We come to you with the urgent advice to arouse the nations to the realization of fact and the sense of collective self-preservation, these powerful instincts being the strongest allies for the elimination of war.
The heightening of the moral and religious sense in your people tends to the same end.
3. From the utterances of well-known statesmen it has repeatedly been evident that many of them have conceptions of war that are identical with those of the average man. Arguments such as "War is the Supreme Court of Appeal" and "War is the necessary outcome of Darwin's theory" are erroneous and dangerous, in view of the realities of modern warfare. They camouflage a primitive craving for power and are meant to stimulate the preparedness for war among the speaker's countrymen.
The suggestive force of speeches made by leading statesmen is enormous and may be dangerous. The warlike spirit, so easily aroused by the cry that the country is in danger, is not to be bridled, as was evident in 1914.
Peoples, as well as individuals, under the influence of suggestions like these, may become neurotic. They may be carried away by hallucinations and delusions, thus involving themselves in adventures perilous to their own and other nations' safety.
We psychiatrists declare that our science is sufficiently advanced for us to distinguish between real, pretended and unconscious motives, even in statesmen. The desire to disguise national militarism by continual talk about peace will not protect political leaders from the judgment of history. The secret promoters of militarism are responsible for the boundless misery which a new war is sure to bring.
International organization is now sufficiently advanced to enable statesmen to prevent war by concerted action.
Protestation of peace and the desire for peace, however sincere, do not guarantee the self-denying spirit necessary for the maintenance of peace, even at the cost of national sacrifice. If any statesmen should think that the apparatus to ensure peace is, as yet, insufficiently, organized, we advise them to devote to this purpose as much energy and as much money as is now being expended on the armaments of the various countries.
We cannot close without expressing our admiration for those statesmen who show by their actions that their culture and morality are so far advanced that they can lead people to a strong organization of peace. In our opinion, they alone are truly qualified to act as the leaders of nations.