The 

 Human 

 Harvest 



War one 



influence 



among 



many 



[ii8] 



its origin in the evil passions of men," and 

 even when unavoidable or righteous its 

 effects are most baleful. The final effect of 

 each strife for empire has been the degra- 

 dation or extinction of the nation which led 

 in the struggle. 



Itwill,no doubt, be said by those whoread 

 this little book that all this is exaggeration, 

 that war is but one influence among many, 

 and that for each and all these forms of de- 

 structive selection civilization will find an 

 antidote. This is very true. The antidote 

 is found in the spirit of democracy, and the 

 spirit of democracy is the spirit of peace. 

 Doubtless these pages constitute an exag- 

 geration. They were written for that pur- 

 pose. I would show the " ugly, old, and 

 wrinkled truth stripped clean of all the ves- 

 ture that beguiles." To see anything clearly 

 and separately is to exaggerate it. The 

 naked truth is always a caricature unless 

 clothed in conventions, fragments taken 

 from lesser truths. The moral law is an 

 exaggeration : " The soul that sinneth, it 

 shall die." Doubtless one war will not ruin 

 a nation. Doubtless it will not destroy its 



