es of to-day our allies of
to-morrow as they are of yesterday; so that if we aim merely at a fresh
balance of military power, we are as likely as not to negotiate our own
destruction. We must use the war to give the _coup de grace_ to medieval
diplomacy, medieval autocracy, and anarchic export of capital, and make
its conclusion convince the world that Democracy is invincible, and
Militarism a rusty sword that breaks in the hand. We must free our
soldiers, and give them homes worth fighting for. And we must, as the
old phrase goes, discard the filthy rags of our righteousness, and fight
like men with everything, even a good name, to win, inspiring and
encouraging ourselves with definite noble purposes (abstract nobility
butters no parsnips) to face whatever may be the price of proving that
war cannot conquer us, and that he who dares not appeal to our
conscience has nothing to hope from our terrors.

*"Shaw's Nonsense About Belgium"*

By Arnold Bennett.

Written for THE NEW YORK TIMES.

Mr. Bernard Shaw's "Common Sense About the War" is the talk of the town,
and it deserves to be. One of its greatest values is its courage, for in
it Shaw says many things no one else would have dared to say. It
therefore, by breaking the unearthly silence on certain aspects of the
situation, perhaps inaugurates a new and healthier period of discussion
and criticism on such subjects as recruiting, treatment of soldiers and
sailors' dependents, secret diplomacy, militarism, Junkerism, churches,
Russia, peace terms, and disarmament. It contains the most magnificent,
brilliant, and convincing common sense that could possibly be uttered.
No citizen, I think, could rise from the perusal of this tract with a
mind unilluminated or opinions unmodified. Hence everybody ought to read
it, though everybody will not be capable of appreciating the profoundest
parts of it.

Mixed up with the tremendous common sense, however, is a considerable
and unusual percentage of that perverseness, waywardness, and
arlequinading which are apparently an essential element of Mr. Shaw's
best work. This is a disastrous pity, having regard to the immense
influence and vogue of Shaw, not only in Germany, but in America, and
the pity is more tragic as Shaw has been most absurd about the very
matter which most Englishmen regard as most important, namely, Great
Britain's actual justification for going to war.

*Shaw's Admitted Prejudice.*

Mr. Shaw begins