Referring to the influence of environment, the orator explained how the comparative smallness of this continent, the fertility of the soil, the variety of plant and animal life, the mountains, and plains, and indented shore lines, with enormous stretch of water-front, together with its extensive river systems and healthful, but erratic climatic conditions, marked this as the garden and nursery for the most active, sturdy, intelligent, and emotional of all peoples on the globe. Continental Europe covers an area of 3,500,000 square miles, and supports, in various degrees of opulence and wretchedness, some 380,000,000 people--chiefly men, women, and clergymen--with 20,000,000 men in "uniform," who seem well seized with their own importance. These latter are very influential personages, as they are equipped with very persuasive arguments. The orator explained that the many-hued and irregular patches on the map represented the possessions and the rule, of as many nations, all of whom had good opinions of themselves, and stood ready to back their pretensions. These countries were ruled by persons who were fortunate in the selection of parents, or who, at least, were furnished with proper birth certificates. But with her many governments and nationalities, he said, there was constant confusion. There were fear and oppression, for all these imaginary lines had to be guarded. The armies had to be kept up; the 5,000,000 soldiers must be in constant readiness for slaughter, for only by this means could the people be sufficiently impressed with the validity of the birth certificate. Asked by the poetess Vauline, what these so-called soldiers did for a living, Mr. Oseba answered:-- "They kill folks, for, short as are the lives of the Outeroos among the superior nations, wholesale murder is the most honored of all pursuits." Oseba said: "All the civilised nations keep these armed men, whose duty it is to kill somebody--to whom they may never have been introduced--when their ruler has a grievance, and has no time to attend to the matter himself. "These armies, too, are potent in diplomatic controversies. When a monarch has a little misunderstanding with one of his class from a neighboring paddock, he says in deep tones:-- "'Sire, these are the facts, and if you don't believe it, Sire, look!'--and he points to his ready battalions. "To a people who never knew of war or poverty--among whom probably not one man would care to be killed, or could find a person to accommodate him if he should, these statements seemed most amazing."