M. Finot's references to Chautauqua and the part it plays in the preparation of American opinion are veiled but none the less suggestive: The important role which the Chautauqua conferences play in the United States is well known. These conferences of teachers which have so profound an influence on American opinion have been supported by Mr. Carnegie in the interests of realizing this idea of a precipitate peace, of a German peace. All manner of adventurers and seekers of easy fortunes have gathered around this strange deviation of the pacifist ideal represented by the multi-millionaire and the men of his stripe. Russia's Supply of Warriors In an article headed "Ought the War to Last Long--and Can It Last Long?" V. Kuzmin-Karavaeff says in the Russian European Messenger for June: It is, of course, impossible to say how long the war will last. But the case is altered if the question be put in another form: _Ought_ the war to last long, and _can_ it last long? The ten months which have elapsed make it entirely possible to answer it, for, in answering it, there is no need to guess at the thoughts, wishes, and hopes of the Germans which are bound up with the war. In the eyes of Russia and her Allies the present war has as its object the crushing and dispersing of "the nest of militarism," constructed in the centre of Europe by the hand of Bismarck and the vainglory of Wilhelm II. That was clearly defined last autumn by our diplomatic department. That is precisely the way in which it was and is defined by all classes of the Russian people, not excluding those who are represented by Kropotkin and Plekhanoff. The present war became far more for Germany than a war for the integrity of her territory, for her colonial interests, or for her commercial supremacy, from the moment when three--now four--great powers rose at her arrogant challenge. Germany is everywhere attacking, but, in reality, she is conducting a desperate war of defence for the organization of her existence, which, for the space of forty years, has rested on a nervous anticipation of war with her neighbors. Germany's offensive is a strategical manoeuvre. As a matter of fact, she is fighting like a wild animal surrounded on all sides. And, of course, she will carry on the war until the last degree of exhaustion is reached. She has accumulated within her many forces--technical forces. Mere technical forces cannot stand their ground in the end. But no little time must still elapse. And the war _must_ continue for a long time still, if the "nest of militarism" is to be annihilated.