The Blood of the Nation 



man brutalized by machinery, and from 

 all the wrongs of the poor set forth 

 in the conventional literature of sym- 

 pathy. 



In our discussion of decadence we 

 turn to France first simply as a con- 

 venient illustration. Her sins have not 

 been greater than those of other lands, 

 nor is the penalty more significant. 

 Her case rises to our hand to illustrate 

 a principle which applies to all human 

 history and to all history of groups 

 of animals and plants as well. Our 

 picture, such as it is, we must paint 

 with a broad brush, for we have no 

 space for exceptions and qualifications, 

 which, at the most, could only prove 

 the rule. To weigh statistics is im- 

 possible, for the statistics we need 

 have never been collected. The evil 

 effects of "military selection" and al- 

 lied causes have been long recognized 

 by students of social science, but their 



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