maker!" Surely the figure that sends youth on such a mission is
not Peace but Death. And that the way of the bayonet is the way
of blood has been seen, even since the war, in Morocco, Egypt,
India, China, and Nicaragua. Furthermore, much talk is still
heard about preparedness as a way to peace when all past experi-
ence proves, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that preparedness leads
not to peace but to war. The plain truth is that these militaristic
groups which exist in every country pin their faith on nothing but
armed might. They cannot think of other nations except as
potential foes. When they speak they are prepared to speak only
with bayonets red with life, and bullets winged with death. Cut-
ting throats and stopping beating hearts and ruining towns is their
business.

Another claim in behalf of war made by its defenders is the
contention that every loss sustained in awful conflict will be fully
compensated for in the ensuing peace. A perfect example of this
false plea is found in Eden Phillpotts' poem, "To a Mother":

Robbed mother of the stricken Motherland--
Two hearts in one and one among the dead,
Before your grave with an uncovered head
I, that am man, disquiet and silent stand
In reverence. It is your blood they shed;
It is your sacred self that they demand,
For one you bore in joy and hope, and planned
Would make yourself eternal, now has fled.

But though you yielded him unto the knife
And altar with a royal sacrifice
Of your most precious self and dearer life--
Your master gem and pearl above all price--
Content you; for the dawn this night restores
Shall be the dayspring of his soul and yours.

He who tries to comfort a mother whose son has died in war should
not resort to the nonsense that peace can heal all her wounds. The
plain fact is that peace after war is a disillusionment. All shadows
do not flee. All wounds are not healed. Not years but centuries
must pass before the healing of the hates and sufferings and
sorrows of a few months of war.

Another fallacy one always hears advanced in behalf of war is
that the battlefield is the only proving-ground which brings out red-
blooded manhood in its full glory. Here, for instance, is the way
it is cleverly put by a Canadian army officer:

War inoculates men with a rude but effective philosophy,
for the soldier experiences much of life in little time. If he
desires it he may have woman's love. . . . (He) becomes

-xvii-