spy mania has created
among us. The vast majority of Germans in England have come to live in
England because they dislike Germany. That a certain number of spies are
among us I take to be highly probable. I take it that if the Allies know
their business a certain number of English spies are doing what they can
for us at great personal risk to themselves in Germany. Until the German
Army has landed on our shores German spies can do little or no harm to
us. The police can be trusted to know something about them, and if any
are caught red-handed the rules of war are not likely to be strained for
their benefit.

*A Story from the South.*

From a small town in the South of England comes a story I can vouch for.
A couple of Boy Scouts had been set to guard the local reservoir. About
noon one sunny day they remarked the approach, somewhat ostentatious, of
a desperate-looking character. Undoubtedly a German spy! What can he be
up to! The boys approached him and he fled, leaving behind him the
damning evidence--a tin suggestive of sardines and labeled "Poison!"
That the gentleman should have chosen broad daylight for his nefarious
design, should have been careful to label his tin, seemed to the good
townsfolk under present scare conditions proof that they had at last
discovered the real German spy, full of his devilish cunning. The tin
was taken possession of by the police. And then the Sergeant's little
daughter, who happened to have had a few lessons in French, suggested
that the word on the tin was "Poisson," and the town now breathes again.

So long as the war continues the spy will be among us. I suggest that we
face the problem of his activities without blue funk and hysteria. The
men and women who are shrieking for vicarious vengeance upon all the
Germans remaining in our midst must remember that there are thousands of
English families at the present moment residing in Germany and Austria.
The majority of them, comparatively poor people, with all their
belongings around them, were unable to get away. I shall, until I
receive convincing proof to the contrary, continue to believe that they
are living among their German neighbors unmolested. Even were it not so,
I would suggest our setting the example of humanity rather than our
slavishly following an example of barbarity.

We are fighting for an idea--an idea of some importance to the
generations that will come after us. We are fighting to teach the
Prussian Military