喬治‧諾裡斯 (GEORGE NORRIS)

反對參戰 Against Entry into the War

1919 年鼓勵美國人民購買戰爭債券的海報

 今天我們正採取一個極其危險的步驟。我們正奉金錢之命投入戰爭。

        許多美國人反對美國捲入歐洲戰爭。有些人認為，參戰的決定是為富人的利益作出的；有些人則作為和平主義者和(或)社會主義者根據原則反對戰爭；有些反戰者是愛爾蘭或德國血統，他們不願讓美國幫助英國，與德國交戰。 

        喬治‧威廉‧諾裡斯(186l一1944)系一名進步的共和黨人。他譴責參戰的決定是一個悲劇性的錯誤，是由貪婪成性的華爾街金融家們促成的。諾裡斯出生於俄亥俄州，在內布拉斯加當律師，並於1902年被選為國會議員。19l 2年他被選入參議院，在以後的三十年中成為參議院中的改革者和持異見者。諾裡斯反對投入世界大戰，反對凡爾賽條約。他提出擬定憲法第二十修正案，通過把總統就職日從三月提早到一月，取消了國會的落選議員會議。他領導了總統初選的鬥爭，在美國參議員選舉中起指導作用。他倡導水電設施公有化，提出成立田納西流域管理局的法案。

        以下這篇演講是諾裡斯於l 917年4月4日作的，就在兩天前威爾遜請求國會宣戰。當時在美國反戰觀點不得人心，但諾裡斯卻在內布拉斯加州再次被他的選民選為國會議員。

    為數眾多的美國公民覺得，加入這場戰爭是我們對人類應盡的義務。其實交戰雙方皆有許多殘酷無情的劣跡。但人們常因自己的感情和利益在判斷中帶有偏見。我認為，我們從一開始就應嚴守中立。假如我們以前按此行事，現在也就不會瀕臨戰爭。作為一個國家，我們有權在自己認為需要的時候中止中立立場。我們根據法律有權尊重英國的海上戰區，無視德國的海上戰區，但我們不能既這麼做又保持中立。我並不想跟那個不願讓我國保持中立的人爭吵。我相信，有許多誠實、愛國的公民往往因為誤解了現實情況才認為我們應該投入這場戰爭，支援總統關於對德宣戰的要求。我認為，這些人判斷失當，而且由於大財團幾乎完全一致的要求的錯誤誘導，他們在很大程度上沒能弄清歷史和現實的實際情況。在這場爭論中我們已向盟國借出若干億美元。這種行動是國際法所允許和鼓勵的，但同時我也確信我國向盟國提供的大量貸款已被用來造成一種公眾情緒，它支援我國採取一個能使每張一美元債券值一百美分，使每筆債務能得到可靠償還的方針。借助這一手段以及其他人──他們不僅在製造軍火中大發橫財，而且一旦我國被拖入戰禍，他們將指望賺更多的錢──的手段，大批美國著名報紙和新聞社身不由己地投入了世界歷史上最大的宣傳攻勢，以煽起贊成戰爭的情緒。現在有人要求將美國公民當作保險單用以確保軍火安全交付給交戰各國。我們參戰肯定會進一步增加軍火製造商、證券和債券經紀人的鉅額利潤。這樣就便我們面臨當前的局面，即，在總統的催促和虛假民眾情緒的支援下，國會即將宣戰，從而把我國投入世界有史以來最大的一場屠殺中。……戰爭給誰帶來好運呢?  不是給士兵帶來好運，他為每個月十六美元的慷慨補償扛著步槍進入戰壕，獻出鮮血甚至生命；不是給悲痛欲絕的寡婦帶來好運，她等待丈夫血肉模糊的屍體從前線運回；不是給為失去勇敢的兒子而哭泣的母親帶來好運；不是給冷得發抖的兒童帶來好運；不是給飢腸轆轆的嬰孩帶來好運；不是給幾百萬懷著破碎的心走向墳墓的母親和女兒帶來好運。戰爭不能給廣大的普通愛國公民帶來好運。它給胼手胝足，竭盡全力維持生計的人們帶來的是生活費用飛漲。戰爭給華爾街的股票賭徒則帶來紅運，而這類人已擁有難以變為現錢或享用不盡的巨大財富。一個華爾街經紀人說，如果我們無法弄到戰爭，「這卻是個高明的想法：戰備計劃將在很大程度上使未能激發實際戰爭的損失得到補償。」也就是說，如果我們無法參戰，那麼讓我們盡可能接近該目標。倘若我們不能參戰，那就讓我們高喊需要增加艦艇、增加槍炮、增加軍火、增加一切將把我們引向戰爭邊緣的東西。但一旦戰爭來臨，這類人會肩扛步槍進入戰壕嗎?

    他們要戰爭、要戰備，其目的全在賺錢發財。人民遭受苦難、犧牲生命是必要的，但華爾街只看重美元。華爾街所描繪的錦繡前程，衝鋒陷陣、流血犧牲的人們絲毫不沾邊。那些證券經紀人當然不會上前線，他們導致參戰的目的是取得紅利，所以他們必須呆在華爾街的辦公室裏分享他們自己所說的戰爭帶來的繁榮。志願兵的軍官，甚至徵兵的軍官是見不到這類闊佬的。他們藏在華爾街富麗堂皇的辦公室裏，坐在紅木書桌後面，桌上擺滿了剪下的息票──帶著勤懇的勞動者汗水的息票，帶著母親們眼淚的息票，被他們的同胞鮮血染紅的息票。

    今天我們正採取一個極其危險的步驟。我們正在奉金錢之命投入戰爭。我們將冒這種風險，即犧牲數百萬同胞的性命以便讓另一些美國人把他們的鮮血鑄成金錢。即便我們不去大西洋彼岸走進戰壕，我們也將債臺高築，以致未來好幾代人民群眾將辛勤勞作償還債務。目前尚未出世的千百萬人將彎腰曲背埋頭苦幹，為我們今天要採取的步驟付出代價。我們正按照金錢的可怕命令行事。我們的行動將使千百萬同胞遭受苦難，其結果很可能是我們數百萬弟兄血濺沙場；數百萬婦女泣不成聲；數百萬兒童衣不禦寒；數百萬嬰兒活活餓死。而這一切都是因為我們要維護美國公民將軍火輸送給交戰各國的商業權。

There are a great many American citizens who feel that we owe it as a duty to humanity to take part in this war. Many instances of cruelty and inhumanity can be found on both sides. Men are often biased in their judgment on account of their sympathy and their interests. To my mind, what we ought to have maintained from the beginning was the strictest neutrality. If we had done this I do not believe we would have been on the verge of war at the present time. We had a right as a nation, if we desired, to cease at any time to be neutral. We had a technical right to respect the English war zone and to disregard the German war zone, but we could not do that and be neutral. I have no quarrel to find with the man who does not desire our country to remain neutral. While many such people are moved by selfish motives and hopes of gain, I have no doubt but that in a great many instances, through what I believe to be a misunderstanding of the real condition, there are many honest, patriotic citizens who think we ought to engage in this war and who are behind the President in his demand that we should declare war against Germany. I think such people err in judgment and to a great extent have been misled as to the real history and the true facts by the almost unanimous demand of the great combination of wealth that has a direct financial interest in our participation in the war. We have loaned many hundreds of millions of dollars to the allies in this controversy. While such action was legal and countenanced by international law, there is no doubt in my mind but the enormous amount of money loaned to the allies in this country has been instrumental in bringing about a public sentiment in favor of our country taking a course that would make every bond worth a hundred cents on the dollar and making the payment of every debt certain and sure. Through this instrumentality and also through the instrumentality of others who have not only made millions out of the war in the manufacture of munitions, etc., and who would expect to make millions more if our country can be drawn into the catastrophe, a large number of the great newspapers and news agencies of the country have been controlled and enlisted in the greatest propaganda that the world has ever known, to manufacture sentiment in favor of war. It is now demanded that the American citizens shall be used as insurance policies to guarantee the safe delivery of munitions of war to belligerent nations. The enormous profits of munition manufacturers, stockbrokers, and bond dealers must be still further increased by our entrance into the war. This has brought us to the present moment, when Congress, urged by the President and backed by the artificial sentiment, is about to declare war and engulf our country in the greatest holocaust that the world has ever known.,.. 　

      To whom does the war bring prosperity? Not to the soldier who for the munificent compensation of $16 per month shoulders his musket and goes into the trench, there to shed his blood and to die if necessary; not to the brokenhearted widow who waits for the return of the mangled body of her husband; not to the mother who weeps at the death of her brave boy; not to the little children who shiver with cold; not to the babe who suffers from hunger; nor to the millions of mothers and daughters who carry broken hearts to their graves. War brings no prosperity to the great mass of common and patriotic citizens. It increases the cost of living of those who toil and those who already must strain every effort to keep soul and body together. War brings prosperity to the stock gambler on Wall street－to those who are already in possession of more wealth than can be realized or enjoyed. [A Wall Street broker] says if we can not get war, "it is nevertheless good opinion that the preparedness program will compensate in good measure for the loss of the stimulus of actual war." That is, if we can not get war, let us go as far in that direction as possible. If we can not get war, let us cry for additional ships, additional guns, additional munitions, and everything else that will have a tendency to bring us as near as possible to the verge of war. And if war comes do such men as these shoulder the musket and go into the trenches?

      Their object in having war and in preparing for war is to make money. Human suffering and the sacrifice of human life are necessary, but Wall Street considers only the dollars and the cents. The men who do the fighting, the people who make the sacrifices, are the ones who will not be counted in the measure of this great prosperity he depicts. The stock brokers would not, of course, go to war, because the very object they have in bringing on the war is profit, and therefore they must remain in their Wall Street offices in order to share in that great prosperity which they say war -will bring. The volunteer officer, even the drafting officer, will not find them. They "will be concealed in their palatial offices on Wall Street, sitting behind mahogany desks, covered up with clipped coupons－coupons soiled with the sweat of honest toil, coupons stained with mothers' tears, coupons dyed in the lifeblood of their fellow men.

      We are taking a step today that is fraught with untold danger. We are going into war upon the command of gold. We are going to run the risk of sacrificing millions of our countrymen's lives in order that other countrymen may coin their lifeblood into money. And even if we do not cross the Atlantic and go into the trenches, we are going to pile up a debt that the toiling masses that shall come many generations after us will have to pay. Unborn millions will bend their backs in toil in order to pay for the terrible step we are now about to take. We are about to do the bidding of wealth's terrible mandate. By our act we will make millions of our countrymen suffer, and the consequences of it may well be that millions of our brethren must shed their lifeblood, millions of broken-hearted women must weep, millions of children must suffer with cold, and millions of babes must die from hunger, and all because we want to preserve the commercial right of American citizens to deliver munitions of war to belligerent nations.