Pathways of Peace: A History of the Civilian Public Service Program Administered by the Brethren Service Committee, and: Service for Peace: A History of Mennonite Civilian Public Service (review)

118Bulletin of Friends Historical Association plans and efforts made to alleviate and solve permanently the difficulties of these uprooted people is a real testimonial to the great human values involved in such a private or semi-private relief program as Howard Kershner describes. PhiladelphiaJohn H. Wood, Jr. Pathways of Peace: A History of the Civilian Public Service Program Administered by the Brethren Service Committee. By Leslie Eisan. Elgin, Illinois: Brethren Publishing House. 480 pages. $2.50. Service for Peace: A History of Mennonite Civilian Public Service. By Melvin Gingerich. Akron, Pennsylvania: The Mennonite Central Committee, xvii, 508 pages. $3.00. The question of the responsibilities of the individual to the State is an old one which has received much attention in philosophical and political writings. But the question of the responsibility of the State in protecting the rights of individuals who hold minority opinions is one that has been somewhat slower in receiving the attention that it deserves. In recent years the importance of guaranteeing the right of conscientious objection to war has come increasingly to be appreciated. The treatment of CO's both in England and in the United States during the First and Second World Wars has been the subject of a number of studies which have dealt with the matter from differing viewpoints. While no arrangements that have so far been designed for CO's can be called really satisfactory, some have certainly been more equitable and enlightened than others. Indeed, when men are set to destroying one another, it is very doubtful that any kind of an alternative arrangement can be termed "satisfactory"; the tragedy engulfs all men, whether they participate in the violence or feel that they must conscientiously refuse to do so. Two publications dealing with CO's in World War II are Leslie Eisan's Pathways of Peace: A History of the Civilian Public Service Program Administered by the Brethren Service Committee; and Melvin Gingerich's Service of Peace: A History of Mennonite Civilian Public Service. These two studies are perhaps as much chapters in church history as they are studies of the status of CO's during the last war. They seek to treat the history of two of the major segments of Civilian Public Service and they are both faithful reports of their respective branches of CPS. They cover substantially the same material: an exposition of the historic peace testimony of the Brethren and the Mennonites, the backgrounds of the Civilian Public Service program and its subsequent development, a description of life and work in CPS, chapters on special phases of the CPS program such as religious life, formal and informal education in CPS, financing the CPS program, Book Reviews119 and relations of the church administrative agencies to the government and other church groups. Of the two works, the study of the Mennonites is both the more readable and the more interesting. The author has handled his material more dexterously and has allowed his sense of humor at points to lighten material which otherwise might have become somewhat plodding. Furthermore, his chapter on Canadian CO's adds unusual information which is not so easily available elsewhere. The Mennonite Draft Census Study from which Melvin Gingerich quotes on pages 91-93, gives a very interesting analysis of factors that caused some Mennonites to go into CPS and others to enter the Armed Forces. The task that the authors have set for themselves is to record the role of their respective churches in the Civilian Public Service program and this aim has been well carried out. After reading these specialized studies, however, one feels that one still has only a somewhat parochial view. One looks forward to the appearance of Philip Jacob's and Mulford Sibley's study of CO's in the Second World War, the publication of which has unfortunately so far been delayed. This, in all likelihood, will supply the more comprehensive information with which one would like to supplement the Eisan and Gingerich studies. It also will probably meet the need of those who are looking for a study of the civil status of the CO in the United States from 1940 to 1947. To this reader it appears...