On their decision depends, not only the safety and perpetuity of this nation, and the welfare of our own people, but the welfare of all the other nations and peoples of the earth as well, through all future time. _The question will have been answered in the affirmative whenever the plan proposed in this book shall have been adopted by the people of the United States._ Its adoption will strengthen every plan that can be devised to prevent war. It will vitalize the influence of this nation in behalf of peace. It will make the nation impregnable in case of war, if, notwithstanding all efforts to prevent it, war should come. In the great crisis through which civilization is now passing, the United States alone has the opportunity and the power to emancipate humanity from militarism, and prevent it from ever again being drawn into the maelstrom of war. Unless that is done, liberty, the world over, will be slowly submerged by the subtle and insidious growth of military power in the affairs of government, and our present civilization will ultimately go the way of all the civilizations of the past. If, on the other hand, this country rises to the opportunity, and provides a system of national defense which will not only safeguard the nation against foreign invasion or internal conflict, but will also at the same time promote human advancement, insure all the blessings of peace to the people, and check the growth of militarism, we will establish a civilization that will endure as long as the human race can inhabit the earth. The first thing that must be done to achieve that boon for humanity is to arouse the people of the United States to a realization of the fact that the settlement of this great question cannot be left by anyone to somebody else. Every man and every woman, the length and breadth of the land, must enlist in a great national campaign of education to get the real facts and all the facts into the minds of the people. "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." This is a government, not so much by the people as by the _thought_ of the people. Right thought must precede right action. Knowledge must go before right thought. The people cannot think right until they know the facts, and they must study and understand and analyze those facts and face them squarely. That can be brought about only by a nation-wide campaign in which every patriotic citizen must participate. Each must first learn the facts himself and then carry the knowledge to others--drive it home to them and stir them to action. To every reader of this book let it be said, as a personal message: When you have read this book, do not lay it down with the thought: "Yes, that is a good idea. I hope somebody will succeed in getting it done."