They
will have been betrayed if the agony they suffered is forgotten and
"the war to end war" leads to preparations for new, more monstrous
conflict.
Or is war the law of human life? Is there something more powerful than
kaisers and castes which drives masses of men against other masses in
death-struggles which they do not understand? Are we really poor
beasts in the jungle, striving by tooth and claw, high velocity and
poison-gas, for the survival of the fittest in an endless conflict? If
that is so, then God mocks at us. Or, rather, if that is so, there is
no God such as we men may love, with love for men.
The world will not accept that message of despair; and millions of men
to-day who went through the agony of the war are inspired by the
humble belief that humanity may be cured of its cruelty and stupidity,
and that a brotherhood of peoples more powerful than a League of
Nations may be founded in the world after its present sickness and out
of the conflict of its anarchy.
Pages:
952
953
954
955
956
957
958
959
960
961
962
963
964
965