Sleep is a very soothing thing, isn’t it? Quite necessary as a part-time job. But when we sleep all the time, our friends know that we are sick. When such a sickness overtakes a nation, how quickly it spreads into death. How suddenly it kills innocent persons, when the twister comes out of the blue and leaves us naked. _XII_ BACKING AND FILLING One day an old friend of mine, whom I had not seen for nearly twenty years, burst into my office. After the gladsome handshakes and slaps of affection, I asked him to tell me about himself. “Well,” he said, “I got married.” “Hm,” I said, “That’s good.” “No,” he said, “Not so good. My wife turned out to be a tartar.” “Well,” I said, “That’s bad.” “No,” he said, “Not so bad. She brought me twenty thousand dollars.” “O,” I said, “that’s good.” “No,” he said, “Not so good. I invested the money in sheep and they all died.” “Hm,” I said, “that’s bad.” “No,” he said, “Not so bad. I sold the wool for more than the sheep cost me.” “Well,” I said, “that’s good.” “No,” he said, “Not so good. I bought a fine home and a fire burned it to the ground.” “Hm,” I said, “that’s bad.” “No,” he said, “Not so bad. My wife was in it.” Before and during our part of the World War we were not so good and not so bad. Two years after that comedy of errors and tragedy of blood called the Spanish-American War, we did the most unusual thing in our life as a nation. For the first time after a war, we increased and helped our land forces. Under the pressure of Philippine Wars and onward-looking men like Elihu Root and Theodore Roosevelt, we raised our army to one hundred thousand for a hundred million people. We set up new service schools and broadened others for the higher military education of our officers. We at last formed a general staff. And in 1911 we assembled during peace a regular division of troops for the first time in our history. To be sure, it took months to do so, it drained the country of nearly all its trained forces, and the division couldn’t be entirely collected, but the move wasn’t so bad. For several years it looked as though our army would be a going concern. Then we lagged. The wolf in sheep’s clothing began to bleat. In 1913, Congressman Dies, in the House of Representatives, stated: “God has placed us on this great, rich continent, separate and secure from the broils of Europe.” Dr. David Starr Jordan, President of Leland Stanford University, flooded the country with his prophesies. Here is one. “It is apparently not possible for another real war among the nations of Europe to take place.” As for our getting into any war, he threw it off as so much silliness. That was just the opium the country wanted in 1913 and early ’14. The people ate up the idea. Anyone who spoke preparedness was a jingoist and wanted war. Why, war was impossible. It meant too much to Wall Street. European nations were too poor to fight. Modern weapons would be too horrible to allow a war. What was