of their contradiction, the real truth of the
adventure might be seen as it touched the souls of men.

Yet when one strives to sum up the evidence and reach definite
conclusions about the motives which led men of the warring nations
to kill one another year after year in those fields of slaughter, the
ideals for which so many millions of men laid down their lives, and the
effect of those years of carnage upon the philosophy of this present
world of men, there is no clear line of thought or conviction.

It is difficult at least to forecast the changes that will be produced
by this experience in the social structure of civilized peoples, and in
their relations to one another though it is certain, even now, that
out of the passion of the war a new era in the world's history is being
born. The ideas of vast masses of people have been revolutionized by
the thoughts that were stirred up in them during those years of intense
suffering. No system of government designed by men afraid of the new
ideas will have power to kill them, though they may throttle them for
a time. For good or ill, I know not which, the ideas germinated in
trenches and dugouts, in towns under shell--fire or bomb-fire, in hearts
stricken by personal tragedy or world-agony, will prevail over the old
order which dominated the nations of Europe, and the old philosophy
of political and social governance will be challenged and perhaps
overthrown. If the new ideas are thwarted by reactionary rulers
endeavoring to jerk the world back to its old-fashioned discipline under
their authority, there will be anarchy reaching to the heights of terror
in more countries than those where anarchy now prevails. If by fear or
by wisdom the new ideas are allowed to gain their ground gradually, a
revolution will be accomplished without anarchy. But in any case, for
good or ill, a revolution will happen. It has happened in the sense that
already there is no resemblance between this Europe after-the-war and
that Europe-before-the-war, in the mental attitude of the masses toward
the problems of life. In every country there are individuals, men and
women, who are going about as though what had happened had made no
difference, and as though, after a period of restlessness, the
people will "settle down" to the old style of things. They are merely
sleep-walkers. There are others who see clearly enough that they cannot
govern or dupe the people with old spell-words, and they are struggl