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To

MY DEAR WIFE,

TO WHOM MY DEBT IS INFINITE,

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED

FOREWORD

I MOST earnestly hope that there will be a wide circulation of Mr. Beck's War and Humanity. It is the kind of a book which every self-respecting American, who loves his country, should read. I believe that its circulation throughout our whole land would have a very real effect in educating public opinion as to the duty of America in this great world crisis. Surely, we cannot permanently rest content, unless we prepare ourselves both in soul and in body to do our duty as a nation in the world. There must be thorough military and industrial preparedness in this country; there must be an aroused and quickened patriotism, and a stern determination to see that the rights of our country, and its citizens, are everywhere respected; and there must be a keen sense of inter

national duty, and of the shamefulness of neglecting this duty.

Such is the spirit Americans ought to possess, and this book of Mr. Beck's is a potent aid in the creation of such a spirit.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT.

INTRODUCTION

THE success of The Evidence in the Case1 must be the author's justification, if any, in putting into this permanent form his subsequent contributions to the controversial history of the war. In a sense this book may be regarded as a sequel to his earlier discussion of the ethics of the present world crisis.

The leading motif of The Evidence in the Case was the moral obligation of nations to justify their acts in the forum of the general conscience of mankind, and as the present volume deals with subsequent developments of the World War, which raise the same questions of moral responsibility in the Supreme Court of Civilization, the connection between the two books is obvious. While a portion of this book discusses the attitude and duty of the United States in this world crisis,

"The Evidence in the Case. A Discussion of the Moral Responsibility for the War of 1914, as Disclosed by the Diplomatic Records." G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York and London. (First Edition, November, 1914. Thirteenth Printing, January, 1917. French Edition, La Preuve, Paris, Cres et Cie. German Edition, Der Tatbestand, Lausanne Press, Payot et Cie.)

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