force the German 
 nation and its allies to cease hostilities at 
 once, and make them willing to accept the 
 benefits which would accrue from its adop-
 
 INTRODUCTION xiii 
 
 tion. But for this war the plan proposed 
 would have been impossible of realization, 
 as it calls for a larger and wider view-point 
 than the world had ever taken before this 
 war originated. We are now at too late a 
 date in the world's history for the triumph 
 of the ideas and the ideals for which the 
 Hohenzollerns stand ; and even the German 
 nation will, in a few years, have its eyes 
 opened to the immense damage which has 
 been done to its reputation by those in 
 power. The world agrees with the great 
 Greek statesman Venizelos who says : " Kings 
 are not responsible to God, but to their own 
 peoples, who will keep them on the throne 
 only so long as they bow to this principle, 
 and are willing to give an account of their 
 actions in this world, not in the next. If 
 they have special accounts to settle with 
 God, they can settle them after their death, 
 if they reach heaven. If kings are to re- 
 main and reign after this chaos which has 
 visited the world is over, they will do so 
 only if they respect and meekly submit to
 
 xiv INTRODUCTION 
 
 the will of the people over whom they reign. 
 Kings nowadays are but the Presidents of 
 republics who, instead of being elected for 
 four or five years, receive their office by 
 heredity." In this war the hopes of the 
 future are battling with the mistakes of the 
 past, and the future will win. There is 
 no better way of expressing this than in 
 the words of the great English statesman 
 Lloyd George — 
 
 " Now we are faced with the greatest 
 and grimmest struggle of all — liberty, 
 equality, fraternity not amongst men but 
 amongst nations; great, yea small ; powerful, 
 yea weak; exalted, yea humblest; Germany, 
 yea Belgium ; Austria, yea Serbia — equality, 
 fraternity amongst peoples as well as amongst 
 men. That is the challenge which has been 
 thrown to us. Europe is again drenched 
 with the blood of its bravest and best, but 
 do not forget that these are the great suc- 
 cessions of hallowed causes. They are the 
 stations of the cross on the road to emanci- 
 pation of mankind. Let us endure as 'our 
 fathers did. Every birth is an agony, and
 
 INTRODUCTION xv 
 
 the new world is born out of the agony of 
 the old world. 
 
 " My appeal to the people of this country, 
 and, if my appeal can reach beyond it, it is 
 this — 
 
 " That we should continue to fight for 
 the great good of international right and 
 international justice, so that never again 
 shall brute force sit on the throne of justice 
 nor barbaric strength wield the sceptre of 
 right." 
 
 The plan to be given in the following 
 pages is workable and simple, and will appeal 
 not to the Allies alone, but to the Central 
 Powers, as their salvation. It will enable 
 them to pay large indemnities if they are 
 forced to do so. If this plan be adopted, 
 wholly or in part, it will mean resurrection of 
 the world, and from a tomb of despair will 
 arise the greatest of triumphs : the brother- 
 hood of man and peace upon earth, which 
 the angels declared to the shepherds long 
 ago. The plan here proposed brings about 
 one hundred years of peace, by an agreement 
 between all the nations of the earth, and
 
 ivi INTRODUCTION 
 
 this agreement is based on a cash considera- 
 tion. All such agreements as are based 
 on cash considerations are for some reason 
 especially binding, and the idea that they 
 are merely " scraps of paper " is not so 
 prevalent as in the case of agreements 
 which involve no such consideration. The 
 plan to be expounded in the follov^ing 
 chapters not only purchases peace, but gives 
 an abundant supply of new money, based 
 on the best security ever offered, and money 
 that will take the place of disappearing gold 
 and silver. It gives money wherewith all 
 the destroyed values of property are repaid 
 in new currency. There is not enough gold 
 and silver left for the needs of the world, or 
 to repair the damage caused by this war. 
 The proposed currency has behind it, to 
 redeem it in course of time, the best Sinking 
 Fund ever created to liquidate a debt, as 
 the whole world stands behind the Sinking 
 Fund. This currency will enable all the 
 warring nations, and all the neutral nadons 
 which have been forced to mobilize their
 
 INTRODUCTION xvii 
 
 armies, to pay off all bond issues, made 
 during the war, and at once to save all 
 annual interest charges on such bonds. It 
 will enable every nation to repeal all excess 
 and income taxes caused by this war, and 
 return to the pre-war budgets of taxation. 
 It will save hundreds of thousands of men 
 from applying to the Bankruptcy Courts, 
 and will save three or four nations from 
 national bankruptcy, which would be a 
 serious blow to all nations. It will re- 
 establish the securities of those nations 
 which might be forced to repudiate all or 
 part of their debts. It repays all national 
 debts caused by the war, and it does this 
 in less than eighteen months. It gives cur- 
 rency at once to the world to equal its 
 lost values, and does not compel men to 
 wait a generation or two for these values to 
 be re-earned. It saves years of fluctuating 
 exchanges between the nations, by making 
 the latter proof against bankruptcy. It 
 provides enormous sums of capital for the 
 immediate repair of the damaged condition
 
 xviii INTRODUCTION 
 
 of the railroads, whose upkeep has been 
 neglected, and whose equipment is not 
 adequate for the proper conduct of the 
 business of the nations. It furnishes ample 
 money to rebuild the lost tonnage of all the 
 nations, and this rebuilding will bring about 
 the greatest era of prosperity which the 
 world has ever known. And the very con- 
 trary will obtain if this plan is not adopted. 
 It will provide labour in all the nations 
 with the highest wages ever known, and 
 there need be no idle folk in all the world, 
 for progress will make such advances that 
 there will be work for all. A marvellous 
 industrial development, extension and recon- 
 struction, will find a reflection in all trades 
 and manufactures throughout the world. 
 Men and women will again be able to 
 afford luxuries which will be forgotten for 
 a generation if this plan is not adopted. 
 The stocks of industrial companies and 
 transportation companies, owing to the 
 enormous business which they will handle, 
 will attain values never attained before.
 
 INTRODUCTION xix 
 
 There will be purchasers in the world for all 
 that seeks a market, and the purchasers will 
 have ample money to buy. The increased 
 values of bonds and shares and real estate 
 will give back to the world at least double 
 the value that this war has destroyed. The 
 currency created by this plan will to a 
 great extent take the place of gold in inter- 
 national trade. The plan gives Germany 
 and Austria the needed money to repair the 
 damages which we hope they will be forced 
 to pay to Belgium, Northern France and 
 Serbia. Yet it does not take from Germany 
 and Austria what they now possess, but 
 furnishes them with a fund to pay these 
 damages, and this in such a way that Ger- 
 many and Austria will not to any great 
 extent feel the strain of such payment, as 
 they too will be restored to peace and 
 prosperity, instead of rushing toward the 
 bankruptcy which surely awaits them 
 under any other conditions. The Sinking 
 Fund to redeem all the bonds on which this 
 currency is to be based, will be contributed,
 
 XX INTRODUCTION 
 
 as already mentioned, by practically the 
 whole of the civilized world, and will be 
 ample to redeem the entire issue of bonds 
 in less than one hundred years ; and yet 
 all the blessings which will flow from this 
 scheme when it is adopted will cost not one 
 farthing to any one in the world. And not 
 only will this plan procure these blessings 
 without cost, but it will at the same time 
 remove the grievous burden of the heavy 
 taxes which are at present imposed, and 
 will free the world from yet greater, heavier 
 taxation to come — perhaps from the con- 
 scription of wealth which is now being 
 discussed in some countries. 
 
 The author hopes that his readers will 
 not be startled by some of the means by 
 which these blessings are to be conferred on 
 men, but will consider the blessings together 
 with the new conditions which will be 
 needed to make this plan workable, and 
 reflect whether if the radical changes which 
 must be made in the world and among 
 nations are not worth the price. In order
 
 INTRODUCTION xxi 
 
 to carry out this plan, for example, armies 
 and navies must be almost wholly given 
 up — must be used by each nation only for 
 police duty. But are not all these blessings 
 worth this price ? And if this plan is 
 adopted, and all the world agrees to establish 
 a hundred years of peace, and intends that 
 the agreement shall be carried out, is it not 
 obvious that amries and navies will not be 
 needed, except to the limited extent to 
 be mentioned later ? 
 
 Some of the following chapters will deal 
 with the new conditions of warfare ; we 
 shall then explain the plan, and the various 
 aspects under which it may be considered, 
 and the blessings to be conferred upon the 
 world by its adoption.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 I. SUPPOSE 
 
 11. THOUGHTS ARE THINGS 
 
 III. THE PLAN AND EVOLUTION 
 
 IV. THE COST OF WAR 
 V. NEW CONDITIONS 
 
 VI. AN ALTERNATIVE PLAN OF FINANCE 
 
 VII. THE FALLACY OF CONSCRIPTING CAPITAL 
 
 VIH. INDEMNITIES ..... 
 
 IX. THE PRODIGAL WORLD .... 
 
 X. THE GREAT PLAN . , . . 
 
 XI. THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS 
 
 XII. THE OUTLINE OF THE PEACE AGREEMENT 
 
 XIII. THE SINKING FUND .... 
 
 XIV. WOULD THE CENTRAL POWERS ACCEPT THE 
 PLAN? . 
 
 XV, THE NAVAL CLAUSE OF THE WORLD AGREE- 
 MENT . 
 
 XVI. ARMIES AND NAVIES 
 
 PAGE 
 
 vii 
 I 
 8 
 
 i6 
 
 25 
 
 34 
 
 43 
 48 
 
 59 
 63 
 71 
 80 
 
 92 
 103 
 
 108 
 
 n6 
 
 I2S 
 
 xxm
 
 XXIV 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 XVII. IS INFLATION AN OBJECTION? 
 
 XVIII. THE CARE OF THE INJURED 
 
 XIX. THE PLAN AND THE WORLD'S TRADE AND 
 FINANCE ..... 
 
 XX. ARBITRATION 
 
 XXI. THE SOVEREIGN POWERS OF NATIONS . 
 
 XXII. THE STATE CONTROL OF ARMAMENT WORKS 
 
 XXIII. THE INTERNATIONAL FLAG . 
 
 XXIV. THE NON-CONTRIBUTING NATIONS . 
 XXV. CONCLUSION 
 
 PAGE 
 128 
 
 137 
 141 
 
 144 
 
 146 
 
 149
 
 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 SUPPOSE 
 
 Suppose for the sake of the following 
 argument that the plan to be expounded 
 in this book secures the national existence 
 of each nation, with no chance of conquest 
 to be feared for one hundred years. Suppose 
 that the so-called " freedom of the seas " (for 
 which the Germans clamour so insistently, 
 and which in reality was always theirs, until 
 this war took it from them) is guaranteed 
 to all. Suppose that there are no neutral 
 nations, but that all nations are allied for 
 one great and noble purpose — Universal 
 Peace. 
 
 Suppose, if you will, that the people of 
 the Central Powers are really war-sick, and
 
 2 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 that they desire peace as earnestly as the 
 Russians now desire it ; that the Germans, 
 Austrians, Turks and Bulgarians can see 
 some way of stepping down, such as this 
 plan offers them. Would they not all 
 welcome it, and, if necessary, overthrow 
 the military parties which now stand in 
 the way of its adoption, and of their 
 receiving the blessings which would flow 
 from it ? 
 
 In such an event the reign of the military 
 clique who brought about the war would 
 be ended, and what the Allies have fought 
 for would be attained. Why not help to 
 end the war, not alone by the sword and 
 rifle, but by disseminating the facts among 
 these peoples, by letting them know that 
 there is a way out .? 
 
 The Germans have done and are doing 
 all they can to influence the troops on the 
 hostile fronts by intrigue, by lies, and 
 by fabricated copies of Italian newspapers, 
 recounting how English and French soldiers 
 have shot down Italians in Rome and Milan.
 
 SUPPOSE 3 
 
 It was by such lies as these, disseminated 
 by their well-known methods, that the 
 Germans engineered the great retreat of the 
 winter of 19 17. 
 
 Why then do we not adopt these methods 
 of propaganda, not indeed by spreading 
 lies, but by letting the soldiers of the 
 Central Powers know that were there a re- 
 sponsible Government in their own country, 
 with which the other nations could negotiate, 
 and one that desired to end the war by this 
 plan, the Allies would meet it and negotiate 
 with it at once. Why not test the effect 
 which such propaganda would produce upon 
 these people ? It is worth the effort. Count 
 Czernin is reported to have said recently to 
 a delegation — 
 
 " For . us this war is a war of defence. 
 Our object is to conclude a peace guarantee- 
 ing the liberty, independence and territorial 
 possessions of Austria-Hungary. We do 
 not seek any forcible territorial annexation ; 
 we do not aim at any economic oppression ; 
 but we ask for effective guarantees for our
 
 4 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 free and unhampered development in the 
 future. These guarantees are to be found 
 in an agreement for the progressive dimi- 
 nution of armaments, the hberty of the 
 high seas, and the creation of international 
 arbitrage tribunals. We are therefore ready 
 to conclude with our adversaries a general, 
 equitable and honourable peace, guaranteeing 
 the territorial integrity of the monarchy and 
 free economic and political development in 
 the future." 
 
 If Count Czernin is voicing the will of 
 the majority of the people of Austria, this 
 plan surely would meet with their approval, 
 as it gives them all they desire, and, in 
 addition, restores to the people of Austria, 
 Turkey, Bulgaria, and Germany all that 
 they have spent in this war, plus a great 
 and wonderful prosperity, and the removal 
 of a burden of taxation from which they 
 do not at present see any way of escape. 
 If the people of these lands could have the 
 details of this plan brought home to them, 
 they would no doubt be willing to m^ke 
 generous territorial concessions of territory
 
 SUPPOSE 5 
 
 to Italy, were these all that stood in the 
 way of their accepting the benefits offered. 
 
 There is nothing dishonourable in the 
 endeavour to let this plan reach the peoples 
 of Germany, Austria, Turkey and Bulgaria. 
 It only suggests to them that there is some 
 other path to peace than that which they 
 follow by clinging to the ruling cliques 
 who brought about the war, who brought 
 this terrible scourge upon them and the 
 rest of the world. It is this nefarious 
 power which the world is now attempting 
 to destroy. Why not then, if we can, 
 invoke the help of the peoples of these 
 lands in this noble endeavour to emanci- 
 pate the world for ever from these evil 
 influences .? If they fail to see with our 
 eyes, we shall merely stand where we are 
 now. 
 
 In Russia lately, and in other countries, 
 we have seen numbers of men of the stamp 
 of Bolo Pasha, willing to betray their own 
 country for thirty pieces of silver, willing 
 and anxious to be bribed to sell their
 
 6 THE GREAT PLAN ^ 
 
 birthright, together with that of their 
 fellow-countrymen. The bait of money 
 on a German hook has caught a great 
 number of individuals in every nation. If 
 there are everywhere large numbers willing, 
 for the glamour of gold, to undertake such 
 tasks, then there must be multitudes now 
 in the Central Empires who would readily 
 jump at the prospect of this humanitarian 
 plan of a world peace. There is nothing 
 in this offer humiliating or unworthy of 
 the great nations which form the Allied 
 group. There could be no greater crime 
 than a propaganda which would encourage 
 an inconclusive peace, which would allow 
 Germany to be the victor, to retain her 
 military power, to rest a few years, and 
 then to begin all over again with those 
 modern implements of war, the airship and 
 the submarine, perfected. If this plan or 
 one that will produce the same results 
 cannot be accepted, it were better to fight 
 this war through, though it may last for 
 years and though in place of the 8,000,000
 
 SUPPOSE 7 
 
 killed the death-roll should attain 20,000,000. 
 However heavy the cost, it cannot be too 
 great. Any endeavour of the so-called 
 pacifists to procure a premature peace is a 
 crime, and ought to be dealt with accord- 
 ingly. What, for example, could be worse 
 for the people of brave, heroic France, 
 who with such patience and fortitude 
 have borne the heaviest sufferings of this 
 war, than to live continually under the 
 apprehension that in fifteen or twenty years' 
 time another Kaiser would invade their 
 country, and at a time when they might 
 have to stand alone. What an inheritance 
 this would be for the coming generation ! 
 Four-fifths of the world's nations are now 
 allied, and it is their duty to see this war 
 fought to a finish, unless some such plan 
 as that hereafter proposed should make it 
 unnecessary.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 THOUGHTS ARE THINGS 
 
 St. Paul said : " As a man thinketh in his 
 own heart, so is he." As the world thinks, 
 so is the world. All the manifest things of 
 life are the product of the thoughts behind 
 the things manifested. Life is like a great 
 screen on which a cinematograph picture is 
 projected, and it is useless to seek, with any 
 cleansing fluid or soap, to remove the picture 
 from the screen, so long as the film is in place 
 and the light burning. You can remove the 
 picture only by removing the film or turn- 
 ing out the light. So with all manifestations 
 of human experience ; there are only two 
 ways to change conditions : either to change 
 man's thoughts, or to stop him from 
 thinking, which is not possible. 
 
 As one picture on the cinematograph film 
 
 8
 
 THOUGHTS ARE THINGS 9 
 
 can be seen by thousands, so can one thought 
 of a person in power be reflected by the 
 lives of millions, as the war-thoughts of 
 the Kaiser have been reflected by the entire 
 world, the result being this present hell. 
 Had he not always thought in terms of war 
 and conquest, we should now be at peace. 
 No one else possessed of great power had a 
 war-thought in his mind. We should shun 
 any one with such a disordered mind, as we 
 should shun a person suffering from the 
 plague. Such a person ought to be isolated 
 — removed from contact with others as 
 promptly as possible. The important thing 
 from this time forward will be to avoid any 
 person or group of persons who talk war, 
 just as you would avoid any person who 
 carried a most deadly contagion. Such 
 persons must be put under restraint and 
 isolated, or the war-microbe will spread 
 and contaminate a whole nation or nations, 
 as it contaminated Germany ; and now that 
 she is contaminated it will require all the 
 forces of the world and all the finances of
 
 10 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 Christendom to overthrow her, and to make 
 he world again a fit place to live in. 
 
 Nearly all readers of this book will admit 
 90 per cent, of the peoples of the world 
 desire peace ; that they have no wish 
 forcibly to rob any person of his possessions, 
 or any nation of its corporate existence ; 
 they look on all the diabolical deeds of the 
 Germans in this war with unmitigated 
 horror ; their desire is to relieve suffering 
 and to uplift mankind. They will devote 
 millions to relieve famine, to stamp out 
 disease, to educate the peoples of distant 
 lands. 
 
 Thoughts are things. Why cannot this 
 desire of men for peace be satisfied through- 
 out the world ? The answer is that there 
 is no organized force to do it or to attend to 
 its being done. The writer of a book or 
 the composer of music has the machinery 
 of the copyright laws to protect him ; the 
 inventor of some wonderful instrument has 
 his thoughts embodied in the thing broug'ht 
 forth, which may be protected under the
 
 THOUGHTS ARE THINGS ii 
 
 international patent laws. But while nearly 
 the whole world desires peace, there is no 
 organization on earth to bring it about, and 
 no machinery existing to further this desire 
 of the majority of mankind. Each nation 
 has in the Cabinet a Secretary for War and 
 a Secretary of the Navy ; none has a Secre- 
 tary of Peace to represent the wish and will 
 of the majority of the people, and to realize 
 and maintain this wish. Peace must be 
 an international arrangement, just as the 
 Copyright laws and the Patent laws are 
 international arrangements, and it must be 
 enforced just as other desires and claims of 
 men are enforced. It is the most important 
 of all. All controversy and all propaganda 
 that would tend to break this desired peace 
 must be repressed, so that the wish of men 
 may be realized and universal peace prevail. 
 Perhaps the greatest of all hallucinations 
 is that the size of a nation brings prosperity. 
 Germany conquered France in 1870, but 
 to-day French bonds command higher prices 
 and lower rates of interest than those of
 
 12 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 Germany ; and merchants and manufac- 
 turers in France have been able, for more 
 than twenty years, to get from their banks 
 more favourable rates than Germans can get 
 from theirs. In Holland, Belgium, and 
 Sw^itzerland the people are richer, ^d-r capita^ 
 than the people of Germany ; and, further, 
 they are free from the strain of the upkeep 
 of such enormous armies and navies. Had 
 Germany been a hundred miles from the sea 
 she would have needed no navy to protect 
 her, while at the same time her products 
 would have reached the markets of the 
 world, just as do those of Switzerland, and 
 her people would have been free from the 
 machinations of the great Navy League, 
 which was for ever preaching war and 
 preparing and inflaming public opinion 
 with a view to the present debacle. 
 
 The size of a nation does not ensure 
 proportionate prosperity, nor do its armies 
 and navies. The man who can sell his 
 
 9 
 
 chickens for \s. 6d. does better than the 
 man who gets only ij-. The former may
 
 THOUGHTS ARE THINGS 13 
 
 live in a country where there are only 
 10,000,000 hens, while the latter may 
 live where there are 110,000,000. The 
 number of hens in his country does not 
 help him towards obtaining a good price. 
 Canada is part of the British Empire, yet 
 England does not control it in any way ; 
 she has practically not one word to say 
 in its government ; and she receives no 
 benefit in the way of trade or money that 
 Germany, Belgium, Switzerland or the 
 United States does not receive. When a 
 German salesman in South America makes 
 a cheaper price than his competitor, gives 
 better terms, or packs the goods as the pur- 
 chaser desires, he gets the order. The fact 
 that England has the largest navy, or that 
 the population of Germany is twice that of 
 the former country, does not deter the pur- 
 chaser from giving the order to a German 
 firm. These points simply do not enter his 
 mind, and hence we see that all the world 
 is, for practical purposes, a colony for any 
 nation that has the skill and ability to secure
 
 14 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 the trade that is going. War does not in 
 any way, even if it adds ten millions to the 
 population of the conquering nation, assist 
 in the conditions enumerated above. Eigh- 
 teen years ago Spain lost all her colonies, 
 yet since this loss she has been more pros- 
 perous than when she possessed them. As 
 another instance, the average Hollander is 
 twice as wealthy as his neighbour in 
 Germany ; yet if Holland could to-morrow 
 acquire Belgium, this coup would not put 
 another sixpence in the pocket of the 
 Hollander. Rather it would take sixpence 
 out, since he would be forced to contribute 
 to the upkeep of a navy and a standing 
 army, lest his neighbours rob him of his 
 new property. 
 
 The most awful example of the power of 
 wrong thinking is the evidence we have of 
 the German turned from the peaceful path 
 of industry and honour by forty years of war 
 propaganda and the preaching of the right 
 of might — taught to disregard all contracts 
 and agreements if by doing so he can aid
 
 THOUGHTS ARE THINGS 15 
 
 his nation. No more devilish propaganda 
 
 has been promulgated since the world 
 
 began, nor any that has produced such 
 
 horrible effects. But from these effects 
 
 the German nation will in the end suffer 
 
 most. 
 
 The demand for Peace and Universal 
 
 Democracy must not be confused with 
 
 any other issue ; it must be fought out 
 
 alone. Other reforms can be taken up 
 
 later. One great reform is sufficient for 
 
 this occasion, and when people have learned 
 
 how united action can produce the desired 
 
 results it will be time enough to take up 
 
 others, such as the problems of food control, 
 
 etc., which will be needed in the reborn 
 
 world that is to be.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE PLAN AND EVOLUTION 
 
 The plan here outlined, which is to unite 
 all the nations of the earth in an endeavour 
 to secure and maintain peace, is in the line 
 of evolution. That union for these ends 
 will come sooner or later is as certain as that 
 the sun will rise to-morrow. All we need 
 pray for is that its coming may be hastened, 
 and the author's devout prayer is that the 
 proposals here set forth may prove to be as 
 the leaven which a woman took and hid in 
 three m.easures of meal until it leavened the 
 whole. He hopes that the two halves of 
 the world now at war will be united in the 
 attempt to reach the supreme objective — 
 Universal Peace. The reasons for the war 
 are aptly stated in Mr. James W. Gerard's 
 book, My Four Tears in GermaJiy. In the 
 last chapter he says — 
 
 i6
 
 THE PLAN AND EVOLUTION 17 
 
 " Is it not a shame that the world should 
 have been so disturbed ; that peaceful men 
 are compelled to lie out in the mud and 
 filth in the depths of raw winter, shot at 
 and stormed at and shelled, waiting for a 
 chance to "fhurder some other inoffensive 
 fellow-creature ? Why must people in old 
 Poland die of hunger, not finding dogs 
 enough to eat in the streets of Lemberg ? The 
 long lines of broken peasants in Serbia and 
 in Roumania ; the populations of Northern 
 France torn from their homes to work as 
 slaves for the Germans ; the poor prisoners 
 of war starving in their huts or working in 
 factories and mines ; the cries of the old 
 and the children wounded by bombs from 
 Zeppelins ; the wails of the mothers for 
 their sons ; the very rustling of the air as 
 the souls of the ten million dead sweep to 
 another world — why must all these horrors 
 come upon a fair green earth where we 
 believed that love and help and friendship, 
 genius and science and commerce and 
 religion and civilization once ruled ? 
 
 " It is because in the dark, cold northern 
 plains of Germany there exists an autocracy, 
 deceiving a great people, poisoning their 
 minds from one generation to another, and
 
 1 8 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 preaching the virtue and necessity of war. 
 And until that autocracy is either wiped out 
 or made powerless there can be no peace on 
 earth." 
 
 Now at least 90 per cent, of the 
 German people in the United States see the 
 mistakes being made by the Fatherland, see 
 it no doubt as plainly as most of us do. 
 They are disillusioned, and in all proba- 
 bility, if freedom of Press and speech were 
 allowed in Germany, we should find that 
 half of the German nation is disillusioned 
 also. As President Lincoln^s apt dictum 
 put it : '* You can fool all the people part of 
 the time, and part of the people all the 
 time, but you cannot fool all the people all 
 the time." The author believes that for a 
 majority of the German people the time for 
 being fooled has gone by. The following 
 extracts from the Daily Telegraph of citations 
 from the Austrian Press show how the veil 
 is lifting there — 
 
 " In Austria the various nationalities are 
 opposed to each other, and in Hungary
 
 THE PLAN AND EVOLUTION 19 
 
 there is an open conflict between the 
 Government parties and those in opposition. 
 The censorship at Budapest is permitting 
 open attacks on the Government and the 
 Constitution, which were impossible two 
 years ago. Revolution is everywhere brood- 
 ing, not violent armed revolt, but an intel- 
 lectual rebellion, which is feared even more 
 than physical resistance. The following is 
 an extract from a leader published by the 
 Magarorszag^ of Budapest, making a terrific 
 onslaught on the Prussian militarists and the 
 Austro-German autocracy — 
 
 " ' Theories of violence rule over certain 
 countries, and their peoples are deceived 
 by fictitious constitutions. These countries 
 are controlled exclusively by a prejudiced 
 military caste, which mutilates every noble 
 institution. These baneful growths must 
 be eradicated. They have placed Europe 
 in distress, and the longer the struggle 
 continues the more radical must be the 
 transformation. We still hear a death- 
 rattle incitement to fighting, orders forcing 
 us to murder, raving and violent stupidity 
 seeking to drown ideas of peace, and humili- 
 ating human nature and intelligence. All 
 this we owe to Prussian militarism.'
 
 20 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 " The paper goes on in the same strain for 
 another column. On the other hand, Count 
 Karolyi, in a public speech, attacked Austro- 
 Hungarian diplomacy as responsible for the 
 war. He was, it may be remembered, 
 travelling on a political mission in July 
 1 9 14, and was on a steamer coming from 
 America when war was declared. After 
 some detention he was allowed to return 
 to Hungary. He said in his speech at 
 Czegled — 
 
 " ' Long before this universal war, during 
 the Balkan campaign, I severely criticized 
 the administration of our foreign affairs, 
 because I saw that we cannot acquire friends 
 by such a policy. It was not independent 
 and of no consequence in the Triple 
 Alliance. I saw the danger. We were 
 sitting on a powder mine that could ex- 
 plode at any moment. I decided to bring 
 about a rappr^ochement between France and 
 Austro-Hungary, and with what hopes did 
 I not start to America .? I was able to 
 undertake the task with good hope and 
 confidence, having seen that my negotiations 
 with the French politicians and financiers in 
 Paris met with appreciation and sympathy. 
 Whilst I was on this mission of peace the
 
 THE PLAN AND EVOLUTION 21 
 
 lunatics of Vienna and Berlin plunged the 
 world into this war, and I was accused of 
 treason against my country by Tisza's 
 partisans and their Press, which was hired 
 for inciting to war. My crime was that I 
 denounced the policy of our Government, 
 both before and during the war. We must 
 do all in our power to bring it to a speedy 
 conclusion. The question is, who can act 
 as intermediary .? The Holy Father might 
 do much in the direction of peace media- 
 tion, but only the Great Powers themselves 
 can discuss it with success.' 
 
 " This remarkable speech, delivered in a 
 public political assembly, is now printed in 
 full in the Budapest papers, and shows that 
 Prussian militarism is beginning to receive 
 heavy blows from the Magyars, from whom 
 such an attack was least expected." 
 
 The evolution of human understanding 
 means the perception of new truths, which 
 are put into practice, deliberately or in- 
 voluntarily. Slowly through the centuries 
 the world has been advancing to the point 
 at which the plan hereafter described can 
 be put in operation. Ages ago only small
 
 22 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 tribes existed ; then larger tribes combined 
 as nations, for mutual protection, and from 
 these small agglomerations came the great 
 nations. Later came the colonizing power 
 of the English to bring peace to the world 
 — the growth of the United States and the 
 suppression of the warring Indian tribes. 
 On marched civilization, aided by steam, 
 electricity ; the postal service, the telegraph 
 cable and wireless telegraphy, uniting ideas 
 and ideals until it had nearly arrived at the 
 point where Universal Peace was an estab- 
 lished fact. We were soon to have peace 
 upon earth and good will toward men. 
 Nothing stood in the way but the German 
 autocracy, deceiving the people, thirsting for 
 world power, and the Russian autocracy, 
 content with its autocratic power. The 
 latter has now passed, for all time, let 
 us hope ; only the former remains to be 
 crushed. And it must be crushed, with 
 such sledge-hammer blows that it will' be 
 shattered for all time. This war is part 
 of the evolutionary process — the world is at
 
 THE PLAN AND EVOLUTION 23 
 
 war with those that stand in its way. Men 
 like Heinrich Treitschke are but the spirit 
 of the Stone Age reincarnated. He says : 
 " The German soldier who slaughters a 
 Slav spreads Germanism more efficaciously 
 than the most gifted intellect of a political 
 writer." The innumerable instances of 
 German intrigue in all countries show that 
 there are still many Germans of this type 
 to be dealt with. But dealt with they will 
 be ; for nothing can now withstand the 
 onrush of civilization. It is imperative that 
 the whole nest of these vipers be extirpated. 
 The fact that on December i, 19 17 — 
 the day on which this chapter was written 
 — the Germans held all the territory which 
 they had taken, excepting a section as large 
 as an English county, which has been 
 regained by the Allies, proved to those 
 Germans who looked at the map that in 
 Europe they had won the war. So they have, 
 if the square mileage of occupied European 
 territory be the measure of success. But 
 Napoleon occupied a larger extent of terri-
 
 24 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 tory in Russia than the Germans hold now, 
 yet this did not prevent him from ending 
 his days in lonely exile. Wrong may seem 
 to triumph, but its day is short ; Alsace 
 and Lorraine will revert to France. The 
 gold Germany won by their excursion in 
 1870 will be lost, and billions more with 
 it. "The mills of God grind slowly, but 
 they grind exceeding small." The evolu- 
 tion of the war machine has brought it to 
 such a pitch of perfection that it is now 
 nearly unworkable. Forts have become 
 obsolete in this war ; next year warships 
 will give place to airships, and, as already 
 stated, the back will be the front. All 
 nature is working to make war implements 
 unworkable, and if man only will see things 
 as they are, and accept Nature's verdict, the 
 world will be lifted to grander heights, and 
 into an atmosphere in which men like the 
 Kaiser will not exist. In all commercial, 
 literary and artistic pursuits the world wilt 
 make tremendous strides. War will be ?^ 
 matter for the records of history alone.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 THE COST OF WAR 
 
 In the Franco-German War of 1870 there 
 were, in both armies, just over 1,700,000 
 men. The mortality lists in both armies 
 were about 300,000 killed, or about 19 per 
 cent., which takes no account of the number 
 that died from wounds and exposure, in 
 a period of, say, six months, so it is safe 
 to say the mortality was 20 per cent. 
 
 How different is this war from all others ! 
 The war of 1870 was decided within a few 
 weeks, excepting the siege of Paris, where 
 hunger was as great a factor as shot and 
 shell. Again, it was fought entirely on 
 land ; further, the implements of war then 
 in use were by no means as destructive 
 as those now employed. There were no 
 dirigibles, no aeroplanes, no " 75's " ; and 
 
 25
 
 26 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 the Krupp guns were very inferior to those 
 of to-day. We must take into consider- 
 ation the great loss of life among non- 
 combatants inflicted by Germany, according 
 to her gospel of frightfulness, and also the 
 casualties incident on sea engagements and 
 the destruction of the merchant marine, and 
 the deaths from hunger and from suicide 
 among women no longer able to bear the 
 strain imposed upon them. To err on the 
 safe side, we will assume that there are 
 now, in the contending armies, and engaged 
 in work upon or behind the battlefield 
 35,000,000 persons, men and women. 
 
 General Smuts gives the death-roll as 
 8,000,000. James W. Gerard gives it as 
 10,000.000. We will take the lower figure 
 for our comparisons. The men engaged 
 in all wars since 1793 numbered only 
 18,500,000, and the total mortality among 
 them was 5,500,000. This makes the 
 death-roll of the present war 2,500,000 more 
 than the total mortality of all wars for the 
 last 1 1 5 years.
 
 THE COST OF WAR 27 
 
 400 Million Years of Life 
 
 Grant that the average age of the 
 8,000,000 killed, or dead from exposure 
 and disease, was 30 years. The expecta- 
 tion of life at that age, according to the 
 mortality tables issued by the insurance 
 companies, is another 35 years. Calcu- 
 lating on this basis, we have 220 million 
 years of life that have been taken from the 
 world, leaving out of account the other 
 2,000,000 whose lives will probably be 
 shortened by the privations of campaigning. 
 Altogether, we may say that the tax on 
 years of human life will amount, all told, 
 to 400 million years, wrested from the 
 lives of young and vigorous men who have 
 been forced, or have volunteered, to help to 
 rid the world of the bondage of Prussianism 
 and Nietzscheism. If these dead could 
 speak and tell of their sufferings through 
 the long days in the trenches, from ex- 
 posure, hunger and injuries, what an awful 
 indictment their stories would be of those
 
 28 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 who engineered this unnecessary war ! And 
 what an unpayable debt we owe to those 
 that have given up their Hves in this battle 
 for freedom, that we living may live in 
 peace in the future ! What a debt we owe 
 to the dear ones left by those that have 
 died, to those that yet live but are unable 
 to work ! And that we may do our utmost 
 to pay this debt in future years, The Great 
 Plan is offered as the best way to do it. 
 And it will as no other plan can unless it 
 imposes untold burdens on the living, in 
 all lands. The fact that the nations now 
 at war were considering the adoption of 
 it would have a great effect for good on 
 those now in the field ; no more powerful 
 stimulate could be offered than the hopes 
 that The Great Plan might be adopted by 
 the world, to be followed as it would by 
 each nation having in its Treasury ample 
 money to pay this debt to the wards of 
 each nation, and with the generosity which' 
 the fund this plan provides would enable 
 each nation to exercise in this matter,
 
 THE COST OF WAR 29 
 
 The Awful Cost 
 
 This war has cost to date at least 
 25,000 million pounds sterling, or 125 
 billion dollars, to the warring nations, 
 without taking into account the destruction 
 of property, and the cost of mobilization to 
 countries such as Holland, Norway, Sweden, 
 Switzerland, Spain, etc. The total cost of 
 all the wars of the world from 1861 to 
 1 9 14 was 1 1,000 million dollars, or a little 
 over 2000 million pounds. The total cost of 
 all wars since 1793 was 26 billion dollars, or 
 over ^1(^5, 000, 000,000. Think of it, Reader: 
 this war costs as much in seven or eight 
 months as all wars have cost for the last 
 1 1 5 years ! then you will see more readily 
 the need of some plan to lift this heavy 
 financial burden from mankind. 
 
 Before this war began, the nations of the 
 world were spending, approximately, 70 per 
 cent, of all their income on war prepara- 
 tions and pensions, and on the upkeep of 
 army and navy. While we are considering
 
 30 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 these figures, we must remember also the 
 staggering sum which all nations now at 
 war will be forced to pay for pensions when 
 the war is finished. Only a plan such as 
 that about to be explained can provide the 
 funds to do this. 
 
 Is it any wonder, then, that women desire 
 and demand the franchise ? In the light 
 of these statistics, this man-ruled world is 
 clearly a gigantic failure. 
 
 In the United States the percentage is 
 a little higher ; it works out at 72 per cent. 
 A large proportion of this sum is due to 
 the higher rate of pensions paid by the 
 Government ; but the whole expenditure 
 is connected with war — either with wars 
 past or with wars to come. Only 28 per 
 cent, of the total income is used for the 
 benefit of the living and the demands of the 
 present. 
 
 The cost of this war would line both 
 sides of a road 250,000 miles long with 
 homes each costing $2500 {£s°^) ^^^ 
 each occupying 50 feet of frontage — a
 
 THE COST OF WAR 31 
 
 line of homes going ten times round the 
 earth. 
 
 If war is to continue, then, as weapons 
 of war increase in their frightfulness, so will 
 the machines for combating these weapons 
 develop ; and, unless the portentous dynasty 
 of Hohenzollern be overthrown and extin- 
 guished, and the democracy of Germany 
 replace it, the contest of 1930 or 1935 will 
 be the bloodiest that the mind of man can 
 conceive. The horrors and cost of the 
 present conflict will fade into insignificance 
 in comparison. And only this plan can 
 prevent its coming. 
 
 The total expenses of all the world's 
 Governments for 191 3 was 2500 million 
 pounds. The cost of this war is ten times 
 as great as the expenses of all the world's 
 Governments for 191 3. 
 
 The total gold and silver coinage of the 
 world, before the war, was about 10,000 
 million dollars or 2000 million pounds. 
 The cost of this war is thirteen times this 
 amount.
 
 32 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 The cost of this war is nearly three times 
 as great as all the National Debts of the 
 world before 19 14. 
 
 The cost of this war to date is equal 
 to the combined wealth of France and 
 Germany. 
 
 The market value of all listed Stocks and 
 Bonds in all the Exchanges of the entire 
 world was less than the cost of this war 
 to date. 
 
 The capital of all the National Banks of 
 the United States would have to be multi- 
 plied by 130 to pay the cost of this war. 
 
 The total value of all the fishing products 
 of the world for one year would pay the 
 expenses of this war for about twelve days. 
 
 This great cost, which the above figures 
 illustrate, falls on all nations, but on none 
 more heavily than those of the Central 
 Powers. And the control of Russia by 
 these Powers does not lift this burden ; 
 it still remains, and can only be removed 
 by the adoption of The Great Plan. It 'is 
 far better for the Central Powers to restore
 
 THE COST OF WAR 
 
 33. 
 
 all lands to their rightful owners, and have 
 the benefits of the blessings that will come 
 from the world adopting The Great Plan, 
 than it will be if they double their territory 
 and stagger under this debt-burden for 
 generations. 
 
 ^«^^ 7>4^ 
 
 
 ^-^4(X^" 
 
 fri^Sl,.^^ i^-*^ 
 
 D
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 NEW CONDITIONS 
 
 Two important facts are being proven in 
 this war. First — that with forty years of 
 preparedness Germany has found that war 
 as a means of conquest is a failure. Second 
 — that nations as unprepared as the AlHes 
 were can, by modern war methods and war 
 implements, prevent the advance of the 
 armies that desire conquest, and to date 
 all the well-laid plans of the Central 
 Powers on the Western Front have been 
 more or less of a failure ; in fact, the only 
 victories that have been achieved of late 
 have been due to the liberal use of German 
 money through their trusted agents in 
 Russia. Yet it is safe to say that there is 
 not in all the world five persons having 
 enough power to bring about war desire to 
 
 34
 
 NEW CONDITIONS 35 
 
 do so. All other great Powers in the world 
 desire peace, and this war having proven 
 the utter hopelessness of war being a success 
 with modern methods will, in time, cure 
 the German people of their desire for war 
 or to be considered a warlike nation. The 
 prestige and power that they had in the 
 world is gone — a thing of the past — and 
 when you add to this the enormous cost 
 of this war, which to Germany alone will 
 require a 60 per cent, income-tax to take 
 care of their war debts, the hopelessness of 
 war will exert great influence with Germany 
 and its Allies in looking with favour on the 
 plan to be explained in this book. By this 
 time they see that the Airship has radically 
 transformed warfare, and they can see as 
 plainly as the people of other nations that 
 if they are in the future to prepare for war 
 they must rebuild their Krupp and other 
 plants for producing war material under- 
 ground, and that none of their cities will 
 be safe, that they may at any time be 
 raided by air-squadrons, and that they as
 
 36 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 well as other nations must, as soon as this 
 war is over, commence to rebuild their 
 cities underground, and to do this and also 
 take care of their nation's debts will be a 
 hopeless burden to stagger under, and will 
 make Germany and its Allies as desirous of 
 peace as all nations were before this German 
 plague broke forth. If they are to continue 
 war as a trade they see, as plainly as all other 
 nations see at this time, that all great banks 
 in cities like Berlin, London and Paris must 
 be rebuilt underground. Their vaults must 
 contain space for their valuable archives, and 
 securities of every kind must be stored so 
 far underground that there can be no danger 
 of loss of any kind. Only the workaday 
 space must be above ground. Art galleries 
 and the great libraries must be rebuilt at 
 least thirty feet underground, with the 
 entrance only at the surface ; otherwise 
 there will be a danger that a few bombs 
 will destroy great collections of masterpieces 
 and marvellous collections of books — and 
 this may happen any day. The gre£ft
 
 NEW CONDITIONS 37 
 
 palaces of kings and of the rich must have 
 their subterranean bedrooms and banquet- 
 ing halls (and this is just no travesty of the 
 facts) ; they must be reconstructed in this 
 way, and the work must be started at once 
 unless universal peace is established and 
 maintained. In each great city vast cellars 
 must be constructed, capable of housing 
 thousands of people with the necessary 
 comfort. These must be situated in each 
 section of the city, so that the people can 
 take cover at once in case of danger, and 
 remain for hours. All roofs of buildings 
 must in future be made stronger and by 
 some means bomb-proof. All inhabitants of 
 cities, children included, must have their 
 gas-masks ready at all times from birth 
 to old age ; for if war is to continue the 
 gas-bomb will be perfected, and rained 
 down upon the cities, to kill the thousands 
 whom the explosive bombs cannot reach. 
 The words " at the Front ^' will not be used 
 in the future ; the back will be the front 
 from how onward. All the people will be 
 
 ssm4t
 
 38 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 in the firing line. All children in schools 
 must have monthly drills, to prevent panic 
 in case of invasion by air. 
 
 Consider then, if you can, what it will 
 mean if all the nations of the earth, when 
 this war ends, undertake immediate pre- 
 parations for war under these conditions. 
 Each nation will at once build great 
 undersea submarines, great undersea cargo- 
 steamers, — there must also be kept ready for 
 action by each nation 5,000 to 10,000 sub- 
 marine destroyers, — and also build great 
 armies of Tanks, and construct at once 
 from 25,000 to 30,000 aeroplanes with all 
 modern improvements, and this method 
 of warfare is so new that nearly all the 
 machines built will be scrapped yearly, 
 while fresh improvements are under way. 
 Each nation must have the latest, as 
 nothing else will be of any use. So, if war 
 is to continue, what is left in the pockets of 
 the German people will be taken from them 
 to prepare for the new warfare of the future 
 and the rebuilding of cities.
 
 NEW CONDITIONS 39 
 
 It will not be possible for aerodromes to 
 be above-ground as they now are. Each 
 nation will know the exact situation of 
 those in adjoining countries, and the aero- 
 dromes will be the first objective of the 
 hostile force. In some case no ultimatum 
 or intimation will be given. The first 
 intimation will be the arrival of a great air 
 squadron, which will endeavour to destroy 
 as many as possible of the aerodromes of 
 the invaded territory. To meet this danger 
 the aerodromes will have to be constructed 
 underground ; or, at least, they will have 
 to be low buildings with twenty to thirty 
 feet of earth over the roof. Flimsy wooden 
 structures like those now in existence will 
 be useless for housing the war machines on 
 which the nation will rely for protection. 
 It will be no small task to build 30,000 
 to 50,000 aeroplanes, which will be up-to- 
 date only for a year or two, and also to 
 construct bomb-proof aerodromes to hold 
 this number of machines. 
 
 As no other nation on earth to-day wishes
 
 40 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 to take from another nation their rights ; 
 as all other nations except Germany and 
 its Allies are to-day fighting the world's 
 battles on the lines of freedom ; as no other 
 nations except the Central Powers need to 
 be cured of the war microbe; will not 
 this plan, which gives the assurance of peace 
 and a share in the greatest world prosperity 
 ever known, force the people of the Central 
 Powers to desire the blessings this plan 
 brings ? Will they not prefer this escape 
 from endless taxation, than longer continue 
 the hopelessness of securing victories in the 
 field of battle under the new conditions of 
 warfare ? They see that the Allies in three 
 years have matched their preparedness ; they 
 by this time see that even if they annex 
 all of Russia that this does not end the 
 war, while the great force of the Allies is 
 at their best, and without peace they will 
 still continue to bleed to death financially, 
 and that the conquest of Russia will not 
 stop this bleeding in men and money ;
 
 NEW CONDITIONS 41 
 
 that they are in the west up against a solid 
 wall and will remain there for years, their 
 trade all gone and the seas withheld from 
 them. This Russia will not compensate or 
 free them from. 
 
 But The Great Plan brings them peace 
 and escape from taxation, and allows them 
 a chance to recuperate from the hell 
 they have brought on themselves and the 
 world. 
 
 And the hopelessness of a war of conquest 
 must by this time be so impressed on the 
 German people that the author believes, 
 with this plan before them and the people 
 of the Central Powers, that they would 
 upset the Hohenzollern military power and 
 put them back in hell and screw the lid 
 down for all time. At least this plan might 
 separate Austria and Turkey from Germany 
 as German gold has dissolved the power of 
 Russia by preaching the benefits of peace. 
 If this desire for peace is as great in Austria 
 and Turkey as it was in Russia, then the
 
 42 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 lasting benefits conferred by The Great Plan 
 would have greater power in these lands 
 than German gold had in Russia, and help 
 bring to the world the lasting peace we 
 all hope for.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 AN ALTERNATIVE PLAN OF 
 FINANCE 
 
 Conscription of wealth is only the back 
 door to repudiation. Yet those who favour 
 conscription are to a great extent right ; 
 they realize that something must be done 
 to lift the terrific burden of war debts. 
 Those who oppose it see the impracticable 
 side of the question which is handled in the 
 following chapter ; but this chapter shows 
 that there is a way whereby the desired 
 results may be arrived at without conscript- 
 ing wealth, and that nations like England 
 and France can lift their war debts with a 
 minimum of taxation. The idea, if utilized, 
 would be as valuable to the financial world 
 as the discovery of electricity has been to 
 the industrial world. 
 
 It is necessary to arrive at some plan to 
 
 43
 
 44 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 make the burdens resulting from this war as 
 light as possible. The following Great Plan 
 does this with no cost to any one ; but if this 
 plan be not adopted, the supplementary plan 
 here considered will accomplish the next best 
 results, and avoid the conscription of wealth. 
 In this chapter we shall call the new cur- 
 rency Premium Currency, while in the 
 chapters on the Great Plan it is referred to 
 as Bond Currency. The difference is this : 
 if the currency issued by any nation is based 
 on the world's bonds it is Bond Currency, 
 but if the Great Plan be not adopted, and 
 nations pay their war debts as this chapter 
 suggests, then it must be Premium Currency. 
 If, for example, the war loans issued by 
 England and France total 4000 million 
 pounds for each country, to pay these off in 
 fifty years with 5 per cent, interest would 
 require 7 per cent, per year on 4000 mil- 
 lion pounds. But if England and France 
 were to issue Premium Currency in sixty- 
 six series, payable by drawing one series 
 each year, with a premium of 10 or 15 per
 
 ALTERNATIVE PLAN OF FINANCE 45 
 
 cent, when drawn, it would only call for a 
 little over i^ per cent, per annum, which 
 would be a comparatively light burden, and 
 would furnish these nations with ample new 
 currency, which will be sorely needed dur- 
 ing the reconstruction which will follow 
 the war. 
 
 Premium Bonds would be of no help. 
 Premium Currency lifts the non-liquid bur- 
 dens and converts them into a large volume 
 of new money, flowing through all the 
 arteries of industrial life. 
 
 The market value of the obligations of 
 any nation is the confidence in that nation's 
 ability to meet them. By the above plan of 
 Premium Currency there would be no doubt 
 that either England or France could redeem 
 this currency during a period of sixty-six 
 years. As this currency would be legal 
 tender for all debts, taxes, etc., it would be 
 preferred to bank-notes. Premium Bonds 
 must be sold to convert them into money, 
 but Premium Currency is money until 
 drawn.
 
 46 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 The miser would prefer Premium Cur- 
 rency to gold, for gold does not increase in 
 value, while his Premium Currency might 
 be drawn at any time. As for the depositors 
 of wealth in hidden places, under the hearth- 
 stone and in the stocking, which is said to 
 be the favourite bank of the French peasant, 
 all these frugal people would prefer Premium 
 Currency, and would release large holdings 
 of gold, which probably amount to millions. 
 
 There must be a new kind of money ; the 
 gold of the world will prove insufficient to 
 pay yearly interest on war debts, and will no 
 doubt be tightly locked up in the coffisrs 
 of the nations. A greatly expanded credit 
 system must be built up along new lines, 
 and Premium Currency would do this ; in 
 fact it would be preferred to any other 
 money, and nations would be forced to pass 
 laws to the effect that Premium Currency 
 could not be insisted upon in the payment 
 of debts. 
 
 The fear of great debts, the fear of the 
 conscription of capital, reduces values. ,Re-
 
 ALTERNATIVE PLAN OF FINANCE 47 
 
 duced values affect all trades and restrict 
 business. Restricted business reduces profits 
 and incomes, and leaves the labouring man 
 in want. The reduction of incomes deprives 
 the nation of a great source of wealth — 
 namely, income taxation. By Premium 
 Currency these war debts could be liqui- 
 dated in a safe and sane way, without 
 resorting to the conscription of wealth. 
 Premium Currency provides a new source 
 of wealth, which in place of restricting 
 finance and trade, would assist both. But, 
 as before stated, Premium Currency is not 
 to be compared with Bond Currency, which 
 costs no nation a farthing for its redemption; 
 but Bond Currency could not be issued save 
 by a united world. 
 
 Any nation could conscript its war loans 
 and pay them in this Premium Currency, 
 and would greatly help all by so doing.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE FALLACY OF CONSCRIPTING 
 
 CAPITAL 
 
 In all the nations now at war, after peace 
 is declared, hundreds of thousands of men 
 who have returned from the fronts will be 
 out of work ; and the women whose places 
 have been taken by the returning men will be 
 in the same case. There will be thousands 
 of nerve-shattered and otherwise disabled 
 men unable to perform the skilled work they 
 were once accustomed to. These people will 
 find thousands whom they left in moderate 
 circumstances enriched by war profits, and 
 as they compare their own condition with 
 that of this class, and reflect that it was only 
 by the sacrifices of the fighting men that 
 their country was saved, they will demand 
 
 that after-war conditions shall be ameJi- 
 
 48
 
 FALLACY OF CONSCRIPTING CAPITAL 49 
 
 orated for them by conscripting capital. 
 This has already been talked of in Germany 
 and England, but if it were attempted it 
 would in no way bring relief. 
 
 Suppose that 25 per cent, of all the bank 
 funds and insurances funds were appropri- 
 ated by the Government ; this would only 
 wreck some of these companies, and leave the 
 Banks and Insurance Companies impaired. 
 Suppose that 25 per cent, of all the stock of 
 all companies were conscripted ; the Govern- 
 ment could not sell what it had taken, and 
 no one would wish to buy, fearing that in 
 a year or two there would be conscription 
 of yet another 25 per cent., when part of 
 what they had bought would be taken from 
 them ; and the fear of a second and third 
 call would so depress all values that this 
 depreciation would much more than offset 
 the value of the 25 per cent, taken. Such 
 conscription would cause a great panic in 
 all markets, making bonds and shares un- 
 saleable ; therefore there would be no in- 
 dustrial development. Even in nations 
 
 £
 
 so THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 which did not resort to this measure, the 
 people would fear that it might in course 
 of time become necessary ; and this fear 
 would cause chaos, and a greater shrinkage 
 in the value of bonds, stocks and real estate 
 than this war has brought about, causing 
 extreme dearth, and making the condition 
 of the working classes even worse than 
 before. 
 
 But the adoption of the hereinafter 
 described plan of World Bonds will avert 
 all this ; conscription of capital will not be 
 needful, nor will it even be considered. 
 Conscription of capital w^ould take from 
 all the desire to create ; it would result 
 in the stagnation of all endeavour, and, by 
 its failure to produce any permanent results 
 for good, would have just the opposite 
 effect to that desired. The Government 
 machinery needed to accomplish such a task 
 would be even more tremendous than the 
 great Government departments of the War 
 Office during this conflict. 
 
 A far better way for England would be,
 
 FALLACY OF CONSCRIPTING CAPITAL 51 
 
 after the war (if the Great Plan to be 
 described be not adopted) to issue Premium 
 Currency, and to pay off all war loans as 
 mentioned in the preceding chapter. The 
 objection will at once be raised that this is 
 only inflation ; but let us review the ques- 
 tion and consider if this is so. Before 
 considering the pros and cons of the matter, 
 the author will quote from Mr. Bonar Law's 
 remarks to a deputation from the Trades' 
 Union Congress Parliamentary Committee. 
 
 " I would venture to say this : that 
 the political conditions which prevail in 
 a country after the war will be such that 
 the bu'rden of this taxation is not likely to 
 fall on the wage earners so long as there 
 is wealth which can be made to pay it. 
 
 " I suppose you take this view — and I 
 am inclined to take it myself — that we 
 ought to aim at making this burden one 
 which will rest practically on the wealth 
 that has been created and is in existence 
 at the time the war comes to an end, so 
 that it would not be there as a handicap 
 on the creation of new wealth after the war.
 
 52 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 " How is that to be done ? The question 
 of the conscription of wealth is entirely a 
 matter of expediency : whether it will pay 
 best to have a general capital levy and 
 reduce the National Debt as far as you can, 
 or have it continued for fifty years as a 
 constant burden of taxation. My own feel- 
 ing is that it would be better, both for the 
 wealthy classes and the country, to have 
 this levy of capital." 
 
 These remarks of Mr. Bonar Law's are, 
 like all he says, clear and to the point ; but 
 there is a far better method than the con- 
 scription of capital, and for the sake of the 
 argument we will assume that the total 
 wealth of great Britain and Ireland is 
 ^20,000,000,000, and that the war has 
 cost England /^6, 000, 000, 000, of which 
 ^^4,000,000,000 are represented by Bonds 
 or War Loans, and this, to date, is equal 
 to 20 per cent, of the wealth of Great 
 Britain and Ireland. Now all must admit 
 that this is inflation of debts, and the reason 
 why the English Government Bonds have 
 a good market at home and in the United
 
 FALLACY OF CONSCRIPTING CAPITAL 53 
 
 States of America is the absolute confidence 
 which prevails that these bonds are a sound 
 investment, as good as any in the world. 
 Therefore the people of the British Empire 
 have perfect confidence in an admitted in- 
 flation of debt, being sure that in good time 
 it will in some way be liquidated. Now 
 how can this ^4,000,000,000 be paid ? As 
 Mr. Bonar Law says, " The question of 
 the conscription of wealth is a matter of 
 expediency whether it will pay best to 
 have a general capital levy and reduce the 
 National Debt as far as you can, or have it 
 continue for fifty years as a constant burden 
 of taxation." 
 
 If a debt of ^(^4,000,000,000 were to be 
 paid off at once by the conscription of 
 wealth the amount of the conscription 
 would have to be 20 per cent. This would 
 reduce all values by at least 15 per cent, 
 or 20 per cent. Suppose it were to be 
 paid by a Sinking Fund of 2 per cent, per 
 annum, the interest charge being 5 per cent, 
 per annum ; then this would pay off the
 
 54 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 debt in fifty years, and would cost, to start 
 with, 7 per cent, per annum. But it could 
 be accomplished only by a great burden of 
 taxation, and it would result in the general 
 stagnation of business affairs much as would 
 the conscription of capital. As already 
 stated, the world has the greatest confidence 
 in any act of England's ; why, therefore, 
 could not Premium Currency be even better .? 
 This would have the same confidence behind 
 it. The Government, then, could call in 
 all War Loans, paying them in this Premium 
 Currency. If this were done the burden 
 borne by the English people would be a 
 light one, giving England and the world 
 more money for trade and reconstruction. 
 But the latter plan with this new currency 
 seeking investment would increase the values 
 of stocks, bonds and real estate. The 
 benefits to the working classes would be 
 tremendous ; there would be a general in- 
 dustrial boom, and new life would reach 
 all trades. And the conscription of wealth 
 would not be thought of.
 
 FALLACY OF CONSCRIPTING CAPITAL 55 
 
 Take, for example, the following case : 
 We will say that one of England's represen- 
 tative men is worth £200,000, and has used 
 ^(^40,000 in the purchases of War Bonds — 
 that is, 25 per cent, of his wealth is in- 
 vested in this way. Now suppose that 
 25 per cent, of all he has is conscripted. 
 This is equivalent to taking from him the 
 total of his War Bonds or Stocks — in fact, 
 it would be much more convenient for him 
 to give these all back to the Government 
 than it would be for him to give up 25 per 
 cent, of his holdings in Harrods Stores, for 
 example, 25 per cent, of his holdings in the 
 Guardian Fire Insurance Co., and Lloyds 
 Bank plus 25 per cent, of his real estate. 
 To give back his entire holding of Govern- 
 ment Loans would cause no complications, 
 while the latter method would — and he 
 would be 25 per cent, poorer than he was ; 
 but if he were forced to return the whole 
 of the /^4o,ooo of War Stock in his pos- 
 session and accept the Premium Currency, 
 he would possess the same wealth, and
 
 56 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 would be able at once to invest this new 
 money in any number of ways which would 
 be of untold benefit to the nation ; further, 
 he would know for certain that this new 
 currency would be paid off within fifty 
 years. The fear of the conscription of 
 wealth hampers trade and destroys values. 
 The fear of the lack of money or ample 
 banking credit causes men to hesitate to 
 undertake new business. The fear of the 
 working class that the debts of a nation 
 are more than the nation can carry makes 
 them advocate the conscription of wealth. 
 The fear of the burden of heavy taxation 
 causes the stagnation of enterprise and 
 forces money to leave the country and seek 
 investment elsewhere. No Governmental 
 action could in the long run be more 
 destructive than the conscription of wealth. 
 How is the conscription of wealth to be 
 arrived at ? The wealth of a nation is 
 represented by various kinds and tokens 
 of value. The well-to-do farmer may be 
 worth £6000 or ^7000, which is repr^-
 
 FALLACY OF CONSCRIPTING CAPITAL S7 
 
 sented by loo acres of land, ^Cs^^ i" the 
 bank, 400 tons of potatoes, 5 stacks of hay, 
 4 ploughs, 10 horses and 40 pigs. It is 
 easy to take from him 25 per cent, of his 
 bank deposit, but who shall decide which 
 25 acres he shall give to the Government, 
 and who will select the 2J horses, the 
 plough and the 10 pigs? The m.erchant 
 has ^6000 invested in merchandise : gloves, 
 socks, shirts, handkerchiefs, etc., and jTiooo 
 in the bank. The bank deposit is easily 
 handled ; he gives up £250 ; but who 
 shall select the 25 per cent, of gloves, socks, 
 shirts, etc., and what will the Government 
 do with them when it gets them .? The 
 fourth part of each man's wealth in the 
 different tokens of value in which it would 
 reach the Government would indeed be a 
 Noah's Ark with a commercial annex. Is the 
 Government going to feed the conscripted 
 animals on the conscripted hay or the con- 
 scripted land until the proper market can 
 be found, or sell them at once at a sacrifice ? 
 The farmer having given up 25 per cent.
 
 S8 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 of his bank deposit, the market will be 
 restricted. Will the Government start stores 
 and sell the conscripted merchandise ? If 
 conscription of wealth were resorted to, 
 10 per cent, to 15 per cent, of the popu- 
 lation would be employed in the making 
 of inventories, and as many more would 
 be employed as appraisers, and the appeals 
 from the appraisers' decisions would neces- 
 sitate thousands of courts to hear these 
 cases.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 INDEMNITIES 
 
 Some striking figures are given in an article 
 in the Petit Parisien, in which M. Andre 
 Lefevre, the deputy, denounces the " Peace 
 without Indemnities " campaign. He de- 
 clares in the first place that the reimburse- 
 ment of war expenses is absolutely necessary 
 to France, and, secondly, that it is indispen- 
 sable to the peace of the world, because 
 unless a heavy financial burden is imposed 
 on Germany, the latter will attack again 
 about 1930 or 1933. 
 
 *' Without counting the damage done to 
 the invaded regions, France has already 
 incurred at least ^^3,400,000,000 of war ex- 
 penses, which represents an annual charge 
 of ^200,000,000, to which must be added 
 
 59
 
 6o THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 j^8o, 000,000 for pensions. As in a good aver- 
 age year France saves about ^120,000,000, 
 w^hat v^ould be her position if she had to 
 pay ^280,000,000 a year more than 
 formerly ? " 
 
 The above extract from the Petit Parisien 
 shows the condition which will prevail in 
 France if she is not able to collect indemni- 
 ties from Germany. German writers are 
 just as insistent that Germany will be finan- 
 cially crushed and bankrupt if she cannot 
 collect indemnities from the other nations. 
 What will be the condition of Belgium, 
 with her factories dismantled, her cities in 
 ruins, her great debts to England and the 
 United States, and her wealth-creating 
 industrial plants destroyed, the machinery 
 having been removed to Germany } How 
 can she undertake to repay those debts and 
 rebuild her cities ? It is well enough to say 
 that she must live on Germany, and so she 
 ought. But can she } Not by the bonds 
 of a nation nearly bankrupt, not by German 
 paper money can Belgium and France be
 
 INDEMNITIES 6i 
 
 restored. Who would guarantee Germany's 
 ability to meet the debt ? 
 
 Yet bleeding France and Belgium must 
 be provided for by some definite plan. 
 What injustice would otherwise be inflicted 
 on the two nations which for the first year 
 or more stood the shock of the war, 
 while England was preparing her field 
 forces, and the United States were finding 
 their true place beside the Allies ? What 
 if Belgium and France were to discover, 
 at the end of the conflict, that there 
 was no way in which they could be re- 
 imbursed ? 
 
 By the scheme explained in these pages 
 this can be done. The united action of the 
 world provides the means by which Ger- 
 many can meet this obligation — an obliga- 
 tion which in justice she must be forced to 
 meet. By this plan Austria, if called upon 
 to do so, can pay indemnities to Serbia and 
 Roumania. By this plan every belligerent 
 nation would receive indemnities. True, 
 they would to some extent pay their own
 
 62 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 indemnities, bv their saving in annual ex- 
 penses ; but it would be the united action 
 of the world which would enable them to 
 do this, and which would constitute the real 
 salvation of France and Belgium.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE PRODIGAL WORLD 
 
 Before stating the Great Plan in detail the 
 author seeks to bring home to the mind 
 of the reader the truth that it is impossible 
 for the world to return to the paths of life 
 it trod before the war. People and nations 
 cannot cling to their old idols : these are 
 shattered for all time, smashed into powder, 
 and cannot by any means known to men be 
 restored. 
 
 The Prodigal Son could return to his 
 father's home because the home still existed, 
 and his father was alive to welcome him. 
 Had the home been situated in Pompeii, 
 and had it, after his departure, been buried 
 in the lava of Vesuvius, and his father with 
 it, the prodigal could not have returned to 
 that home, no matter how strong his desire 
 to do so. 
 
 63
 
 64 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 So it is to-day with the world ; it has 
 wandered afar and it cannot return. The 
 old home is destroyed ; of the very site on 
 which it was built not a vestige remains, 
 Man must therefore build anew, and his 
 comfort is dependent upon the plan for the 
 new building being one that will adapt 
 itself to the material available. It must 
 be a plan for a home that will give comfort 
 to the dwellers. It were best not to read 
 the following pages with old glasses, glasses 
 through which one can see only if the light 
 of old ideas falls on the pages. If the reader 
 attempts it, the plan here submitted will 
 seem foolish, Utopian, unworkable. It is 
 not so at all ; it is framed entirely on the 
 lines of progress ; it indicates the paths that 
 men must follow to save mankind and the 
 world And in the degree to which it 
 is accepted will the needed blessings 
 follow. 
 
 The ambition of individual nations must 
 not stand in the way. This plan does not 
 hinder the expression of national ideals '; it
 
 / 
 
 THE PRODIGAL WORLD 65 
 
 helps it rather, for peaceful conditions give 
 time for individuality to find expression. 
 
 The fear that sovereign power may be 
 lost must not stand in the way. Each unit 
 of the United States of America holds sove- 
 reign sway within its boundaries. The fact 
 that it is a unit in a great combination 
 of States assists each State to maintain its 
 autonomy. Its sovereign power would be 
 greatly limited were it surrounded by hostile 
 States to whose ideas and ideals it had to 
 defer, through fear. 
 
 The theory that all issues of money must 
 have a metallic reserve behind them must 
 not stand in the way. If all the mines of 
 the world were worked to their utmost 
 limit, and silver were ^s. an ounce, these 
 mines could not produce 1,000 million 
 dollars per year {200 million pounds ster- 
 ling), and that is not enough to restore and 
 repair the world of to-day. 
 
 If all the world unites in this plan of 
 creating a Sinking Fund for the new cur- 
 rency by anticipating the savings of the
 
 ee THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 next hundred years, it will possess the best 
 currency possible. 
 
 The desire to attain peace by way of 
 great military victories must not stand in 
 the way. Peace is so valuable that it is 
 worth having in any way in which it can 
 be honourably secured. Great victories 
 may in the near future be rendered im- 
 possible by the war methods now known to 
 man. 
 
 It is not those who brought about the 
 war who suffer most from it, but those who 
 had nothing to do with it. The German 
 Emperor still has all his sons, though 
 thousands of his subjects have lost theirs. 
 
 Desire to punish the ruling class of 
 Germany must not stand in the way of 
 allowing all the fighting men to return 
 home if this can be effected by means of 
 this plan, which assumes the overthrow 
 of that ruling class, and with it, freedom 
 from all danger of future war. Punish- 
 ment can wait ; it will come in good 
 time. It will come from the German
 
 THE PRODIGAL WORLD e-j 
 
 people, and you can sit back and look on 
 while your son is safe at home. Also, 
 to a great extent, you have this punish- 
 ment in your own hands. You and your 
 children to the third and fourth generation 
 need never buy German goods, need never 
 travel on German steamers, need never 
 visit Germany, or employ or associate with 
 a German. It is a free world, and the 
 matter is to a great extent in your own 
 hands. When the bars are down, and 
 German salesmen start out again to secure 
 orders and find none — find that they will 
 not be allowed even to enter your office — 
 then and not till then will they begin to 
 understand the place they occupy in the 
 world, and they will find it is not the 
 desired place in the sun. Then they them- 
 selves will attend to the government of 
 Germany, and hate the old Government with 
 a hatred deeper than that you have for the 
 authors of this war. Leave hatred and 
 revenge to others, and occupy yourself with 
 the task of rebuilding, and the enjoyment
 
 68 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 of the years of tranquillity that this plan 
 will bring to you and yours. 
 
 Do not run over the preceding pages in 
 a hurry. Endeavour to see the benefits 
 which this plan will bring to a suffering 
 world. Think of the mothers and wives 
 who will rejoice to see their loved ones 
 back. Have you seen the suffering imposed 
 Si. on these brave men at the front ? Or have 
 you been able to remain at home, and per- 
 haps to gain by extra business .? If so, do 
 not let the fear of losing this gain blind you 
 to the need of the hour. 
 
 President Wilson said, in his message to 
 the Senate on January 22, 19 17 — 
 
 " I do not mean to say that any American 
 Government would throw any obstacle in 
 the way of any terms of peace the Govern- 
 ments now at war might agree upon, or 
 seek to upset them when made, whatever 
 they might be. I only take it for granted 
 that mere terms of peace between the belli- 
 gerents will not satisfy even the belligerents 
 themselves. Mere agreements may not 
 make peace secure. It will be absolutely
 
 THE PRODIGAL WORLD 69 
 
 necessary that a force be created as a 
 guarantor of the permanency of the settle- 
 ment so much greater than the force of 
 any nation now engaged or any aUiance 
 hitherto formed or projected that no nation, 
 no probable combination of nations, could 
 face or withstand it. If the peace presently 
 to be made is to endure, it must be a peace 
 made secure by the organized major force 
 of mankind." 
 
 This plan carries out all that the Presi- 
 dent declares to be necessary, and also pays 
 all the debts of all nations incurred on 
 account of this war. It unites the pocket- 
 books of mankind. 
 
 In reply to the Pope's peace proposal, the 
 Secretary of State, Robert Lansing, says — 
 
 " We cannot take the word of the present 
 rulers of Germany as a guaranty of any- 
 thing that is to endure, unless explicitly 
 supported by such conclusive evidence of 
 the will and purpose of the German people 
 themselves as the other peoples of the world 
 would be justified in accepting. 
 
 " Without such guaranties treaties of
 
 70 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 settlement, agreements for disarmament, 
 covenants to set up arbitration in the place 
 of force, territorial adjustments, reconstitu- 
 tions of small nations, if made with the 
 German Government, no man, no nation 
 could now depend on. 
 
 *' We must await some new evidence of 
 the purposes of the great peoples of the 
 Central Powers. 
 
 "God grant it may be given soon, and 
 in a way to restore the confidence of all 
 peoples everywhere in the faith of nations 
 and the possibility of a covenanted peace." 
 
 This plan, if made known to the peoples 
 of the Central Powers, would no doubt be 
 so acceptable that they for its sake would 
 establish Governments which the world could 
 recognize, in which the w^orld could have 
 faith, and with which the world could treat. 
 And if a plan like this can restore peace to 
 the world, that peace must be as acceptable 
 as a peace secured in any other way.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 The author believes that the plan expounded 
 in the following pages is the most complete 
 yet formulated for the attainment of universal 
 peace in a united and confederated world. 
 It unites all nations of the earth in one 
 financial union. It abolishes the financial 
 chaos which the war has produced ; it 
 restores to the people's pockets the money 
 which they have contributed for the purpose 
 of carrying on military operations, and to 
 the so-called neutral nations it returns the 
 money they have expended on mobilization. 
 All the people who are left after these years 
 of war deserve to live in an era of com- 
 parative peace, and through years of pros- 
 perity, free from the great burdens of debt 
 
 which will exist unless this plan is put into 
 
 71
 
 72 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 operation. This plan will give the wives 
 and families of the soldiers years of abundance 
 to repay them for their suffering and anxiety. 
 It will give the money needed to bring up 
 their children in something better than the 
 poverty which will be their lot if the old 
 world is left to struggle along until coming 
 generations are able to wipe out the world 
 debt which has been created by the war. 
 The author calls upon the peoples of the 
 world to urge their Governments to adopt 
 this plan, so that its benefits may be avail- 
 able as reparation for the great losses which 
 they have sustained. It is the so-called 
 common people that forms the multitude 
 of each army. It is their millions that have 
 died. It is the millions left alive that have 
 the power to adopt this plan, which will 
 enable all food to be sold at more reasonable 
 prices, since light taxation enables the seller 
 to forego extravagant profits. By the adop- 
 tion of this plan, therefore, Labour will not 
 have to give up the greater part of its earn- 
 ings that it may pay exorbitant prices for
 
 THE GREAT PLAN 73 
 
 the benefit of those who have to bear the 
 burden of taxation. To those who have 
 wilHngly contributed their money for Govern- 
 ment bonds it will return the sums lent, and 
 allow them to use this money in industrial 
 enterprises, and for the building up of their 
 nation. It will enable nations to return to 
 the pre-war scale of inheritance taxes. Men 
 will not work all their days to build up 
 fortunes of which the nation and not their 
 children will take the bulk. The tax burden 
 of this war is hardly realized now, but within 
 a year or two of the conclusion of the war 
 nothing else will be thought of, nothing else 
 talked of, but what the next year's taxes 
 will be, and what new method will be 
 attempted which may take more from the 
 people, in order to carry on the burden of 
 debt under which the nations will be stagger- 
 ing. There is no escape from this terrific 
 burden unless a universal plan like this be 
 adopted ; otherwise the nations will be forced 
 in some way to deprive the rich of a great 
 part of their wealth. Salt, sugar, tobacco.
 
 74 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 coffee, paper, etc., will be Government 
 monopolies, and all the profits arising from 
 these sources will go to pay this incubus of 
 debt, or else it will remain unpaid, and a 
 number of debtor nations will repudiate 
 their Government bonds. Think of the loss 
 to the French people if after the war Russia 
 and Turkey cannot pay them their holdings 
 of Russian and Turkish bonds. There are 
 also large holdings of Russian bonds in the 
 United States, accepted by the manufacturers 
 in part payment for their goods. By the 
 adoption of the writer's plan, the repudia- 
 tion of national debts would be averted, 
 as all units of the confederated world 
 would be able and anxious to meet all their 
 obligations. 
 
 In each chapter of this book the author 
 has endeavoured to show to the reader that 
 this Great Plan constitutes the only means 
 whereby the conditions which confront the 
 world can be transformed from such as are 
 fraught with great peril to such as will bring 
 untold blessings.
 
 THE GREAT PLAN 75 
 
 The author's predictions of the chaos and 
 darkness in which the world will be sub- 
 merged after the war are not derived from 
 any occult or astrological source, but are 
 based on mathematical certainties. If we 
 knew of a case where a helpless cripple was 
 left £s^o, and spent £1 per day in living 
 expenses, we should not need to resort to 
 astrology in order to know that after the 
 lapse of 500 days the cripple would either 
 die of starvation or become the ward of 
 charity. The prediction would be a mathe- 
 matical certainty. If we saw a man holding 
 a candle lighted at both ends, we should not 
 need to resort to astrology in order to know 
 that he would soon have no candle, and that 
 he would also burn his fingers. This also 
 would be a mathematical certainty. 
 
 There is a limit to wealth ; there is a limit 
 to man power ; and there is a limit to agri- 
 culture without the necessary fertilization of 
 the soil. 
 
 A year ago we were confident that none 
 of the Allies would conclude a separate
 
 76 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 peace. A year ago we relied on the great 
 reserve of Russia with its i6o millions of 
 people. To-day these hopes are broken 
 reeds. Two years ago the English people 
 had large holdings of American bonds and 
 shares. These have now been sold or used 
 by the English Government, as security for 
 loans made in the United States. The next 
 step, if war continues, must be the conscription 
 of wealth. This is a mathematical certainty. 
 
 When this is resorted to, there will come 
 a panic, and the Governments will be forced 
 to close the Stock Exchanges. 
 
 With the increase of prices made neces- 
 sary by increased taxation will come great 
 unrest among the working classes. It will 
 seem to them as though one will have to 
 carry a basketful of money in order to buy 
 a basketful of food. They will be compelled 
 to demand higher and yet higher wages, 
 which will further augment prices and in- 
 crease unrest. These conditions will prevail 
 both in the warring and in the neutral 
 nations.
 
 THE GREAT PLAN Tj 
 
 In the spring of 191 8 will come tre- 
 mendous battles in the air, fraught with 
 untold dangers, destroying more property 
 than armies could. 
 
 All that could be done has been done. 
 The ingenuity of man has been taxed to the 
 utmost and wonders have been accomplished. 
 Credit has been strained ; debts and obliga- 
 tions of such magnitude have been assumed 
 by all the nations that pay-day will be a 
 nightmare. 
 
 There is yet one great source of wealth 
 untapped which has never been mentioned 
 before, and which the Great Plan uncovers. 
 If the world unites to secure peace and to 
 limit armies and navies, this tremendous 
 saving could be capitalized. 
 
 It is perfectly feasible to use this world 
 saving as a Sinking Fund, and if this be 
 done there is available at once as much 
 wealth as all the gold and silver mines in 
 the world could produce in 250 years, and 
 those on earth to-day would derive the 
 benefit, as prosperity would at once ensue.
 
 78 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 The Great Plan is the fire extinguisher 
 that will extinguish the conflagration which 
 will presently break out in every country, 
 by reason of the friction of want on the 
 flint of despair. Read it carefully. You 
 may at first think it is not feasible ; if so, 
 lay it aside for a couple of months, then 
 re-read it, and compare it with the con- 
 ditions which then confront the world. If 
 you are not then convinced that it is the 
 only solution of these problems, lay it aside 
 for another two months, and again re-read 
 it, and compare the predictions with the 
 then existing conditions. This plan may 
 be made possible either by bringing the 
 Central Powers to accept it for the blessings 
 to be derived from it, or by forcing them 
 to accept it if the Allies are victorious, 
 when it must be embodied in the terms of 
 peace. 
 
 It might be, by the time the Allies were 
 convinced of the feasibility of this plan, and 
 the Central Powers had accepted it, that 
 the cost of the war to date would be more
 
 THE GREAT PLAN 79 
 
 than the Sinking Fund from savings would 
 liquidate in 100 years ; but this difficulty 
 would be obviated by the plan proposed in 
 the chapter on this subject — by a small 
 annual contribution to the Sinking Fund, 
 from each nation, assessed upon its popula- 
 tion ; or each nation entitled to benefit 
 under this bond issue could receive, in place 
 of the total cost of the war, 75 or 80 per 
 cent, of that cost, or whatever amount might 
 be safely paid off by the Sinking Fund, 
 which in any event would be 250 million 
 pounds, or one billion two hundred and 
 fifty million dollars, a sum amply sufficient 
 to repair the damages to the world's 
 finances. 
 
 In the different chapters of this book will 
 be found a certain number of repetitions in 
 respect of subjects of vital importance which 
 must be considered from every angle. One 
 blow of the hammer will not drive the 
 nail home. Repeated blows produce the 
 desired result.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE INTERNATIONAL 
 CONGRESS 
 
 The following is the proposed plan for an 
 International Congress and the work, that 
 will be assigned to it. It can be put in 
 operation if the Allies are in favour of it, 
 and if a responsible Government with which 
 the Allies can treat, and in which they have 
 confidence, exists in Germany. The first 
 step is as follows — 
 
 Each nation appoints an additional mem- 
 ber of the Cabinet, to be called the Secretary 
 of Peace ; these Secretaries of Peace to form 
 the first International Congress ; this Con- 
 gress to meet as soon as possible at one of 
 the capitals of the world, then to work out 
 the plan here explained for loo years' peace, 
 
 80
 
 THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS 8i 
 
 and for a world issue of bonds to purchase 
 the same. 
 
 As a basis for the issue of these bonds, 
 we will assume that the cost of this war to 
 the Allies and the Central Powers, plus the 
 cost of mobilization in Switzerland, Spain, 
 Holland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark, 
 etc., has been, up to date, 25,000 million 
 pounds sterling, or 125,000 million dollars. 
 It may be more, or less, but these figures 
 will serve for purposes of illustration in the 
 paragraphs to follow. 
 
 To arrive at the total cost to each nation, 
 the basis of calculation shall be the total 
 collected by each nation in war taxation 
 plus the total of War Loans floated since 
 August I, 1 9 14. If, for example, the 
 national debt of England before the war 
 was 641 millions and its debt now is 3641 
 millions, then the cost of the war to Eng- 
 land has been 3000 million pounds sterling 
 plus all the amounts raised by war taxation. 
 If, for example, 2000 million pounds ster- 
 ling has been collected by excess taxation.
 
 82 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 then England has spent on this war a total 
 of 5000 million pounds sterling (25,000 
 million dollars), and her share in the world 
 issue of bonds will be 5000 million pounds. 
 If, for example, Holland and Switzerland 
 have each expended 500 million dollars on 
 mobilizing their armies and protecting their 
 frontiers, then 500 million dollars will be 
 the share of each in the bond issue. If 
 Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Spain have 
 each expended 40 million pounds (200 mil- 
 lion dollars), this shall be the share of each 
 in the bond issue. 
 
 Assume that the total of all these sums is, as 
 before stated, 25,000 million pounds (i 25,000 
 million dollars) ; the International Congress 
 authorizes an issue of 100-year Sinking Fund 
 World Bonds for this amount. These bonds 
 carry i per cent, interest, or increase in value 
 I per cent, each year for fifteen years. 
 
 When the bonds are authorized, and the 
 amount each nation is entitled to is calcu- 
 lated by the above method, the Treasurer 
 of the International Congress hands to the
 
 THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS 83 
 
 appointed financial representative of each 
 country certificates to the amount of his 
 nation's participation. These certificates arc 
 in denominations of 5 milhon pounds, 10 mil- 
 lion pounds and 100 million pounds. These 
 certificates will be exchanged for the bonds 
 when the latter are printed, signed, and 
 ready to deliver. 
 
 Liquidation of International Debts 
 
 We will assume that all the financial 
 representatives of the nations when the 
 distribution of certificates is made are seated 
 at the same table. As soon as the distri- 
 bution is made, all the nations to which 
 England has made advances (Italy, Rou- 
 mania, Serbia, Montenegro, etc.) hand the 
 English representative enough of their share 
 of these certificates to liquidate at once their 
 nation's debt to England. If the United 
 States has advanced to England 200 million 
 pounds or 1000 million dollars, then the 
 English representative hands to the repre- 
 sentative of the United States certificates to
 
 84 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 this amount. France, Italy and Belgium do 
 the same, each for their respective amounts, 
 and thus all foreign advances made by the 
 United States are at once paid. Austria, 
 Turkey and Bulgaria in the same way repay 
 any advances made to them by Germany. 
 All debts between nations are at once cleared 
 off at this meeting — a wonderful settlement 
 of debts, and a payment of debts that might 
 otherwise never be made in some cases, or 
 that could be paid only after long years of 
 struggle on the part of the weaker nations. 
 
 The Sinking Fund 
 
 Provision for an ample Sinking Fund to 
 redeem these bonds is made in the following 
 manner — 
 
 Each nation agrees that during the next 
 five years their standing armies shall be re- 
 duced one-fifth each year, until there shall 
 be in each nation a standing army of only 
 I GOO men for each million of population, 
 with a reserve force of 3000 men for each 
 million of population. This standing army
 
 THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS 85 
 
 and reserve force all to be used only for 
 police duty in their respective countries or 
 in their colonies. The only event in which 
 they could be used outside their own coun- 
 try would be the occasion of a summons 
 of the International Congress, and to this 
 point we shall return later. No nation is to 
 have an army of over 100,000 men with a 
 reserve force of 300,000. 
 
 Each nation also agrees that its navy shall 
 be reduced each year for five years until its 
 naval strength shall be one-tenth of what it 
 was on August i, 19 14. All nations, parties 
 to this agreement, agree that after five years 
 the saving that accrues to them from the 
 reduction of their army and navy shall be 
 paid into the International Treasury every six 
 muaths, to create a Sinking Fund to pay off 
 these bonds. To arrive at what this amount 
 should be for each nation, the army and navy 
 budget for the three years preceding August 
 I, 1 9 14, shall be totalled and divided by 3. 
 The difference between this average figure 
 and the amount of the army and navy
 
 86 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 budget as it will be five years after the agree- 
 ment is made, will be the amount saved by 
 each nation by the limitation of armaments, 
 and this will be the amount of each nation's 
 contribution to the Sinking Fund. The total 
 annual saving will be from 1200 million to 
 1700 million dollars, which will pay off all 
 the bonds in less than one hundred years. 
 
 Now let us see how this fund is to be paid 
 by each nation into the International Treas- 
 ury, so that exchange is not affected in any 
 way. Suppose, for example, that under this 
 new condition of affairs, the saving in the 
 United States will be 250 million dollars a 
 year. This amount of 250 million dollars 
 (arrived at as above explained) is deposited 
 by the United States (at the rate of one- 
 twelfth of the whole each month) in the 
 Federal Reserve Bank or in any bank or 
 banks designated. At the end of the year 
 we will suppose that the pro rata part of the 
 issue of bonds that has to be retired and paid 
 bythe Sinking Fund entitles the United States 
 to 258 million dollars as their share. The
 
 THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS 87 
 
 International Congress need therefore trans- 
 fer only 8 million dollars to the United States 
 in order to pay ofF its share of the bonds ; 
 the 250 million dollars is already there. Or 
 we will suppose that the United States' share 
 is 225 million dollars ; this will leave 25 
 million dollars to be transferred to other 
 countries during the year. 
 
 How THESE Bonds are to be used by 
 EACH Nation 
 
 In the example given above we assumed 
 that England receives 5000 million pounds' 
 worth of these bonds. Let us now give an 
 example of how England uses her share of 
 the issue — for every other nation will use its 
 share in the same way. For convenience 
 of illustration we will suppose that all the 
 nations have paid their debts to England, 
 and that England has paid her debt to 
 the United States, and that after all these 
 transactions England has in hand 5400 
 million pounds of these World Bonds. This 
 amount of bonds is deposited in the Bank
 
 88 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 of England, and the Bank issues an equal 
 amount of currency in notes of ^5, >(^io, 
 ^100, j(^iooo, ;r5ooo, etc. This currency- 
 is handed to the English Government, which 
 employs it in the following way : As the 
 Government has raised, say, 3000 million 
 pounds, by war loans, to carry on this war, 
 it passes a law that one-fifth of these war 
 loans is arbitrarily called and payable in 
 ninety days, and each ninety days there- 
 after one-fifth becomes payable. Thus in 
 five periods of ninety days all subscriptions 
 to England's war loans are repaid. This is 
 contrary to the terms on which the issues 
 were made, as they are not yet due for 
 redemption ; the first are due in 1921. But 
 if a nation has the power to conscript wealth 
 — and no one doubts that it has — in order 
 to carry on war, it must also have the power 
 to call in and redeem its bonds before they 
 are due, in order to establish prosperity and 
 peace, and to save the world from being 
 again plunged into war. If the English 
 Government did not wish to compel the
 
 THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS 89 
 
 holders of War Loan stock to accept this 
 Bond Currency (the best currency in the 
 world) for their stock, it could at all events 
 at once redeem all the Government stock 
 held by those w^illing to sell, and the remain- 
 ing sum of Bond Currency could in the 
 meantime be loaned to railroads, manu- 
 facturies and industrial enterprises. The 
 interest earned in this w^ay w^ould be higher 
 than the interest payable on unredeemed 
 Government stock — probably as much as 
 I per cent, higher. 
 
 The premium of 1 per cent, on the bonds 
 withdrawn is to be used in the following 
 way : As stated before, the Bank of Eng- 
 land issues 5400 million pounds sterling — say 
 27,000 million dollars — in Bond Currency. 
 This currency in England, and in all other 
 nations, is issued in series of ^20,000, or 
 $100,000, called Series Ai, 2, 3, 4, etc. 
 After the first five years, each nation, on 
 receiving from the International Treasury 
 its share of the bonds retired by the Sinking 
 Fund, receives also i per cent, on all bonds
 
 90 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 retired for the years that they have run, up 
 to the fifteenth year. For example : the 
 United States receives 250 million dollars as 
 its share of the Sinking Fund at the end of 
 the sixth year from the date of the World 
 Agreement. (There is no Sinking Fund for 
 the first five years.) The United States at 
 once draws by lot an equal amount of the 
 currencv issued on the bond issue. With 
 the money received for bonds retired, the 
 currency drawn by lot is retired. The 
 I per cent, received as a premium on the 
 bonds is paid as a premium on the currency 
 withdrawn. So in all nations the currency 
 withdrawn at the end of the sixth year re- 
 ceives face value plus 6 per cent. ; at the end of 
 the seventh year, face value plus 7 percent. ; 
 at the end of the eighth year, face value plus 
 8 per cent., and so on to the end of the 
 fifteenth year. After that all currency con- 
 tinues to be drawn by lot, and is paid at face 
 value plus 1 5 per cent. 
 
 It is impossible to estimate the benefits 
 that will accrue to International trade from
 
 THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS 91 
 
 this plan. Some of them will be dealt with 
 in a later chapter. It will be seen by the 
 reader that all warships built by each nation 
 since August 19 14, and all warships in 
 course of construction, are paid for by this 
 plan. So likewise are all implements of 
 war of every kind made or bought by each 
 nation since that date. They become the 
 property of the federated world and are dis- 
 posed of as the International Congress directs. 
 If they are sold, or if their plates are used in 
 the building of merchant vessels, the pro- 
 ceeds go to the Sinking Fund, to be used 
 later for the withdrawal of bonds.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE OUTLINE OF THE PEACE 
 AGREEMENT 
 
 This covenant and agreement is made 
 between all nations of earth for the purpose 
 of establishing and maintaining one hundred 
 years of peace, binding on each and every 
 nation, on the following terms — 
 
 I. The International Congress now 
 formed shall remain the same for five 
 years, that is to say, composed of one 
 representative of each nation. This repre- 
 sentative shall be a member of the Cabinet 
 of his nation and shall be called the Secre- 
 tary of Peace. After five years, when the 
 amount of each nation's contribution to 
 the Sinking Fund is arrived at (by the 
 method hereinafter mentioned) then the 
 
 representation of each nation shall be one 
 
 92
 
 OUTLINE OF PEACE AGREEMENT 93 
 
 member plus one additional member for 
 each ^10,000,000 or $50,000,000 contri- 
 buted annually to the Sinking Fund. Thus 
 if any nation's contribution is ^50,000,000 
 or $250,000,000, such nation shall have one 
 member plus five additional members. 
 
 2. This Congress has no powers what- 
 soever beyond those conferred on it for the 
 purposes for which it was established, that 
 is to say, the maintenance of peace, the 
 authorization of a World Bond issue, and 
 the collection and distribution of the Sink- 
 ing Fund hereinafter referred to. Each 
 nation retains sovereign power within its 
 own boundaries, and over its own colonies 
 or dependencies. Each nation is a State 
 in the confederated world, but its rights as 
 a separate State are not to be interfered 
 with in any way by this Congress. 
 
 3. As soon as this Congress meets it is 
 to ascertain the cost of the war to all belli- 
 gerent nations and all neutral nations which 
 have been compelled to mobilize for their 
 own protection during this conflict.
 
 94 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 4. The total of all loans raised, and all 
 debts contracted and yet still unpaid, and all 
 special war taxation collected since August 
 I, 1 9 14, by each nation, shall be considered 
 the total cost of the war to each nation. 
 The amount of the bond issue shall be the 
 sum of these totals for all nations, plus any 
 additional amount required to indemnify 
 the armament and munition makers of all 
 nations for capital sunk in new machinery 
 and extensions since August i, 19 14. 
 
 5. This issue of bonds shall be for one 
 hundred years, and the bonds shall increase 
 in value i per cent, annually for the first 
 fifteen years only ; this premium of i per 
 cent, per annum to be paid when the bonds 
 are drawn. After the expiration of a period 
 of fifteen years all bonds drawn for payment 
 shall be paid at par plus 15 per cent. 
 
 6. As soon as this issue is authorized 
 the Congress shall hand to the appointed 
 financial agent of each nation temporary 
 certificates representing the amount of 
 bonds to which the nation is entitled.
 
 OUTLINE OF PEACE AGREEMENT 95 
 
 7. When these certificates are delivered, 
 each nation shall at once liquidate all debts 
 to its creditor nations by transferring the 
 necessary amount of these temporary certi- 
 ficates. The debts thus liquidated shall be 
 only those contracted for the purpose of 
 carrying on the war, and not international 
 debts existing prior to August i, 1914. 
 
 8. To create a Sinking Fund for the pur- 
 pose of redeeming these bonds, each nation 
 undertakes to reduce its regular standing 
 army by one-fifth each year for five years, 
 and thereafter to maintain a standing army of 
 not more than 1000 men for each 1,000,000 
 of population, and a reserve force of not 
 more than 3000 men for each 1,000,000 of 
 population. No nation shall have a standing 
 army and reserve of over 400,000 men. 
 All nations agree that the standing army and 
 reserve force shall be used only for police 
 duty v^ithin their respective boundaries or 
 in their colonies. Nevertheless the Inter- 
 national Congress, if it should at any time 
 require armed forces to maintain this
 
 96 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 agreement, can call on any or all of the 
 nations for 50 per cent, of their standing 
 army and reserves. 
 
 9. All nations agree that their navies 
 shall be reduced by one-fifth each year, until 
 the naval strength of each nation is one- 
 tenth of the naval strength prior to August 
 I, 1 9 14. All warships built since August i, 
 1 9 14, and all warships under construction, 
 become the property of the confederated 
 world, and shall be disposed of as the 
 International Congress directs, as they have 
 been paid for by this bond issue. Each 
 nation agrees that its reduced navy shall be 
 used only in case of rebellion in its own 
 seaports or to quell insurrection in its own 
 colonies. Nevertheless, the International 
 Congress, should it at any time require 
 naval force to maintain this agreement, 
 shall have at its disposal the entire naval 
 force of all nations. 
 
 10. A Sinking Fund to redeem this world 
 issue of bonds shall be created in the follow- 
 ing way. First : the proceeds of the sale
 
 OUTLINE OF PEACE AGREEMENT 97 
 
 of any warships or war material (such 
 ships and material being the property of the 
 confederated world and having been paid 
 for by the bond issue) by the International 
 Congress shall be paid into the Inter- 
 national Treasury to form part of the 
 Sinking Fund. Second : after five years 
 each nation shall pay in to the International 
 Treasury in monthly or semi-annual pay- 
 ments the savings accruing to the nation 
 from the reduction of its Army and Naval 
 budgets. The amount of this reduction 
 shall be calculated in the following manner : 
 each nation shall total its Army and 
 Naval budgets for the three years preceding 
 August I, 19 1 4, and this total shall be 
 divided by 3. The amount thus arrived 
 at shall be considered the annual cost to 
 each nation of its army and navy before 
 1 9 14. Five years after the adoption of 
 this agreement, each nation shall furnish to 
 the International Congress a statement of 
 the amount of its reduced Army and 
 Naval budgets. The difference between the 
 
 H
 
 98 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 average amount of the three years preced- 
 ing August I, 1 9 14, and the amount for 
 the sixth year after the adoption of this 
 agreement shall be considered the saving by 
 each nation, and the amount of this saving 
 shall be each nation's contribution to the 
 Sinking Fund for that year, and for every 
 year ^ntil the World Bond issue is with- 
 drawn. This fund shall be deposited in 
 any bank or banks of each nation designated 
 by the International Congress. 
 
 11. At the end of the sixth year after 
 the adoption of this agreement the Inter- 
 national Congress shall calculate the pro 
 rata proportion of the Sinking Fund to be 
 allotted to each nation, according to its 
 bond holdings, and shall call in and pay 
 off the number of bonds which the Sinking 
 Fund will redeem plus i per cent, interest 
 per annum for the years the bonds have 
 run. 
 
 12. Each nation shall issue currency to 
 the amount of its holding of bonds, in
 
 OUTLINE OF PEACE AGREEMENT 99 
 
 any denominations found convenient. This 
 currency shall be in series. With this 
 currency each nation shall pay off all 
 national war loans issued, and all debts con- 
 tracted to carry on the war. The amount 
 of currency remaining in the hands of each 
 Government after the payment of all war 
 loans and debts shall be retained for the 
 payment of pensions and for the care of 
 the injured. This remainder represents the 
 amount of special war taxation collected 
 during the war, which has been included 
 in the amount of the bond issue to each 
 nation, and which the Governments are 
 under no obligation to repay. 
 
 13. Each Government agrees that it will 
 use all monies transferred to it by the 
 International Congress at the end of the 
 sixth year and every year thereafter for 
 the retirement of an equal amount of the 
 currency issued by that Government. The 
 currency thus retired by drawing shall carry 
 the premium of i per cent, per annum
 
 loo THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 received by the nation on the bonds 
 redeemed by its share of the Sinking 
 Fund. 
 
 14. To protect this agreement more fully, 
 each nation of a population of 5,000,000 or 
 more binds itself in the sum of ^(^ 100,000,000 
 to maintain this agreement and shall file a 
 Government bond therefor with the Inter- 
 national Congress ; and each nation of less 
 than 5,000,000 population shall bind itself 
 in a sum of ^(^50, 000, 000 faithfully to 
 maintain this agreement, and shall file 
 a Government bond therefor. 
 
 15. Further to sanction this agreement, 
 all nations agree that on notification by the 
 International Congress of any violation or 
 attempted violation of any of the terms of 
 the agreement, they will within twenty- 
 four hours after such notification break 
 off all communication by rail, sea, mail 
 cable and wireless with the nation or 
 nations so violating or attempting to violate 
 the agreement, and will not re-establish 
 communication with such nation or nations
 
 OUTLINE OF PEACE AGREEMENT loi 
 
 until notified by the International Congress 
 that they may do so. The International 
 Congress shall assess the amount of damages 
 to be paid for any violation or attempted 
 violation of this agreement, and shall make 
 any arrangements necessary for the collection 
 of this payment from the nation or nations 
 culpable. 
 
 (It is for this emergency that each 
 Government has filed with the International 
 Congress the bond above referred to. If 
 the breaking off of all communications be 
 not sufficient, then the International Con- 
 gress can call for armed force from all other 
 nations as explained in Clauses 8 and 9, to 
 impose respect of the agreement entered 
 into.) 
 
 16. It is agreed by all nations that 
 Brussels shall be the Capital of the Con- 
 federated World, and the archives of the 
 International Congress shall be kept there, 
 but meetings of the Congress may be called 
 in any capital city of any nation as the 
 Congress itself shall deem convenient.
 
 102 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 17. It is agreed that the International 
 Congress shall adopt an International flag, 
 which the ships of all nations shall fly with 
 their own flag, when three miles from 
 shore. This gives the Control of the Seas 
 to the United Confederated World.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 THE SINKING FUND 
 
 The world pays over ^"200,000,000 each 
 year for fire insurance, and more than this 
 for life insurance. These premiums come 
 out of the pockets of the people ! The 
 Sinking Fund to redeem the proposed bonds 
 is to be paid by the savings that accrue 
 under this plan, and it may well be called 
 " fire insurance," for it frees the world from 
 the danger of inflammable bombs ; it is 
 " accident insurance," inasmuch as it frees 
 all those that go down to the sea in ships 
 from the danger of being torpedoed by 
 submarines ; it is " life insurance " against 
 the danger that war will ever again take 
 the great toll it is now taking of life. 
 
 Yet all this will cost not one farthing to 
 
 103
 
 104 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 ■'^, 
 
 the nations now at war. A plan that does 
 this must indeed be a great plan. One of 
 the bond issues made by China has a tax 
 on salt for its Sinking Fund ; issues of 
 Mexican and other bonds are redeemed by 
 the receipts of the custom-houses. But 
 the Sinking Fund here proposed is to be 
 raised only from the world's savings. No 
 taxes will be levied to create it. And 
 from these savings will come the greatest 
 boon mankind can know — a world at 
 peace. 
 
 If this war ends soon, the annual savings 
 of the nations will be ample for the Sinking 
 Fund. If the war continues much longer 
 they will be insufficient. To present all 
 sides of the case, therefore, let us suppose 
 that the war lasts two years longer, and 
 the annual saving effected by the limitation 
 of armaments falls short of the sum required 
 to redeem the bonds within loo years by 
 $600,000,000 or ^i 20,000,000. Then each 
 nation could agree to pay 2s. bd. or 62 cents 
 per head of population to make up the
 
 THE SINKING FUND 105 
 
 deficiency. A stamp tax or any indirect 
 taxation would produce this amount in a 
 way that would scarcely be felt. 
 
 Is it not worth it ? What other object 
 in life is worth universal peace and universal 
 prosperity — prosperity so great that it would 
 penetrate to every corner of the earth ? 
 Who could be unwilling to pay even ij-. or 
 4J-. a year to be assured of peace universal — 
 a peace insured by the strongest combination 
 ever known, the Confederated World, the 
 United States of the World ? Could any sum 
 be too great for the most worthy purpose 
 conceivable .? 
 
 This plan reveals a storehouse of wealth in 
 this Sinking Fund. It provides an ample 
 sufficiency of new money to pay each nation's 
 war expenses of every kind, for each and 
 every warship, every war implement left 
 in the hands of each nation, which has 
 been made or bought since August i, 19 14, 
 belongs to the confederated world, which 
 will scrap or sell it and use the proceeds 
 or material in the peaceful development of
 
 io6 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 the earth. Indeed the sword would then 
 become the ploughshare ; yet this vast 
 wealth, which from its use would bring 
 untold blessings, would restore the ruined 
 cities, give relief to the helpless, rebuild the 
 lost merchant ships, and evoke an unprece- 
 dented industrial development throughout 
 the world, is unavailable, withheld by 
 impassable barriers, if the world continues 
 to hold in its hand the drawn sword of 
 preparedness. 
 
 With starvation in sight in many nations, 
 and great want in all, with millions of in- 
 jured and incapacitated to be cared for, with 
 cities to be rebuilt, with millions to house, 
 clothe and feed, with taxes so great that 
 they will stagger people and nations for 
 generations to come, is it conceivable that at 
 least a majority of each nation shall not 
 demand this relief, the only relief in sight ? 
 And if the majority do demand it they will 
 have it, and those that stand in their way, 
 such as the military party of the Central 
 Empires, will be swept aside by the onrush
 
 THE SINKING FUND lof 
 
 of the needy, determined to have their share 
 in this uncovered storehouse of wealth ; 
 determined that they and theirs shall benefit 
 by the blessings that will ensue from the 
 adoption of this plan.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 WOULD THE CENTRAL POWERS 
 ACCEPT THE PLAN? 
 
 Germany has now eight-tenths of the 
 world arrayed against her. Germany and 
 her allies must understand that their present 
 Government will not be dealt with by the 
 Entente Powers. They must realize what 
 the after-effect of the war will be — namely, 
 years of want, and possible bankruptcy, 
 which they themselves admit can be avoided 
 only by the conscription of capital. And 
 to the people of a nation which has so 
 long occupied such a leading place in the 
 world of trade and finance this must be a 
 crushing blow to their pride and ambition. 
 It will require several generations for the 
 German people to convince the world that 
 
 they belong to the human race. When 
 
 io8
 
 THE CENTRAL POWERS 109 
 
 their armies invaded France, they were 
 confident of victory in a few^ v^^eeks, and 
 that they would once more collect a huge 
 indemnity ; but now, as the war drags on 
 year after year, and their avaricious dreams 
 have vanished into thin air, they must 
 wonder by what magic wand can their 
 docks again be filled with shipping and 
 the products of their factories find a world 
 market. This plan might be their first 
 ray of hope. By this plan, if the cost 
 of the war to Germany to date has been, 
 say, 6000 million pounds, they would re- 
 ceive bonds to the value of 6000 million 
 pounds. They would have their advances 
 to Bulgaria and Turkey repaid, whereas 
 as things are, Turkey and Bulgaria will 
 probably be bankrupt when the war ends. 
 If the Allies can force Germany to repay 
 the damage done to Belgium and Northern 
 France, then Germany will have bonds in 
 hand sufficient to make this payment at 
 once. Suppose, for example, that the in- 
 demnity would amount to 1 500 million
 
 no THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 pounds ; there would still be left, in the 
 hands of Germany, bonds to the value of 
 4500 million pounds on which to issue 
 currency. 
 
 Germany, when she had hopes of winning 
 the war, never claimed more than 2000 
 million pounds as an indemnity from the 
 Allies. Therefore she will have, in the 
 very best money possible, 2500 million 
 pounds more than was ever expected had 
 victory been hers. But if the war should 
 end now, and if Germany should for ever 
 cease to be a military power, it would be 
 better, if no other way could be found, 
 that this should include an additional 1500 
 million pounds bond issue, and that all the 
 nations should contribute to the cost of 
 restoring Belgium and France. With the 
 savings provided by this plan, it would take 
 only four or five years more for the world 
 to pay off this extra bond issue. Consider 
 the question of these indemnities. Sup- 
 posing that within a year or two more the 
 Allies win this war, and can force Germany
 
 THE CENTRAL POWERS iii 
 
 to pay 1500 million pounds in indemnities 
 to Belgium and France. How can the 
 money be paid ? Germany has not the 
 gold to pay it, and the depreciated paper 
 of a nation on the edge of bankruptcy 
 would be of no value for the work of 
 restoration which would require to be put in 
 hand immediately. The Allies, it is true, 
 might take possession of certain German 
 custom-houses, and, during the years to 
 come, collect the 1500 million pounds. 
 But this would not provide the money 
 which would be needed immediately, and 
 other nations would hesitate to advance it, 
 as their own needs will be so tremendous 
 at the end of the war that all their resources 
 will be required for purposes of domestic 
 reconstruction. By the plan here proposed, 
 on the other hand, Belgium and France 
 would receive the 1500 million pounds in 
 bonds from Germany, and on these bonds 
 would issue their own currency to pay their 
 own indemnity ; money that would be 
 accepted by any nation able to sell material
 
 112 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 to Belgium and France, just as gold is 
 accepted, so that the work of reconstruction 
 could be started at once. 
 
 Now is the only time since the world 
 began that such a plan could be carried 
 out — now, with eight-tenths of the world 
 arrayed against Germany and her allies — 
 a great unity of action is possible, and were 
 Germany and her allies all convinced that 
 their financial salvation lies in this plan, 
 would not all these countries accept it, 
 thereby assuring themselves of a hundred 
 years of peace and prosperity ? 
 
 Words are not adequate to express the 
 trying situation of Germans now living in 
 other lands. Formerly they were the leading 
 factors in every community, sought after 
 as directors of industrial and banking com- 
 panies, and occupying responsible places in 
 municipal administrations. Now they are 
 regarded with aversion and distrust, and 
 the American custom of naming banks 
 and insuraxice companies " The German- 
 American " is now a thing of the past ;
 
 THE CENTRAL POWERS 113 
 
 indeed nearly all such names have been 
 discarded. The punishment of the crimes 
 of Germany has fallen heavily and often 
 unjustly on the above class — and they would, 
 if it were possible, exert great pressure on 
 their fellow-countrymen in the Fatherland 
 to clean the slate and make a fresh start 
 upon more noble paths of national existence. 
 With this plan in force the devilish secret 
 service of the German Government would 
 not be required. Millions have been ex- 
 pended in foreign countries by this depart- 
 ment. You may sink a ship without traces, 
 but the records of their secret service cannot 
 be expunged ; they stand on the pages of 
 history, for all to read for all time. 
 
 If Germany and Austria decide to accept 
 this plan, would they attempt, later on, to 
 withdraw from the world confederation, 
 and once more to proceed to conquer and 
 dominate the world ? This contingency is 
 impossible for the following reasons : There 
 will be, in circulation in Germany, Austria, 
 Turkey, and Bulgaria, thousands of millions
 
 114 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 of this bond currency. With it they will 
 have taken up their war loans and paid 
 their debts, and will have a large fund left 
 to take care of the injured and incapacitated. 
 To break away from the confederation would 
 at once make the currency in the hands of 
 their people and in the banks worthless, 
 and would result in the bankruptcy of 
 all. 
 
 Here is the great advantage of uniting 
 the pocket-books of the world. It would 
 be such a brake on the wheels of the war 
 machine that the latter would be powerless 
 to move. 
 
 The Central Powers will find in this 
 plan something that they cannot copy or 
 duplicate for their own use. They may 
 copy and duplicate tanks, aeroplanes, or 
 any other war machine, but this plan is 
 the mightiest possible weapon for peace, 
 for it is only workable by united action, and 
 the foundation of peace is unity. There- 
 fore there i:. no good reason to suppose that 
 the Central Powers would refuse to look
 
 THE CENTRAL POWERS 115 
 
 with favour on a plan which would give 
 them more than they could ever expect to 
 get by continuing the struggle, and also 
 bring about an era of prosperity which they 
 could by no other means achieve.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 THE NAVAL CLAUSE OF THE 
 WORLD AGREEMENT 
 
 The author is fully aware that among the 
 conditions necessary to make this plan oper- 
 ative the greatest objection will be made 
 to that which calls for the reduction of the 
 navies of all nations to one-tenth of their 
 size before August 19 14. Especially will 
 this objection come from England, who for 
 years has taken such pride in her navy, and 
 the United States, who have added so largely 
 to their naval power in the last few years, 
 and above all during this last year. 
 
 Let us review this clause in the World 
 Agreement. In the first place, there is no 
 need to consider this condition unless this 
 war is won, and Germany and Austria either 
 
 defeated or willing to join in the proposed 
 
 116
 
 NAVAL CLAUSE OF AGREEMENT 117 
 
 pact for one hundred years' peace. If this 
 is done, then the purpose for which the 
 navies were created is attained, and the need 
 for them no longer exists. In the amount 
 of the bonds allotted to each nation is in- 
 cluded the total cost of all warships built 
 since August i, 1914. They are not paid 
 for by individual nations, but by the united 
 world, and you cannot eat your cake and 
 have it. How much more good this money 
 would do if used to repay the debts created 
 to build navies ! How much more good it 
 would do if applied to the rebuilding of the 
 world ! 
 
 But there are other vital considerations. 
 What are navies to be used for, and what 
 will they be needed for, if the world unites 
 to maintain peace.? Warships will grow ob- 
 solete. Only England, Holland, the United 
 States, France and Japan have colonies, and 
 under the agreement the dnly event in which 
 these countries could use their navies would 
 be insurrection or rebellion in their colonies. 
 One-tenth of the naval power of these
 
 ii8 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 nations prior to August 1 9 1 4 will certainly be 
 sufficient for this purpose. The only other 
 case in which they could be used under this 
 agreement would be when warships were 
 needed by the united nations in order to en- 
 force the terms of the agreement in case any 
 nation attempted to violate them ; and even 
 then they would be used only if the break- 
 ing off of all relations and communications 
 by land, sea, cable and wireless were not in 
 itself sufficient. In such an event all the 
 navies of all the other nations would be 
 under the orders of the International Con- 
 gress, and the combined though reduced 
 navies of the world would assuredly be suffi- 
 cient for this purpose, and there would be 
 only a very remote chance of their ever being 
 used. One great factor that enters into the 
 consideration of this point is that within 
 the next few years, as mentioned in another 
 chapter, the perfection of airships will 
 make navies of little use. A great flotilla of 
 airships could and would destroy almost any 
 navy long before it reached the shores of the
 
 NAVAL CLAUSE OF AGREEMENT 119 
 
 land to be attacked. In this war the bel- 
 ligerent countries have in no case yet been 
 able to land on a well-protected coast, and 
 they will be less able when the airship comes 
 into full use. Land guns have a wider range 
 than the guns of ships, arfd it is impossible 
 
 for ships to live within the range of land 
 guns. "^ 
 
 The shadow of Germany's desire for world 
 domination, and her naval programme, arc 
 to a great extent to blame for the rapid 
 growth of the English and French navies. 
 In the face of Germany's attempt within 
 the last generation to take her place as a 
 great naval power, England, France and the 
 United States have been compelled to swell 
 the numbers of their warships, but with 
 Germany willing to take and keep her place 
 in a congress of nations the need for large 
 navies would disappear. The South Ameri- 
 can republics seem to be satisfied with their 
 present boundaries; neither the United States 
 nor Canada is looking for conquest. Ger- 
 many alone has been the reason for the
 
 I20 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 recent greater navies of the world, and by 
 the adoption of this plan the need for great 
 navies will have passed away. 
 
 Once a fixed plan for an International 
 Congress has been decided upon among the 
 nations there will be no need for fresh naval 
 construction. There are just two nations 
 which, if a fence were built around them 
 and the export of local products forbidden, 
 would not be practically self-supporting. 
 All other nations could, by a rearrangement 
 of their resources, exist on and by the fruits 
 of their own labour and soil. 
 
 These two exceptions are England and 
 her exact counterpart, Japan. Existence, 
 for them, is contingent wholly on their 
 having unrestricted use of the seven seas, 
 since they are, in their respective conti- 
 nents, the greatest maritime and commercial 
 Powers. There is no doubt that England 
 has not the slightest desire for the acquisi- 
 tion of further territory, and Japan is perfectly 
 satisfied with her present possessions, not- 
 withstanding the oft-reiterated statement of
 
 NAVAL CLAUSE OF AGREEMENT 121 
 
 politicians that she will ere long make war 
 upon the United States for the Philippine 
 Islands. Russia's international problems will 
 occupy her to the exclusion of all dreams 
 of extension. We need not imagine that 
 the Balkan States are likely to nourish 
 ambitions of world power. Austria may be 
 counted out ; France is apparently content 
 with her empire in Africa ; and Norway 
 and Sweden have always pursued the peaceful 
 paths of domestic development. 
 
 Germany has no longer any colonies. 
 The attitude of the United States may be 
 judged from her renunciation of Cuba and 
 her refusal to enter Mexico, as well as her 
 expressed willingness to give independence 
 to the Philippine Islands as soon as they can 
 safely be left to self-government. 
 
 So the outlook is that we have a world 
 of nations either contented with territorial 
 distribution as it exists, or, on the other 
 hand, prevented by natural weakness from 
 realizing any ambitions which they may 
 cherish.
 
 122 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 Hence if the nations enter into such an 
 agreement as here outHned, giving the Inter- 
 national Congress full authority to police 
 the world, there would seem to be no reason 
 why the present boundaries of the nations 
 should not remain as they are for another 
 hundred years, and in that case there would 
 be not the slightest need for further naval 
 construction. 
 
 If Germany is to be a power without 
 colonies, she need fortify only her harbours ; 
 a navy would be superfluous. So far the 
 German navy has not proved itself of much 
 value as a fighting arm, except in the 
 torpedoing of hospital ships and merchant 
 vessels — though of course it may yet give 
 battle and destroy half the English navy — 
 or go to the bottom of the North Sea. 
 But if England enters into an agreement 
 covenanting that she will not for one hundred 
 years use her navy aggressively against 
 Germany, then Germany has nothing to 
 fear. 
 
 Think what a saving in taxes and national
 
 NAVAL CLAUSE OF AGREEMENT 123 
 
 debts would follow ! During the last thirteen 
 years Germany has spent over 100 million 
 pounds, or 500 million dollars, on the fleet 
 that now skulks in her harbours ; she has 
 nothing whatever to show for the outlay. 
 
 There are other great benefits which will 
 accrue from the adoption of this plan. The 
 most important of all the shipyards of the 
 world will be needed for years to reconstruct 
 the lost merchant fleets ; these shipyards 
 will need all the plates that can be spared 
 for this purpose. To continue to build 
 warships when this war is over, and to 
 prepare for some future world war, with 
 this great need of merchant vessels not fully 
 provided for, would be to delay the return 
 of prosperity for just so much longer. When 
 peace comes there will be the tremendous 
 task of moving back to their own homes 
 millions of men and nurses — to the United 
 States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, 
 India, Japan, China and the islands of the 
 sea. This is a task which will have to be 
 performed at once. It will tax shipping to
 
 124 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 the utmost ; and if during this critical period 
 crops were to fail or partially fail in any 
 land, the work of returning these men and 
 women would have to be postponed or 
 partially postponed, for the moving of the 
 crops would have to be the first considera- 
 tion. If only this plan be adopted, then the 
 moment peace is in sight all the shipyards 
 and all their workers can at once drop any 
 warships under construction and concentrate 
 all their energy on the needed vessels. And 
 as all the money to date expended on these 
 warships by this plan is to be returned, 
 these will be the property of the confeder- 
 ated world, and need not be finished, but 
 the cash provided for them will be used for 
 this more important work.
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 ARMIES AND NAVIES 
 
 The expense of maintaining all the armies 
 and navies of the world prior to August i, 
 1 9 14, was approximately 400 million pounds 
 or 2000 million dollars. The adoption of 
 this plan would probably save 300 million 
 pounds or 1500 million dollars annually. 
 There would also accrue great savings in 
 each country in respect of the secret service 
 departments. But the greatest saving would 
 be the return of the men who are not pro- 
 ducing, the men of the armies and navies, to 
 the industrial world. 
 The total strength of the 
 
 German army during 
 
 peace is . . . 870,000 men. 
 
 By this plan it would be 
 
 about . . . 70,000 men. 
 
 125
 
 126 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 The total strength of the 
 
 French army during 
 
 peace is . . . 783,000 men. 
 
 By this plan it would be 
 
 about . . . 40,000 men. 
 
 The total strength of the 
 
 Russian army during 
 
 peace is . . . 1,500,000 men. 
 
 By this plan it would be 
 
 about . . . 100,000 men. 
 
 There would be returned from the above 
 nations to the fields of industry 1,940,000 
 men. But the reduced armies and navies of 
 the world would restore about 4,000,000 
 men to commerce, manufactory and agri- 
 culture. This represents about half the 
 man-power lost in this conflict. The above 
 figures do not include the men employed in 
 the manufactures of warships, ammunition 
 factories, powder and explosive factories, 
 clothing establishments making uniforms, 
 or factories manufacturing cloth, shoes, and 
 all the paraphernalia necessary to supply 
 these 4,000,000 men. These industries
 
 ARMIES AND NAVIES 127 
 
 would probably release 2,000,000 more, 
 replacing altogether three-fourths of the lost 
 man-power of the world. If universal peace 
 is not established, additional men must be 
 taken from the fields of industry to construct 
 the great flotillas of airships, the thousands 
 of tanks, submarines, etc., which each 
 nation will build. The man-power of the 
 world will be employed in the production of 
 death-dealing implements, while famine and 
 want stalk the earth, owing to the shortage 
 of men in the ordinary fields of labour. It 
 is not a pleasant picture to contemplate, but 
 it will be an ever-present reality, yielding 
 its daily increase of disastrous results.
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 IS INFLATION AN OBJECTION ? 
 
 One of the first objections which will occur 
 to the reader is that this plan involves 
 inflation of currency. But owing to the 
 conditions which will prevail after this war, 
 we should only be using the same means to 
 bring about a return of prosperity as have 
 been used to carry on the war. Inflation is 
 increased use. What has this war produced .? 
 Inflation of the armies, inflation of the navies, 
 inflation of the death-rate, inflation of loss, 
 inflation of injury, inflation of the costs of 
 war — this war having thus far cost more 
 than all wars for the last 150 or 200 years, 
 having caused more deaths than those caused 
 by all wars during the same period. We per- 
 ceive an inflation of the number of nations 
 at war ; and in any phase that we consider 
 there is inflation. The men used, the power 
 
 128
 
 IS INFLATION AN OBJECTION? 129 
 
 used, the shells used, the ships used are all 
 that can be produced by each nation. It 
 has been a war of limits, in credit, food, and 
 men. Accordingly this plan to restore pros- 
 perity must also go to the very limits of the 
 available resources of all the nations, in order 
 to bring back normal conditions to the world 
 and avert bankruptcy. No separate number 
 of small plans will suffice. Only united 
 action and unity of purpose will attain the 
 results desired. It would be as foolish to 
 attempt to doctor a horse with the dosage of 
 a drug needed for a man as to attempt to 
 restore normal conditions by small plans 
 worked out by separate nations. Practically 
 all the world is now at war, and afterwards 
 the whole world must work on one plan to 
 restore normal conditions. There is no actual 
 inflation, for the money to be used in this 
 plan is only the total of what has been used 
 in the paying of taxes and the purchase of 
 Government Bonds during the last three and 
 a half years. But 80 per cent, of this money 
 expended is a total loss, and it must also be
 
 130 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 borne in mind that higher prices were paid 
 than the things were worth while dur- 
 ing normal times, and that the things pro- 
 duced are not such as would be needed in 
 a world wherein universal peace prevailed. 
 Thousands of millions of the money used 
 has gone in powder and chemicals for 
 shells, and in cannon that are destroyed or 
 worn out. The iron, the steel, the brass and 
 the copper — much of these also is lost to 
 the world. 
 
 This plan restores these lost values by the 
 purchase of universal peace, and peace, if 
 secured, is worth any price that must be 
 paid for it. During this war all has been 
 inflation. The methods proposed under this 
 Plan are the methods which have prevailed 
 during the war, and no other method will 
 suffice. 
 
 If the Governments of each nation fear 
 the effects of the release of this large volume 
 of money, they can, in place of forcing the 
 Government Bonds to be redeemed, pay those
 
 IS INFLATION AN OBJECTION? 131 
 
 who desire to surrender them at any time 
 before maturity, and the said Governments 
 can loan the Bond Currency held to redeem 
 War Loans, etc., when it will be employed 
 in the purchase of foodstuffs and in rehabili- 
 tating the railroads, which will be in great 
 need of financial accommodation when the 
 war ends. By the above plan there would 
 be no forced liquidation of war bonds and 
 loans. And only those that wished to 
 employ all their money otherwise would 
 surrender their bonds. In this way the 
 plan would involve no real inflation.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 THE CARE OF THE INJURED 
 
 In no connection will the benefit of this 
 World Bond issue and the currency based 
 upon it be more apparent than in respect 
 of the large fund which will remain in the 
 hands of each nation for the benefit of the 
 noble men and women who are chained 
 by lifelong disablement ; men and women 
 doomed to suffer to the end of life that we 
 might be free. Of the men who have 
 won the future peace of the world, and the 
 happiness of future generations, in place of 
 slavery to military domination and prepared- 
 ness for war, hundreds of thousands are 
 more or less crippled and incapacitated. 
 This is a problem which will stagger the 
 
 nations. These brave people need all the 
 
 132
 
 THE CARE OF THE INJURED 133 
 
 aid that can be given to them, and it must 
 be given in no grudging spirit. 
 
 These heroes must not be insulted by the 
 attempt to see how^ little can be done for 
 them. The question must be, How much .? 
 Yet if a fund be not provided in the only- 
 way the author can conceive of as sufficient, 
 that is, by this World Bond issue, the taxes 
 which will have to be levied each year for 
 the benefit of these men and women will be 
 greater than any country will be able to 
 endure, so that it will be equally impossible 
 to give adequate comfort to these people, or 
 to lift the burden from the taxpayers. But 
 owing to this bond issue there will be 
 millions in the treasury of each nation, 
 which can be used for this purpose, and the 
 burden need not for years to come be felt 
 by the taxpayer. These men are entitled to 
 rest, and only by this plan can they get it. 
 In most of the nations, no doubt, about 
 two-thirds of the injured will be able to 
 find work in their old positions, or as small 
 merchants, school teachers, etc., but a large
 
 134 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 proportion of these two-thirds will have 
 their income reduced, owing to their inability 
 to reach their former standard as workers, 
 and under this reduced income they must 
 struggle to the end. Manufactories and 
 industrial institutions must be built in which 
 those who are unable to perform their old 
 work can be taught trades which they can 
 carry on at home, and great organizations 
 must be created to market the products of 
 these people. Thousands with homes partly 
 paid for will lose them, their reduced incomes 
 being insufficient to allow them to live as 
 they did before the war. These people must 
 be taken care of, and it must be done in such 
 a way that they will feel that it is the loving 
 task of a grateful people to administer to 
 their wants, not that they are dependent 
 upon a grudging nation which is only half 
 attempting to do its duty to those to whom 
 it owes its life. The institutions to be built 
 for this purpose must not be barracks in 
 which helpless people will be herded together, 
 but homes with cheerful surroundings,
 
 THE CARE OF THE INJURED 135 
 
 worthy of the heroes who will live in them. 
 While the war continues, with the excite- 
 ment of the daily news, and while the guns 
 are booming in France, it is very easy to 
 feel conscious of the great debt of gratitude 
 we owe to the soldiers. But when the war 
 is over, and the excitement has died away, 
 and the care of these people becomes a 
 pressing debt, felt more and more acutely as 
 the years pass by, it will be a more difficult 
 task to refrain from under-estimating the 
 obligation and attempting to shirk it ; more 
 difficult still when the conditions which 
 imposed it are matters of history and are 
 among the pages of the past. Then may 
 come a time when these men will think 
 that it would have been far better to have 
 died on the field of the battle than to live 
 only to find themselves and their dependents 
 the wards of an ungrateful people. 
 
 This plan will solve these after-war con- 
 ditions, and the blessings to be conferred on 
 these people alone makes it worth adopting. 
 The author hopes that this plan will receive
 
 136 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 the hearty support of the injured and in- 
 capacitated who will need help in the future ; 
 the men who have won this war will in no 
 small degree possess the power to compel 
 their Governments to accept it. They have 
 helped to save the world on the battlefields, 
 and it is theirs to see that the great and 
 material relief this plan offers them shall be 
 available.
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 THE PLAN AND THE WORLD'S 
 TRADE AND FINANCE 
 
 When the war ends, be it sooner or later, 
 the first question which will confront all 
 those who handle trade outside their own 
 lands will be the credit of the peoples. Can 
 they pay for the goods they demand ? Are 
 they solvent ? Who can answer ? And how 
 soon can any answer be given ? What will 
 be the standing of each nation ? What 
 will be the rate of exchange ? Will the 
 banks, the manufacturers and the export 
 houses deal with and discount the paper 
 of foreign buyers as they did before the 
 war ? 
 
 Under another plan than that proposed 
 in the pages of this book the question of 
 debtors and debtor nations must be a pro- 
 
 137
 
 138 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 tracted problem, one that months will not 
 suffice to solve. The bankers will be in great 
 doubt. If goods are sold and exchange cannot 
 be negotiated, trade will flow in very re- 
 stricted- channels for a very long period, and 
 all commerce will be greatly hampered. It is 
 a serious problem, and it cannot be solved 
 until it is stated in terms of actuality, if 
 the future is to be as dark as it appears now. 
 But the problem is a vital one ; it affects 
 the banks, the manufacturers, and the 
 exporters. 
 
 This plan offers an immediate solution. 
 By its adoption all doubts as to solvency 
 will be dispelled — credit, indeed, will be 
 far better than it was before the war. If, 
 for example, Serbia wishes to buy in the 
 markets of the world, she can and will pay 
 in the Serbian issue of Bond Currency. All 
 will know what stands behind the currency, 
 and the orders will be filled. Thus great 
 prosperity will result at once. 
 
 Without this plan there would be years 
 of violent fluctuation of international ex-
 
 WORLD'S TRADE AND FINANCE 139 
 
 changes. English houses would hesitate 
 to fill orders from one-third of the countries 
 now their allies ; countries to which Eng- 
 land has furnished almost unlimited money 
 and credits during the war. But by this 
 plan, with all the costs of the war in Serbia's 
 hands, there could be no question of credit 
 not being extended to that country. With- 
 out this plan how could a nation like 
 Serbia pay even her present debt to England, 
 or have any money left with which to under- 
 take the great work of reconstruction which 
 must be undertaken the moment peace is 
 secured ? 
 
 This plan will at once improve inter- 
 national trade, so that the latter will be 200 
 to 300 per cent, better than it would other- 
 wise be for a generation or more. Demand 
 will be far greater than it was before the 
 war, as needs will be far greater. All stocks 
 will be down to the lowest point known for 
 generations. What a chance for trade — 
 the best ever known ! The adoption of 
 the plan would enable those now left on
 
 140 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 earth to behold prosperity returning by leaps 
 and bounds ; but if it is not adopted they 
 may never live to see the return of prosper- 
 ity/ but w^ill live in a practically bankrupt 
 w^orld.
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 ARBITRATION 
 
 This plan does not in any way contemplate 
 the attribution of powers of arbitration to 
 the International Congress in the event of 
 differences between nations. Such differ- 
 ences must be taken to the Hague or to 
 some other established Tribunal. It will 
 be a duty of the Congress to see that the 
 decrees of this Tribunal are made effective, 
 but the judicial and the executive authority 
 must not be the same. If extraneous ques- 
 tions are taken up by the Congress, months 
 will elapse before an understanding can be 
 reached. The world cannot fiddle while 
 Rome is burning. Every hour and every 
 day will count — count in lives lost, count 
 
 in the extra cost of maintaining an armed 
 
 141
 
 142 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 force until it is seen if the plan is to be 
 adopted. The cost of time spent on other 
 questions would endanger the Sinking Fund, 
 delay the return of the soldiers to their 
 hearths, and delay production all the world 
 over. The cost is too great to admit of 
 any subject being discussed but the one for 
 which the Congress is assembled. 
 
 The Hague Tribunal has acted as arbi- 
 trator in a large number of cases. It can 
 continue to do so in the future. When 
 the resort to arms is once abandoned no 
 idea will be entertained of any procedure 
 other than arbitration, any more than when 
 differences arise between States of the 
 Union or the colonies of England. Nations 
 will soon adapt themselves to the new con- 
 ditions ; to the next generation arbitration 
 will seem the most natural way to settle 
 disputed claims. The recorded horrors of 
 this war, and the blessed escape from them 
 provided by this plan, will remain in 
 memory to show the futility of any other 
 than peaceful settlement. And when pros-
 
 ARBITRATION 143 
 
 perity is world-wide there will be fewer 
 grounds of dispute. It is want and dis- 
 tress that disturb peace ; plenty brings 
 contentment.
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 THE SOVEREIGN POWERS OF 
 NATIONS 
 
 The plan we are considering will in no 
 way interfere with the sovereign power of 
 nations. Each nation will be free to regu- 
 late its internal concerns, to live under 
 whatever form of government it chooses, 
 and to adopt free trade or a tariff wall, high 
 or low. 
 
 In the United States to-day each State 
 is a separate unit of the whole. There 
 are as many different systems of law as 
 there are States. The laws vary respecting 
 marriage, divorce, liquor control, railroads, 
 land transfer, and almost every human 
 institution that comes within the scope of 
 the law. The national laws rule only in 
 inter-State matters. State rights are never 
 overridden by the Federal Government. 
 
 144
 
 SOVEREIGN POWERS OF NATIONS 145 
 
 So with the British colonies. Local 
 customs are not repressed, but an attempt 
 is made in every case to bring the laws 
 into conformity with them. This has been 
 the corner-stone of Britain's success as a 
 colonizing power. And the British have 
 been the most successful colonists in the 
 world. 
 
 The colonies of the United States have 
 each their own laws, voted by the people 
 of the colonies, or territories, as they are 
 called. The laws of Porto Rico differ as 
 widely from those of the Philippines as 
 East does from West. In neither case are 
 they laws adapted to New York State ; 
 they are laws adapted to the people on 
 whom they are enforced, made by and for 
 the people themselves. 
 
 In the World Confederacy each nation 
 will retain sovereign power, and nothing in 
 the plan under consideration will modify 
 or reduce this power.
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 THE STATE CONTROL OF 
 ARMAMENT WORKS 
 
 Business is business, and if a world peace is 
 ever secured, all means whereby armament- 
 makers may profit by war must be abol- 
 ished. It is futile to assume that there are 
 not many people whose love of money warps 
 their conscience. The desire to ensure that 
 warlike preparations shall continue leads 
 them to control the Press, as they have 
 done in Germany, and thereby to keep the 
 war flame alive. Votes are secured by money 
 and by interests in armament works. It is 
 a crime that any member of the legislature 
 of any nation should profit by leading his 
 nation into war, but it is said that the 
 German Emperor has large interests in 
 
 the Krupp plant. Many newspapers are 
 
 146
 
 CONTROL OF ARMAMENT WORKS 147 
 
 controlled by Krupp money. Thus the 
 thoughts of the people are artfully directed 
 towards the idea of war, until public opinion 
 decides that it would be a lasting dishonour 
 to retreat from the position assumed by a 
 contentious nation. 
 
 During war abnormal prices are paid ; 
 only a few manufacturers supply the needed 
 articles, and they can charge what they like. 
 By these swollen profits tremendous power 
 is acquired. 
 
 No explosive of any kind should be sold 
 to any one without a Government permit. 
 The same should hold good regarding the 
 purchase or exportation of guns, revolvers, 
 swords and all lethal weapons. No private 
 company should be allowed to manufacture 
 anything in the nature of armaments or 
 part of armaments. 
 
 In the working out of this plan it may 
 be the part of wisdom to reimburse all 
 armament-makers for their expenditure upon 
 extensions and new machinery erected for 
 this war, and to increase the bond issue to
 
 148 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 include this cost, even if it means a few addi- 
 tional hundreds of millions sterling. It will 
 be money well spent. The people who have 
 poured out their money in the erection of 
 such plants, and have thereby been of great 
 assistance to their nations, should in justice 
 be repaid their outlay. If this were not 
 done, the immense power which their 
 combined capital could wield might be a 
 stumbling-block in the way of the realiza- 
 tion of this plan.
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 THE INTERNATIONAL FLAG 
 
 To ensure unity of action by all nations in 
 maritime affairs, it will be provided, as 
 shown in the Bond Agreement, that one 
 of the first acts of the Congress shall be 
 to adopt an International flag. This flag 
 will be flown by all ships more than three 
 miles from the coast, together with the flag 
 of their respective nations. The sea will 
 be under the jurisdiction of the world, and 
 any such act as sinking a ship will be a 
 matter for the International Congress to 
 handle at once, which it will do by ordering 
 all relations with the offending country to 
 be broken off. If this measure is not suffi- 
 cient it has the power to call on all the 
 nations to use their navies. This Govern- 
 ment of the Seven Seas by the International 
 
 149
 
 150 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 Congress very largely obviates the need of 
 navies of any kind. If Germany sank any 
 ship it would be a vessel flying the Inter- 
 national flag, not a Swedish, Norwegian or 
 United States vessel, and behind the action 
 of the Congress would stand a united world. 
 There would be no neutral nations left to 
 raise objections. This also involves that 
 freedom of the seas which the German 
 Government now insists upon, and in the 
 largest and broadest possible sense. It 
 would be far better that the flag of the 
 United World should be flown on the high 
 seas, rather than a number of national flags. 
 If the torpedo of any one nation should 
 sink a ship flying this flag, there is a suffi- 
 cient bond filed with the Congress which 
 would cover all damages, and would provide 
 the means to compel payment. There 
 would be no neutrals to sit back and look 
 on while the demand was being made.
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 THE NON-CONTRIBUTING 
 NATIONS 
 
 In the United World, as proposed under 
 this plan, a majority of the smaller nations 
 — Mexico, Cuba, Peru, perhaps Chili, and 
 a dozen others — will have little or no saving 
 to show in their annual budgets. The 
 measures taken in accordance with this plan 
 will not directly affect them. Yet all these 
 nations are now suffering from a lack of 
 the means of transport to carry their crops, 
 from lack of suitable markets for their ex- 
 change, from the high rates of marine 
 insurance, and the consequent rise in prices 
 of all their exports and imports, and from 
 the increased cost of all necessaries. 
 
 With the adoption of this plan new life 
 would at once flow into these countries, and 
 stimulating all their industries, and bringing 
 
 151
 
 152 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 them the greatest prosperity they have ever 
 known. All their products would find a 
 market. The cessation of naval construc- 
 tion, the employment of the material of 
 partly built warships for new merchant 
 ships, and the speeding up of shipbuilding 
 everywhere, would give the world the new 
 tonnage needed at least two or three years 
 sooner than it could otherwise be brought 
 into existence. The importance of this 
 act to all peoples and nations cannot be 
 over-estimated. 
 
 The balm of Universal Peace is worth 
 its price, and who can doubt that these 
 smaller nations would be willing to pay 
 their share for this boundless prosperity, 
 and the prospect of secure tranquillity ? 
 
 A simple plan to make these nations par- 
 takers with the rest in the Great Plan, and 
 contributors to the Sinking Fund, can easily 
 be devised. If on every letter or post-card 
 sent to the contributing nations from any 
 of these nations which do not directly con- 
 tribute, a one cent or halfpenny stamp were
 
 THE NON-CONTRIBUTING NATIONS 153 
 
 affixed, in addition to the postage rate, this 
 indirect tax might be the nation's annual 
 contribution to the Sinking Fund, and thus 
 all would pay a small tax for the great 
 boon conferred on them. And the people 
 of these nations, like the people of all other 
 nations, would quickly recoup themselves 
 for all the war has cost them ; merchandise 
 of any kind needed for any purpose in any 
 part of the world would reach its market 
 years sooner than it otherwise could ; the 
 increase of values would be so great that 
 this indirect taxation would be no more 
 than fair. All nations are suffering now, 
 and those that do not directly contribute 
 to the Sinking Fund, yet share in all the 
 benefits it brings, should contribute in some 
 other way. There can be little doubt of 
 their willingness to do so.
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 CONCLUSION 
 
 This war is at once the most holy and the 
 most unholy war which the world has ever 
 seen ; holy, because the Allies are fighting 
 for the rights of men and nations ; unholy, 
 because the Germans are fighting for the 
 domination of the world. The justice of 
 the Allies' cause has been a cloud by day 
 and a pillar of fire by night to lead them on. 
 And it will continue to lead them on, though 
 the nights be dark and the way not clear, 
 until they reach the Promised Land. 
 
 New men and new ideas come to the 
 front in every great crisis, and in times like 
 these, when old methods no longer give the 
 desired results, new methods must be con- 
 sidered by thinking people whenever they 
 are proposed. They are often short cuts 
 
 154
 
 CONCLUSION 155 
 
 to desired results ; much shorter than the 
 old roads. But some one must show them 
 to the traveller, or they may be overlooked. 
 
 This is a new plan, a new path, but is it 
 not worth considering, since by the old 
 paths neither party has as yet arrived at the 
 desired result ? During the time of waiting 
 lives are being sacrificed by the thousand 
 day after day. The price of neglecting this 
 plan is blood and bankruptcy — the blood of 
 the young and brave, and the bankruptcy 
 of nations and individuals. 
 
 President Wilson said in his speech to 
 Congress, on December 4 — 
 
 " Let there be no misunderstanding. Our 
 present and immediate task is to w^in the 
 war, and nothing shall turn us aside from it. 
 Every power and resource we possess will 
 continue to be devoted to that purpose. 
 Those who desire to bring about peace 
 before that purpose is achieved, I counsel to 
 carry their advice elsewhere. 
 
 " The peace we make must deliver the 
 once fair lands and happy people of Belgium 
 and Northern France from the Prussian
 
 156 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 conquest and the Prussian menace, but it 
 must also deliver the peoples of Austria- 
 Hungary, the peoples of the Balkans, and 
 the peoples of Turkey, alike in Europe and 
 in Asia, from the impudent and alien domina- 
 tion of the Prussian military and commercial 
 autocracy. We intend no wrong against 
 the German Empire, no interference with 
 her internal affairs. The people of Germany 
 are being told by the men whom they now 
 permit to deceive them and to act as their 
 masters, that they are fighting for the very 
 life and existence of their Empire a war 
 of desperate self-defence against deliberate 
 aggression. Nothing could be more grossly 
 or wantonly false, and we must seek by the 
 utmost openness and candour as to our real 
 aims to convince them of its falseness. We 
 are, in fact, fighting for their emancipation 
 from fear, along with our own — from the 
 fear, as well as from the fact, of unjust 
 attacks by neighbours or rivals or schemers 
 after world empire. No one is threatening 
 the existence or the independence or the 
 peaceful enterprise of the German Empire." 
 
 This plan does all the President requires — 
 by the pen instead of the sword. It leaves
 
 CONCLUSION 157 
 
 the world free from the necessity of accept- 
 ing German Kultur. Real culture can and 
 does flow over national boundaries as natur- 
 ally as a river, and the world accepts it 
 willingly. This is a far better way than 
 the Emperor's. 
 
 The German Note says, in answer to the 
 Pope's late attempt to secure peace — 
 
 " The free interplay of forces in the 
 world, in peaceable mutual contest, would 
 lead to the highest perfecting of the noblest 
 human possessions." 
 
 Whether the desire for peace expressed 
 in this Note be sincere or not, it is a straw 
 showing which way the wind blows. This 
 plan would fulfil the desire expressed. 
 
 The Austrian Note is a straw blowing in 
 the same direction — 
 
 " We greet the leading idea of your 
 Holiness that the future arrangement of the 
 world must be based on the elimination of 
 armed force, on the moral force of right, 
 and on the rule of international justice and 
 legality."
 
 158 THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 If Austria really desires the elimination 
 of armed force this plan fulfils the desire to 
 perfection. And by accepting this plan she 
 can secure the reimbursement of all the war 
 has cost her, and the promise of measureless 
 prosperity. 
 
 There is one way by which the advent 
 of universal peace may be hastened, and that 
 is by the realization of its benefits in the 
 mind of man. This plan would produce a 
 change such as the world has never before 
 seen. Each nation would be a unit in the 
 brotherhood of nations, free to develop its 
 individual conceptions ; and everywhere ad- 
 vances would be made in all peaceful pur- 
 suits, and especially in the arts. The harmony 
 of the universe would flow through the 
 fingers and voices of the musicians ; the 
 brush would transfer to canvas glimpses of 
 nature not yet realized. The soul of man 
 would surmount natural limitations, and 
 spiritual visions not now seen would find 
 expression in higher and nobler life. The 
 colossal amount of money now wasted on
 
 CONCLUSION 159 
 
 preparations for war and on war itself would 
 make poverty a thing of the past. The 
 world would look to principle for its inspira- 
 tion, while national honour would be guarded 
 by right motives instead of by Dreadnoughts. 
 No more should we drain the exchequer to 
 provide pensions ; the only pensions would 
 be awarded to a nation's artists, musicians, 
 and authors, men who had exalted the ideals 
 of the people. 
 
 Do not look only for shortcomings in this 
 plan, but accept the benefits and deliverance 
 which it offers. This plan promises salva- 
 tion for all by the uncovering of a great 
 storehouse of wealth hitherto unthought of, 
 a wealth so vast that it will not only lift the 
 war debt of all nations, but open the flood- 
 gates of prosperity. This plan may not be 
 orthodox, but nothing orthodox will avail 
 in such a crisis. Do you wish to remain 
 under the oppression of exorbitant taxation, 
 or to accept the freedom which only this 
 novel and radical plan can bring .? Shall 
 men on a sinking ship refuse the salvation
 
 i6o THE GREAT PLAN 
 
 offered by approaching life-boats merely 
 because they are of a new and radical type ? 
 Or shall the raging flames be allowed to 
 consume your home simply because the only 
 means of relief offered is a fire-engine dif- 
 ferent in construction from any you have 
 seen before ? 
 
 By this plan we sell the War Principle 
 out of the world, in exchange for untold 
 prosperity and peace, just as a drunkard 
 might sell his appetite for drink for a great 
 inheritance. 
 
 If this plan is accepted each life given in 
 this war will be crowned as with a halo, 
 and the glare of the battlefield will be but 
 the harbinger of the rising sun of righteous- 
 ness for all the world, and the passing of 
 the German Emperor and his mad horde to 
 oblivion. God hasten the day ! 
 
 PRINTED IN Great Britain by Richard Clay 4 Suns, Limited, 
 
 BRUNSWICK ST., STAMFORD ST., S.B. 1, AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.
 
 Los Angeles 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped b 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 
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