tified masonry. What a grim joke for Europe to
play upon humanity."

There were not wanting those to point out to Mr. Ridder that the
sacrifice of life could have been avoided had Germany and its tool
Austria, played fair with Serbia and the balance of Europe. Also, his
statement that the government of Germany did not want the war has been
successfully challenged from a hundred different sources.

H. G. Wells, the eminent English author, contributed a prophecy which
translated very plainly the handwriting on the wall. He said:

"This war is not going to end in diplomacy; it is going to end
diplomacy.

"It is quite a different sort of war from any that have gone before.
At the end there will be no conference of Europe on the old lines,
but a conference of the world. It will make a peace that will put an
end to Krupp, and the spirit of Krupp and Kruppism and the private
armament firms behind Krupp for evermore."

Austria formally declared war against Serbia, July 28, 1914. During the
few days intervening between the dispatch of the ultimatum to Serbia and
the formal declaration of war, Serbia and Russia, seeing the inevitable,
had commenced to mobilize their armies. On the last day of July, Germany
as Austria's ally, issued an ultimatum with a twelve hour limit
demanding that Russia cease mobilization. They were fond of short term
ultimatums. They did not permit more than enough time for the dispatch
to be transmitted and received, much less considered, before the terms
of it had expired. Russia demanded assurances from Austria that war was
not forthcoming and it continued to mobilize. On August 1, Germany
declared war. France then began to mobilize.

Germany invaded the duchy of Luxemburg and demanded free passage for its
troops across Belgium to attack France at that country's most vulnerable
point. King Albert of Belgium refused his consent on the ground that the
neutrality of his country had been guaranteed by the powers of Europe,
including Germany itself, and appealed for diplomatic help from Great
Britain. That country, which had sought through its foreign secretary,
Sir Edward Grey, to preserve the peace of Europe, was now aroused.
August 4, it sent an ultimatum to Germany demanding that the neutrality
of Belgium be respected. As the demand was not complied with, Britain
formally declared war against Germany.

Italy at that time was joined with Germany and Austria in