I
repeat that for the protection of our comfort and our bank-roll we
declared war, and anybody who tells you otherwise isn't doing his own
thinking, he isn't honest with himself, and he's the sort of citizen
who is letting the country go to the dogs because he refuses to take an
intelligent interest in its affairs."
"What a perfectly amazing speech from an ex-soldier!" Kay protested.
He smiled his sad, prescient smile.
"Soldiers deal with events, not theories. They learn to call a spade a
spade, Miss Parker. I repeat: It wasn't a war to make the world safe
for democracy. That phrase was just a slogan in a business
campaign--the selling of stock in a military enterprise to apathetic
Americans. We had to fight or be overrun; when we realized that, we
fought. Are not the present antics of the Supreme Council in Paris
sufficient proof that saving democracy was just another shibboleth? Is
not a ghastly war to be followed by a ghastly peace? The press-agents
and orators popularized the war with the unthinking and the hesitant,
which is proof enough to me that we lack national unity and a definite
national policy. We're a lot of sublimated jackasses, sacrificing our
country to ideals that are worn at elbow and down at heel. 'Other
times, other customs.' But we go calmly and stupidly onward, hugging
our foolish shibboleths to our hearts, hiding behind them, refusing to
do to-day that which we can put off until to-morrow.
Pages:
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131