Review of Veblen's The Nature of Peace,
by 
The North American Review, (New York), Vol. 206, No. 743, (Oct., 1917), pp. 633-635.

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[633]
The Nature of Peace. By Thorstein Veblen. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1917.

That the highest wisdom is to be gained through a coldly dispassionate analysis 
of passionately interesting ideas is not perhaps quite self-evident. But if the 
truth of this proposition be taken for granted, then it follows, as the night 
the day, that the wisdom of Thorstein Veblen is of the highest order; for not 
only is Mr. Veblen's analysis acute and far-reaching, but his detachment is 
almost unique. Leaving entirely aside all values that are merely "decorative", 
or emotional, or (in the currently accepted sense) moral, the author is able to 
demonstrate that Patriotism is little better than a superstition, or at best an 
inherited habit of mind which, like an instinct, may work for good or ill. With 
a perfectly straight face, he can discuss the probable advantages of 
unconditional submission to Germany - only to reach the conclusion that this 
solution of our difficulties, though desirable on many grounds, is in the 
present state of the human mind impracticable. Finally, he is capable of 
remarking with perfect 'sang froid' that if the rulers of the earth desire to 
obviate or postpone a class war it would be better for them to refrain from 
establishing a too perfect external peace.

Whatever prejudices may be aroused by these conclusions, there can be no doubt 
as to the value, up to a certain point at least, of Mr. Veblen's method. 
Although we may not be able continuously to live in a perfectly "dry" light — 
any more than we could endure a constant illumination of X-rays - it is 
unquestionably good for us occasionally to examine our beliefs and our conduct 
in such a light. Nor is it in the main possible to deny, without self -
stultification, the results of Mr. Veblen's inexorable logic. That the material 
profits of aggressive patriotism arc non-existent, or at best confined to a 
privileged few, has been laboriously proved by several writers, among whom the 
most conspicuous it Norman Angell. It is not, on the whole, much more difficult 
to demonstrate that the prestige-value of patriotism to the common man is 
equally illusory — except, of course, in so far as thinking a thing true makes 
it (relatively) true. Furthermore, the results of "peace without honor" — as Mr. 
Veblen shows in what is perhaps the most vigorously original part of his book — 
would be by no means so disastrous, except in the subjective sense just alluded 
to, as might be hastily supposed. "It is, of course, easy for an unreflecting 
person to jump to the conclusion that subjection to an alien power must bring 
grievous burdens in the way of taxes and similar impositions. But reflection 
will immediately show [634] that no appreciable increase over the economic 
burdens already carried by the populace under their several national 
establishments could come of such a move." On the contrary, we would be 
warranted in looking for economics. The burden of militarism would be lessened; 
for it would be unnecessary to draw large contingents of men from the subject 
peoples in order to protect the empire, since, by hypothesis, submission would 
be voluntary. Again, the burden of supporting the personnel of the government 
and its underlying hierarchy of gentlefolk would be, though considerable in the 
sum, relatively small. "It seems a reasonable expectation that sufficient 
dignity and magnificence could be put in evidence by such a large-scale 
establishment at a lower aggregate cost than the aggregate of expenditures 
previously incurred for the like ends by various nations working in severalty 
and at cross purposes." Add to this all the economies that might be brought 
about by an efficient centralized administration; and add also the fact that 
under such an administration, economic conditions might well be more favorable 
to culture than they are under the democratic system of unrestrained 
competition. If this line of Argument reminds one of the logic of Iago it should 
not on that account be less convincing.

Some of the further contentions advanced by Mr. Veblen approximate views that 
are coming to be accepted by the majority of persons who think. That the sole 
practicable alternative to "dishonorable" submission is the destruction of the 
German dynastic government, is the professed opinion of the leading men in the 
Entente nations: "The world must be made safe for democracy." Mr. Veblen 
develops the argument, and carries it a step further. He holds that ultimately, 
in order to secure the peace of the world it will be necessary to apply the same 
treatment to England's present ally, Japan — since all dynastic governments have 
for their final object the disturbance of peace. That among the democratic 
nations themselves, peace may be permanently secured only by a neutralizing of 
all differences, is beginning to be dimly recognized. Mr. Veblen would carry the 
process to the utmost practicable extreme; be would neutralize not only trade, 
but citizenship. Under his proposed system the "common man" would not be invited 
to plunge his country into war because his country's flag had been insulted or 
because a compatriot seeking wealth in foreign parts had been unjustly used by 
foreigners: he would, in short, shed his blood for a compatriot on no other plea 
than that on which he would spend his wealth for a neighbor.

It is only when one reaches the final phase of Mr. Veblen's argument that one 
clearly perceives that the whole work is, in effect, a bitter criticism of the 
existing social order. Some suggestion of the deep cynicism that marks this 
final phase has already been given. In brief, the unfavorable economic 
conditions which at present affect the culture and happiness of the common man 
would become, during a prolonged peace of neutralization, more and more 
powerful. These unfavorable influences spring from two causes: the progressive 
increase in technological efficiency and the historic reverence for the rights 
of property. Now "property", according to Mr. Veblen, is but another 
superstition, and faith in this superstition is already visibly dwindling. As 
the expenses of war mount up, men are coming to believe less in the useful 
function [635] of the capitalist who is said to perform a service by his 
management of the wealth which he supposedly risks in the initiation and 
"backing" of large enterprises. Concurrently, as leadership in the belligerent 
countries becomes more and more "vulgarized", there is a tendency to weakened 
faith in the special qualities of the leisure or governing class as other than 
ornamental. If this process goes far enough, the result will be revolutionary. 
"And it is quite within the possibilities of the case that the division of 
opinions on these matters might presently shift back to the old familiar ground 
of international hostilities; undertaken partly to put down civil disturbances 
in given countries, partly by the more archaic, or conservative, peoples to 
safeguard the institutions of the received law and order against inroads from 
the side of the iconoclastic ones."

Such are the results arrived at by a rigorous and realistic analysis of human 
desires and of the economic surroundings that condition them. The prospect is 
not cheering. After accepting Mr. Veblen's conclusions, the only reasonable 
conception one can form of the state of the world after the war is that of 
thoroughly disillusioned men glumly preparing to make the best of a life in 
which there will be, it would appear, little zest except in so far as the 
discredited "superstitions" pass over and in some sort survive. Is there not, 
one cannot help asking, an implied fallacy in all this? Is not Mr. Veblen a 
little like the plant- physiologist, who after exhaustive chemical analysis 
succeeds in explaining everything about the life of the plant, except that 
irrelevant and purely "decorative" result, the life itself? Is there not any 
discoverable leaven in human life that is capable of leavening the whole lump? 
Here in America we have been wont to suppose that our patriotism, however 
misdirected in some of its manifestations, contained germs of life that are 
capable of transforming the sentiment of patriotism. And are there not 
indications that such a transformation, through the operation of the leaven of 
"service", is already taking place in the desire for wealth? It seems 
permissible at least to hope that the human spirit may discover some better 
means toward well-being than a resigned pre-adaptation to the inexorable working 
of supposed economic and psychological "laws".

Yet, at lowest, Mr. Veblen's analysis is clarifying and his warnings are well-
timed.
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