ts own evolution, rendered itself futile, but man
himself, with greater wisdom and higher ethics, is opposed to war. He
has learned too much. War is repugnant to his common sense. He
conceives it to be wrong, to be absurd, and to be very expensive. For
the damage wrought and the results accomplished, it is not worth the
price. Just as in the disputes of individuals the arbitration of a civil
court instead of a blood feud is more practical, so, man decides, is
arbitration more practical in the disputes of nations.

War is passing, disease is being conquered, and man's food-getting
efficiency is increasing. It is because of these factors that there are
a billion and three quarters of people alive to-day instead of a billion,
or three-quarters of a billion. And it is because of these factors that
the world's population will very soon be two billions and climbing
rapidly toward three billions. The lifetime of the generation is
increasing steadily. Men live longer these days. Life is not so
precarious. The newborn infant has a greater chance for survival than at
any time in the past. Surgery and sanitation reduce the fatalities that
accompany the mischances of life and the ravages of disease. Men and
women, with deficiencies and weaknesses that in the past would have
effected their rapid extinction, live to-day and father and mother a
numerous progeny. And high as the food-getting efficiency may soar,
population is bound to soar after it. "The abysmal fecundity" of life
has not altered. Given the food, and life will increase. A small
percentage of the billion and three-quarters that live to-day may hush
the clamour of life to be born, but it is only a small percentage. In
this particular, the life in the man-animal is very like the life in the
other animals.

And still another change is coming in human affairs. Though politicians
gnash their teeth and cry anathema, and man, whose superficial
book-learning is vitiated by crystallised prejudice, assures us that
civilisation will go to smash, the trend of society, to-day, the world
over, is toward socialism. The old individualism is passing. The state
interferes more and more in affairs that hitherto have been considered
sacredly private. And socialism, when the last word is said, is merely a
new economic and political system whereby more men can get food to eat.
In short, socialism is an improved food-getting efficiency.

Furthermore, not only will soci