prove that
this or that or the other person brought about the war. The Socialists
will publish volumes in which they will accuse the "capitalists" of
having brought about the war for "commercial gain." The capitalists
will answer that they lost infinitely more through the war than they
made--that their children were among the first to go and fight and be
killed--and they will show how in every country the bankers tried their
very best to avert the outbreak of hostilities. French historians will
go through the register of German sins from the days of Charlemagne
until the days of William of Hohenzollern and German historians will
return the compliment and will go through the list of French horrors
from the days of Charlemagne until the days of President Poincare. And
then they will establish to their own satisfaction that the other fellow
was guilty of "causing the war." Statesmen, dead and not yet dead, in
all countries will take to their typewriters and they will explain how
they tried to avert hostilities and how their wicked opponents forced
them into it.

The historian, a hundred years hence, will not bother about these
apologies and vindications. He will understand the real nature of the
underlying causes and he will know that personal ambitions and personal
wickedness and personal greed had very little to do with the final
outburst. The original mistake, which was responsible for all this
misery, was committed when our scientists began to create a new world of
steel and iron and chemistry and electricity and forgot that the human
mind is slower than the proverbial turtle, is lazier than the well-known
sloth, and marches from one hundred to three hundred years behind the
small group of courageous leaders.

A Zulu in a frock coat is still a Zulu. A dog trained to ride a bicycle
and smoke a pipe is still a dog. And a human being with the mind of a
sixteenth century tradesman driving a 1921 Rolls-Royce is still a human
being with the mind of a sixteenth century tradesman.

If you do not understand this at first, read it again. It will become
clearer to you in a moment and it will explain many things that have
happened these last six years.

Perhaps I may give you another, more familiar, example, to show you what
I mean. In the movie theatres, jokes and funny remarks are often thrown
upon the screen. Watch the audience the next time you have a chance. A
few people seem almost to inhale the words. It takes them but