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Andrew Carnegie Writes in Favor of Arbitration in International Relations "banish the 'Killing of Man by Man,' War"
Andrew Carnegie Writes in Favor of Arbitration in International Relations "banish the 'Killing of Man by Man,' War"
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Andrew Carnegie
Cumberland Island, Georgia, February 8, 1907
Andrew Carnegie Writes in Favor of Arbitration in International Relations "banish the 'Killing of Man by Man,' War"
ALS

In response to an editorial in the New-York Tribune of February 5, Carnegie wrote this letter on February 8from his winter visit to Cumberland Island, Georgia. The Tribune published Carnegie's letter in its issue of February 12. As this letter makes clear, Carnegie was a passionate advocate for international peace and wanted to eliminate war in the twentieth century as slavery, the other relic of barbarism, had been eliminated in the nineteenth century.

The nationalism expressed by the New-York Tribune led to World War I, while Carnegie's views led to the League of Nations after World War I and the United Nations after World War II.

ANDREW CARNEGIE, Autograph Letter Signed, to Editor of New-York Tribune, February 8, 1907, Cumberland Island, GA. In pencil; includes Carnegie's strikeouts and insertions as he crafted the letter. 5 pp., 8" x 10.5". Expected folds; light toning.

Complete Transcript
Cumberland Island Ga / Feby 8th 1907
Editor Tribune
Your editorial of 6th upon "The New Internationalism" does seem as you suggest, "ungrateful & ungracious" and it will seem to many quite uncalled for.
That two of the subjects suggested by the two hundred & forty members of Parliament are probably to be considered by the coming Hague conference is not to the discredit of the parliamentarians. Their approval of these subjects was timely & will not be without its effect. The greatest issue is that of Arbitration for the settlement of International disputes, which you say "in some cases is doubtless commendable" but that it is desirable in all cases you are certainly not prepared to concede." this is the first time I ever heard it doubted that peaceful settlement of an international dispute was not desirable. What has been regretted is that in some cases it has not been possible. You say "there are matters which no self respecting nation can, or should submit to alien arbitration."
Now they certainly can submit all questions. Chille & Argentina have agreed to do so & are erecting a statute [statue] to the "Prince of Peace" upon the highest peak of the Andes to commemorate this victory of Peace. Denmark & the Netherlands I read have done the same. Norway & Sweden have except that the former having only recently obtained a separate existence it is stipulated that questions affecting integrity or vital interests shall not be considered. but whether such issues are involved in any question the Hague Tribunal is to decide. No objection can be taken to this form. A great step forward is gained by general treaties of Arbitration even should this class of questions be debarred. They seldom arise. You say that "when a nation is absolutely convinced of the righteousness of its contentions in a matter involving its integrity or honor it seems an impertinence to ask it to submit its dispute" &c.
Now, have there been many wars in which both parties were not convinced of the "righteousness of their contentions" The Crimean War for instance, in that case Lord Salisbury stated Britain had backed the wrong horse. In the War of American Independence Britain was certain she was right—today she sees she was wrong. Both France & Germany claimed they were right. Your position is Nations should sit as Judges in their own cases. Nations are but aggregations of men. Yet even you Mr Editor are not allowed to judge of your own cause, either "your integrity" or your honor. Individually you are an arbitrationist & submit your cause, & what you may call "your honor" to a tribunal, while nationally you remain a Barbarian refusing to submit differences to the decision of disinterested parties.
By the laws of your Country you are "dishonored" if you attempt to take the settlement of your disputes into your own hands. You are quite willing to submit your "own honor" but not your Country's honor to a tribunal this seems inconsistent.
The two branches of our race have settled by arbitration every dispute that has arisen for almost a hundred years with every prospect of enduring continuance of Arbitration. Almost every possible kind of dispute has arisen even that of territorial domain which has caused most of the wars between nations. These readily became questions of "honor" & "integrity" of domain. The prestige which must ever attend to the Tribune was earned by a great Editor who stood for the abolition of slavery the owning of man by man one of the two chief Curses which disgraced our Civilization. The other remains "War." Would that the Tribune of today with all its power & prestige was found in the van of the hosts which are now determined to exert themselves to the utmost to banish the "Killing of Man by Man," War
Respectfully yours
Andrew Carnegie

Historical Background
On February 5, 1907, the New-York Tribune published an editorial entitled, "The New Internationalism." In part, it argued, "The new internationalism which is not nearly as good as its reputation or its superficial appearance, aims at a realization of that vision of ‘the parliament of man, the federation of the world' which was conceived by a great poet in his youth only to be repudiated by him with uncommon vehemence in later and more judicious years. It is not welcome, and it may seem ungrateful and ungracious, to disapprove any plan which is put forward by men of undoubted benevolence and purity of motives; but when such a plan is impracticable it is surely better to recognize the fact than disingenuously to cherish and encourage the fancy."

The editorial continues by discussing five recommendations of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, which the American Peace Society had urged President Theodore Roosevelt to commend to an upcoming congress at The Hague. The Inter-Parliamentary Union was founded in 1889 by statesmen from France and the United Kingdom to seek solutions for international disputes and played an important role in the establishment of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague in 1899. The first recommendation was for "a regular international parliament." "If a purely voluntary deliberative body is meant, such as the congress at The Hague, there is no objection to it.... A parliament is, in the ordinary use of the word, a lawmaking body, with both responsibility and authority, with power or associated with a power capable of enforcing its enactments. To suggest that the sovereign nations of the world should enter such an organization in international affairs, should thus abrogate their own sovereignty, and should place their most important interests in the hands of aliens, is as impractical as a dog's baying at the moon." The editor also opposed the recommendation for "a general obligatory arbitration treaty": "In some cases international arbitration is doubtless commendable. That it is desirable in all cases we are certainly not prepared to concede.... if such a system could be and were to be established, it is altogether probable that it would result in an increase of disputes among the nations and an increase of animosities."

On February 12, the New-York Tribune published Carnegie's letter, followed by this response:
"It is one thing to say, as we said, that we are not prepared to concede the desirability of arbitration in all cases. It is quite another thing to say, as we did not say, though Mr. Carnegie appears to think we did, that peaceful settlement of an international dispute is not desirable. It is not well to make a fetich of even so excellent a thing as arbitration, or to imagine that it is either indispensable or infallible. We believe in peaceful settlements of international disputes either with or without arbitration. Some can be settled best without arbitration. Others require arbitration. Friends of peace need to discriminate between the general and comprehensive principle of peaceful settlement and the particular and restricted detail of arbitration. The former is always desirable. The latter sometimes is and sometimes is not; and it certainly would not be desirable to establish such a system of universal arbitration as to encourage nations to increase and multiply causes of controversy with their neighbors."

Although journalist Whitelaw Reid was the publisher of the New-York Tribune from the time he purchased it after Horace Greeley's death in 1872 until his own death in 1912, Reid served as the United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom from June 1905 until his death. Likewise, his son Ogden Mills Reid, who took over the newspaper from his father, was in law school at Yale University at this time. After he graduated, he served as his father's secretary in London for a year. It remains unclear who penned the original editorial or the response to Carnegie.

Carnegie's brother, Pittsburgh steel magnate Thomas Carnegie, had purchased most of Cumberland Island in the early 1880s, and the Thomas Carnegie family built three mansions and several other homes on the island over the next several decades. Andrew Carnegie sometimes spent a portion of the winter months on Cumberland Island.


Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) was born in Scotland and immigrated to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with his parents in 1848. As a teen, he worked in a cotton mill and then as a telegrapher. By the 1860s, he had investments in railroads, railroad sleeping cars, bridges, and oil derricks. He led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late nineteenth century and sold his Carnegie Steel Company in 1901 to J. P. Morgan for more than $303 million. One of the richest Americans of all time, Carnegie devoted the rest of his life to philanthropy. He had a special emphasis on building local libraries, and more than 2,500 local communities received a "Carnegie library" between 1883 and 1929. He also funded Carnegie Hall in New York City and the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands. He also founded a variety of organizations, including the Carnegie Corporation of New York to support education and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C., as a think tank for international affairs.

The New-York Tribune (1841-1924) was established as a daily newspaper in 1841 by Horace Greeley (1811-1872). By the 1850s, it reached a circulation of 200,000 copies, making it the largest daily newspaper in New York City at the time. Greeley also published weekly and semi-weekly issues of the Tribune through much of his tenure. The New-York Tribune became the dominant Whig and then Republican newspaper in the United States, helping to shape public opinion, especially as other newspapers often copied its articles and editorials. It was one of the first newspapers in the Union to send reporters and correspondents to cover the military campaigns of the Civil War. Greeley used his newspaper to support many reforms, including abolitionism, pacifism, socialism (for a time), and feminism. After Greeley's failed campaign as the Liberal Republican candidate for President and his death, Whitelaw Reid (1837-1912) assumed control of the Tribune until he died in 1912. His son, Ogden Mills Reid (1882-1947), acquired the New York Herald and merged the newspapers in 1924.


This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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