I/O Hoiv to Pay for Uie IVtir 



and will go down before Prussianism, which does allow 

 itself to be so guided. Prussianism, bestial as its worse 

 side must be, will never be overthrown by " gas " or strikes, 

 or shirking of public duties for conscience' sake. Say 

 what the idealist will against it, Prussianism, as the his- 

 tory of the last three and a half years has proved, and is 

 still proving, has the power to call forth and to maintain 

 at high pressure, whether as a spy or a lying courtier in a 

 foreign country, or as a (worse than) wild beast in Belgium 

 and France, an abundance of sacrifice and endurance that 

 is as amazing as it is pitiable to anyone able to realize the 

 base uses that such talents are turned to. These talents, 

 however, are being turned to such base uses simply and 

 solely to uphold Autocracy within the German Empire, 

 and to fling Democracy elsewhere, panting and beaten, 

 to the earth as has happened to Russia. If Democracy in 

 England and elsewhere does not want to share the fate of 

 the Bolshevists of Russia to-day, let them see to it that 

 they do not commit the same mistakes that Russia has. 



I say this, partly on account of what is going on 

 around us, and partly because on p. 267 of the Round Table 

 the following passage caused me to do so: " Were Prus- 

 sianism purely evil it would have collapsed long ago. It 

 could not have drawn on the reserves of strength which 

 have enabled it to maintain such an heroic unequal contest 

 against hunger, hardship, and superior numbers. Prus- 

 sianism stands for more than the use of howitzers and 

 cannon fodder. It is a creed held, with intense conviction, 

 by men who have had the courage to apply it, logically and 

 consistently, to every relationship of life." It is all this and 

 more. It is the one champion of everything that stands for 

 Autocracy and Rule by Divine Right, against everything that 

 stands for Democracy and the Rule of the People, for the 

 People, and by the People. The end of the duel now in 

 progress mayor may not be postponed to some future date, 

 but whenever the end does come it will only be when one 

 of the two opponents is as dead as Cjueen Anne or George 

 Washington. Truly it is a case of " win or go under," 

 and the way some people are working on this side tends 

 to make one wonder whether they fully realize that it is so. 



Again it was interesting to note that in the Evening 

 Standard of March 8 " A Trade Unionist " contributed 

 a two-columned article, in which he told us, almost at the 

 beginning, that " quite apart from the immediate dispute 

 between the A.S.E. and the Ministry of National Service 

 over the interpretation of the agreement of May, 1917, 



