We look at war as a horrible thing. It is. So are crime, fire and disease. But we don’t do away with policemen, firemen and doctors when we want to stop those ills. Yet that’s what we’ve done in this country about war. We’ve trimmed down our soldiers after every one of our conflicts. Trimmed them so that when we were hit by the next one, we squandered life like confetti. In our short history we’ve had in campaign over one million two hundred thousand casualties. At least a million of these frightful deaths and sufferings need never have been, had we been strong. Bereaved mothers all over this land have mourned and cried out against war. It is only natural they should. We all hate war--no one more than the soldier, for he knows what it is. But it would have been a lot more practical to have faced the facts and cried out against our unreadiness. That is the only real thing we can lay our hands on which could have stopped or lessened the slaughter. To cry out against war, much as we want to do away with it, is like crying out against fire, crime or disease. We must work on the human soul to keep from anger--on human souls to keep from mass anger. Therein lies the great cause of war. But who can tell when a nation may lose its temper? To be ready against that explosion is not contrary to trying to abolish war. The two go hand in hand, as all history teaches. Each may be a preventive, but readiness is also a safe-guard. The great harm which some peace movements are doing lies in their attempt to make us weak--in doing away with the safeguard, while they push along a royal road to eternal peace. Let them push along that road. Let’s all help. It’s a fine thing. But let us not at the same time open up an avenue to the murder of our young men.