Addams argues that if the rulers of European countries lived among their people, they would see that labor and commerce were what made nations, not its military might.
Addams delivered this commencement address at the University of Chicago on December 20, 1904, the first woman to be a commencement speaker at the college.
Addams publishes the first chapter of Newer Ideals of Peace, in Charities and the Commons, arguing for a new approach to peace propaganda. She makes a direct appeal to sentiments and opinions to oppose the exploitation of the weak and to reject of blind militarism.