78 PRODUCTION OF NATIONALITY 



hardship of war would press extremely severely and 

 might easily handicap a single generation without 

 affecting the stock to any appreciable extent. 



I do not wish to linger over a question in which so 

 much is theory and so little ascertained fact, but I 

 shall submit a few more considerations to those who 

 are interested in the academic discussion of the 

 possible effects of war on the stock of a nation. No 

 doubt it may be urged that many of the bravest are 

 likely to perish in war ; but many of those whose 

 natural disposition is martial must also disappear. 

 Everyone knows persons, especially amongst those 

 who have no experience of what war really is, who 

 covet the " crowded hour of glorious life " for its 

 own sake and who would submit themselves and 

 others to the peril of fighting with very little provo- 

 cation. If this consideration be pursued on theoreti- 

 cal lines, the inference might be drawn that forty 

 years of unbroken peace have made Germany too 

 ready to embark on war, as there has been no oppor- 

 tunity for her fire-eaters to be eliminated. Nor 

 must we forget that after a war, the returned heroes 

 are attractive to women, are financially favoured 

 wherever possible, and that every effort is made to 

 provide for the orphans of those who have perished. 

 The excitement of war, the peril of undecided events, 

 the joy of victory and the coming of peace (even to 

 the vanquished) thrill through a nation, and are 

 at least as compatible with high and selective 

 reproductive activity as is the placid spirit of normal 

 conditions. 



If for the present we must remain in doubt as to 

 how far the initial stock of nations can be modified 



