W. Douglas Mackenzie to Woodrow Wilson
Title
W. Douglas Mackenzie to Woodrow Wilson
Creator
Mackenzie, W. Douglas (William Douglas), 1859-1936
Identifier
WWP25360
Date
1918 October 30
Description
Publisher asks President Wilson to join in a writing project on ethics.
Source
Library of Congress, Woodrow Wilson Papers
Publisher
Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum
Subject
World War, 1914-1918--United States
Ethics
Citizenship
Contributor
Danna Faulds
Relation
WWP25361
Language
English
Provenance
Document scan was taken from Library of Congress microfilm reel of the Wilson Papers. WWPL volunteers transcribed the text.
Text
Woodrow Wilson,
President of the United States,
Washington, D. C.,
My dear Mr. President:
There is a project which I have long had in mind, and I might have written about it to you several years ago. I have been hindered by a feeling that I had no right to make such a proposal to one so burdened as you are. But the opportunity which I wish to suggest has become so great and even clamant that I dare to name it.
I am arranging as general editor to publish through the Association Press a series of studies in Ethics. I wish to have the best authorities to discuss such matters as the Ethics of the various professions and callings, and the ethical aspects of various movements going on in our day. One of the fundamental books in the series will be entitled “The Ethics of Citizenship”, and I have long desired that you should write that essential book in the series.
Will you allow me to suggest three reasons that have come into my mind quite recently and which have encouraged me to send you this letter?
In the first place, your mind is constantly and deeply occupied with this subject, its fundamental elements are before you as you deal with international relations and as you face the enormous and almost crushing problems that will break upon the most advanced democracies in the world at the close of the war.
In the second place, not only the general public require instruction and the steadying of their judgment on fundamental problems of government and on the responsibilities of citizenship. The millions of men who are in our armies require this instruction in a very peculiar manner. They are coming back as a great unified [...] citizenship. During the war and during the period of demobilization they are having and will have instruction along many lines. The subject of citizenship must be put strongly before them in the most powerful manner possible. It ought to be a required subject for every soldier. It may be the saving of the situation in respect of some vital problems that these millions of soldiers should come back to civil life with clear, true and inspiring ideals of their responsibilities in relation to the government of the country.
In the third place, a scholar who was born in the East of Europe called my attention with great emphasis to the prospect that new young nations may be formed in the east and southeast of Europe; that some of these, if not all, will probably choose to be republics; that for this adventure only a small proportion of their people are prepared by experience and education. You stand out as the spokesman of Democracy. What you say as to its ideals and methods and the qualities of its citizens will go into all parts of the world. I believe that if you were to publish your convictions on this whole subject in a brief volume of eight or ten chapters, it would be translated into the languages of these new nations and would have powerful influence in shaping their destinies. I would make it part of my business to arrange for such translations. This is a service of almost thrilling grandeur which I venture to lay before you.
It is in view of all these considerations that I have felt myself morally bound, even in these days of congested responsibility, to approach you on this subject. I rather think you may be one of those for whom this work would be a joy and a relief rather than a burden.
I need hardly say that the Association Press is equipped as no other institution is to give such a book the widest possible circulation among the very classes where its teaching will tell most powerfully both at home and abroad.
With ever warm regards,
Yours most sincerely,
W. Douglas Mackenzie
President of the United States,
Washington, D. C.,
My dear Mr. President:
There is a project which I have long had in mind, and I might have written about it to you several years ago. I have been hindered by a feeling that I had no right to make such a proposal to one so burdened as you are. But the opportunity which I wish to suggest has become so great and even clamant that I dare to name it.
I am arranging as general editor to publish through the Association Press a series of studies in Ethics. I wish to have the best authorities to discuss such matters as the Ethics of the various professions and callings, and the ethical aspects of various movements going on in our day. One of the fundamental books in the series will be entitled “The Ethics of Citizenship”, and I have long desired that you should write that essential book in the series.
Will you allow me to suggest three reasons that have come into my mind quite recently and which have encouraged me to send you this letter?
In the first place, your mind is constantly and deeply occupied with this subject, its fundamental elements are before you as you deal with international relations and as you face the enormous and almost crushing problems that will break upon the most advanced democracies in the world at the close of the war.
In the second place, not only the general public require instruction and the steadying of their judgment on fundamental problems of government and on the responsibilities of citizenship. The millions of men who are in our armies require this instruction in a very peculiar manner. They are coming back as a great unified [...] citizenship. During the war and during the period of demobilization they are having and will have instruction along many lines. The subject of citizenship must be put strongly before them in the most powerful manner possible. It ought to be a required subject for every soldier. It may be the saving of the situation in respect of some vital problems that these millions of soldiers should come back to civil life with clear, true and inspiring ideals of their responsibilities in relation to the government of the country.
In the third place, a scholar who was born in the East of Europe called my attention with great emphasis to the prospect that new young nations may be formed in the east and southeast of Europe; that some of these, if not all, will probably choose to be republics; that for this adventure only a small proportion of their people are prepared by experience and education. You stand out as the spokesman of Democracy. What you say as to its ideals and methods and the qualities of its citizens will go into all parts of the world. I believe that if you were to publish your convictions on this whole subject in a brief volume of eight or ten chapters, it would be translated into the languages of these new nations and would have powerful influence in shaping their destinies. I would make it part of my business to arrange for such translations. This is a service of almost thrilling grandeur which I venture to lay before you.
It is in view of all these considerations that I have felt myself morally bound, even in these days of congested responsibility, to approach you on this subject. I rather think you may be one of those for whom this work would be a joy and a relief rather than a burden.
I need hardly say that the Association Press is equipped as no other institution is to give such a book the widest possible circulation among the very classes where its teaching will tell most powerfully both at home and abroad.
With ever warm regards,
Yours most sincerely,
W. Douglas Mackenzie
Original Format
Letter
To
Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924
Files
Collection
Citation
Mackenzie, W. Douglas (William Douglas), 1859-1936, “W. Douglas Mackenzie to Woodrow Wilson,” 1918 October 30, WWP25360, World War I Letters, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum, Staunton, Virginia.