There is the duty of keeping, for teacher and for pupil, the habit of at least trying to see things as they really were and are.... Every great war is fought not merely by armies and navies, but by the governments at home which direct the fighting forces.... No one can take an intelligent part in a great conflict for the safety of democracy under an orderly system of international law unless he is really interested in and knows something about other nations than his own.... There is some connection between the conditions which made the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates one of the great seats of ancient civilization and those which are making Mesopotamia to-day one of the chief theaters of the great war.... This terrible catastrophe, with its wholesale destruction of the finest products of human civilization, its life and death struggle between opposing nations and opposing ideals, has seemed a reason for thinking not less but more of the great mysterious forces which brought about the rise and decline of the ancient empire.... Great campaigns are again carried on where Xenophon marched with his famous Ten Thousand, where Alexander the Great led his armies to the conquest of the East.... The opportunity must now be seized to study the whole of Europe and its influence on and connections with the rest of the world.... Some account should be given of the way in which the ruling class in Prussia has been able to use science, modern business methods, and social legislation in the service of the military state.... War is the business not only of governments but of the nation as a whole, and there are few kinds of human activity which do not have some relation to its success or failure.... We are fighting partly, indeed, to defend international law on the high seas, but partly also to make _the world_, not merely America, "safe for democracy." Teachers are recognized as the instructing force of America. If they are not, who is? If the country sorely needs clear, definite, authentic information on the situation of the world and our own position as a belligerent power, who is to give it if not the teachers? It is they who must inform and arouse. It is they who ought to participate in a speaking campaign which should be as deep as the danger, as wide as the country, and as high as the patriotic spirit of the people. They should be distributing agents for printed material which analyzes the subject, and should be able to refer to the best and most available authorities and to put before pupils and the public the texts of the most important speeches, diplomatic notes, and other approved material to back up statements of fact. Strange as it may seem, it is the children's convictions which take effect not only when as children they carry word to their parents but also when they come out of childhood into adult life.