to do what he liked with his own,' that
the heart forgot the sacredness of the Gospel and the rights of the
people in the land of their birth. It is time we stopped mouthing
about the cannon-fodder of war, and began to speak about the
cannon-fodder of custom.

II

If poor, blundering, pitiful humanity had not been blinded by custom to
the folly of war, it would have made an end of war long ago. But all
the days of youth humanity has shut into dreary barracks, learning all
sorts of foolish things. And the history it learns is just the history
of war after war! At fourteen the centuries seem to a boy but a river
of blood. He deems it an inevitable weapon in the progress of the
world--this ceaseless killing! It is custom alone that prevents
humanity from making an end of that horror. And strikes are only war
in another form--the bludgeon of force! Kaiserism is not dead. World
dominion for me or destruction for you has its counterpart in two
shillings for me or ruin for you. The spirit is the same. If custom
had not deadened us to the meaning of war and strike, we would shrink
back in horror at the very sound of the words. But, instead of that,
ere humanity has recovered from the woe of the one, we are plunged into
the woes of the other.... It sounds a respectable sort of word! And
the right of a man to stop working seems elementary--for we are not
slaves. But humanity has learned there is a higher word than
rights--and that is duty. We owe service to our brethren. We can pay
too high a price for two shillings more a day if they mean starving
women and perishing children. Life is more than livelihood; and if the
endeavour to better livelihood means the destruction of life, then it
is condemned. And that is what it means. Europe is perishing. Vienna
is dying. All over the world Rachel is weeping for her children. What
Europe needs is coal and raw materials, that it may have wherewith to
buy food. And we go on strike. And ships can no longer carry food or
cotton; and Europe will starve ... starving is a good discipline and I
shouldn't mind ... but, God! the little children ... the babies....
'Strike,' we shout, finding it easy through long custom. But our
striking is only completing the work that Kaiserism began. And the
little graves are dug faster and faster; and you can hear the falling
of tears like soft rain.... What savages we are, unable through any
disciple to learn that the world can