Not only was it a clash of men; it was the deadly embrace of principles--the death grapple of human systems. The world knows the result. The individuality of the American soldier was asserted before the astonished eyes of all nations, and the Stars and Stripes floated triumphantly over that field of death. Unafraid of all the military camps of the earth, this strange civil soldier, while fostering and guarding the greatest of all republics, has eschewed the damning principles of militarism, ever preferring to keep his sword sheathed in the peaceful scabbard of industry, drawing it only when Liberty is endangered. Of that deadly war, which, directly or indirectly, involved every square inch of the earth’s surface and the fate of every human being, living and yet to live, Hendrick Van Loon has beautifully said: “The human race was given its first chance to become truly civilized when it took courage to question all things, and made ‘knowledge and understanding’ the foundation upon which to create a more reasonable and sensible society of human beings. The great war was the ‘growing pain’ of this new world.” [Illustration: text decoration] CHAPTER XXVIII AMERICANISM TRIUMPHANT That Americanism which to-day is a dominant world force is not alone of North or South or East or West. Out of the blended greatness of all the sections of the United States came the hope of peace and universal democracy in that dark hour when the allied armies of Europe were backing doggedly toward the tottering gates of Paris. That hope was born of the reunited blood of the gray and the blue armies. As it was Americanism that tipped the doubtful scale of victory on the field of battle, so it was Americanism that inspired the war-sick world to seek the great League. And now that all eyes are turned toward Geneva as the chosen capital of the earth, the fascinating history of that far corner of Switzerland will be lifted by a thousand pens from the dust of neglect. Poured into the stream of current literature, it will add mellowness and flavor, as if a flagon of old wine were resurrected from some long-deserted cellar and poured into the spiritless punch bowl of to-day. This new seat of world deliberation has ever been a home of thought--a place of dreams.