IN HIGHER PEOPLES 141 



another people and find real satisfaction and much 

 "glory" in the act. The sword is the symbol of 

 savagery, but it is still an attractive object to the 

 most nearly civilized people so far produced on 

 earth. If people didn't like to fight pretty well, 

 they would not go to war and spend millions in 

 money and spill barrels and barrels of blood over 

 a trifle. 



During the recent war between Spain and the 

 United States, some of the United States troops 

 who. had been sent to Cuba had had no real ex- 

 perience in fighting until peace was declared. I 

 remember reading in the newspapers at the time 

 a statement that impressed me very much. It said 

 that when these troops were told that a treaty had 

 been signed "the boys were very much disap- 

 pointed." Why? Cuba was made free by the 

 terms of the treaty, and the apparent purpose of 

 the war had been achieved. Why, then, were they 

 not satisfied! Because tliey had something else to 

 satisfy besides the desire to free Cuba. It was 

 the "war instinct." If these men had had a few 

 battles^ and in this way exercised their savage in- 

 stinct to kill, and then peace had come, they would 

 no doubt have come home satisfied. 



The fighting instinct is weak in women and girls 

 for the same reason that the hunting instinct is 

 weak in the female nature because it was the men 

 (not the women) who did the fighting and hunting 

 during those vanished ages in which the founda- 

 tions of human nature were laid. The males in 



