of such an arrangement by no means implies
that men shall be perfect, that each shall willingly obey all the laws
which he enforces. It merely implies that his interest in the law as a
whole is greater than his interest in its general violation.

No man for a single day of his life observes all the Ten Commandments,
yet you can always secure a majority for the support of the Ten
Commandments, for the simple reason that while there are a great many
who would like to rob, all are in favor of being protected against the
robber. While there are a great many who would like on occasion to kill,
all are in favor of being protected against being killed. The
prohibition of this act secures universal support embracing "all of the
people all of the time"; the positive impulse to it is isolated and
occasional--with some individuals perhaps all the time, but with all
individuals only some of the time, if ever.

When you come to the nations, there is less disproportion between the
strength of the unit and the society. Hence nations have been slower
than individuals in realizing their common interest. Each has placed
greater reliance on its own strength for its protection. Yet the
principle remains the same. There may be nations which desire for their
own interest to go to war, but they all want to protect themselves
against being beaten. You have there an absolutely common interest. The
other interest, the desire to beat, is not so universal; in fact, if any
value can be given whatever to the statement of the respective
statesmen, such an interest is non-existent.

There is not a single statesman in Christendom today who would admit for
a moment that it is his desire to wage war on a neighboring nation for
the purpose of conquering it. All this warfare is, each party to it
declares, merely a means of protecting itself against the aggression of
neighbors. Whatever insincerity there may be in these declarations we
can at least admit this much, that the desire to be safe is more
widespread than the desire to conquer, for the desire to be safe is
universal.

We ought to be able, therefore, to achieve, on the part of the majority,
action to that end. And on this same principle there can be no doubt
that the nations as a whole would give their support to any plan which
would help to secure them from being attacked. It is time for the
society of nations to take this first step toward the creation of a
real community; to agree, that is,