3 o2 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



of the reversed selection of fratricidal war. And the angle of divergence 

 between what might have been and what has been, will be determined 

 by the percentage of strong men slain on the field of glory. 



And all this applies, not to one nation nor to one group of nations 

 alone, but in like degree to all nations, which have sent forth their 

 young men to the field of slaughter. As with Greece and Eome, as 

 with France and Spain, as with Mauritania and Turkestan, so with 

 Germany and England, so with all nations who have sent forth "the 

 best they breed" to the foreign service, while cautious, thrifty medioc- 

 rity filled up the ranks at home. 



In his charming studies of "Feudal and Modern Japan," Mr. 

 Arthur Knapp, of Yokohama, returns again and again to the great 

 marvel of Japan's military prowess after more than two hundred years 

 of peace. This was shown in the Chinese war. It has been more 

 conclusively shown on the fields of Manchuria since Mr. Knapp's book 

 was written. It is astonishing to him that, after more than six genera- 

 tions in which physical courage has not been demanded, these virile 

 virtues should be found unimpaired. We can readily see that this is 

 just what we should expect. In times of peace there is no slaughter of 

 the strong, no sacrifice of the courageous. In the peaceful struggle for 

 existence there is a premium placed on these virtues. The virile and 

 the brave survive. The idle, weak and dissipated go to the wall. 

 "What won the battles on the Yalu, in Korea or Manchuria," says 

 the Japanese, Nitobe, " was the ghosts of our fathers guiding our hands 

 and beating in our hearts. They are not dead, these ghosts, those 

 spirits of our war-like ancestors. Scratch a Japanese, even one of the 

 most advanced ideas, and you will find a Samurai." If we translate 

 this from the language of Shintoism to that of science we find it a 

 testimony to the strength of race-heredity, the survival of the ways of 

 the strong in the lives of the self-reliant. 



If after two hundred years of incessant battle Japan still remained 

 virile and warlike, that would indeed be the marvel. But that marvel 

 no nation has ever seen. It is doubtless true that war-like traditions 

 are most persistent with nations most frequently engaged in war. But 

 the traditions of war and the physical strength to gain victories are 

 very different things. Other things being equal, the nation which has 

 known least of war is the one most likely to develop the "strong bat- 

 talions" with whom victory must rest. 



As Americans we are more deeply interested in the fate of our 

 mother country than in that of the other nations of Europe. 



What shall we say of England and of her relation to the reversed 

 selection of war? 



Statistics we have none, and no evidence of tangible decline that 

 Englishmen will not indignantly repudiate. When the London press 

 in the vacation season fills its columns with editorials on English 



