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ARMISTICE DAY
127

thought. The fond hopes of the first peace-makers have long since gone glimmering. The notion that man, the fighting animal, could suddenly agree to cease to fight for the rest of time could not endure the test of reality. The League of Nations has become increasingly useful. It is as far from insuring peace as ever. The wheel of thought has turned completely over and the latest volume on the subject bears the ominous title "Man Is War." Viewing Europe at this distance, who could reach any other conclusion!

By such tacking to and fro man slowly makes headway against the winds of fate. The present cynicism is certainly far nearer the truth than the Utopian fallacies that immediately followed November 11, 1918. The recognition of the real sources of war, in man's own nature, is a wholesome corrective. In a real sense, therefore, this day is justly named. There is no basis for confidence in the permanence of the present era of peace.

But once this realistic view of war is accepted there is every reason for refusing to relapse into cynicism and despair. If it is folly to predict that the last war has been fought, it is equally folly to sit back and accept war as the constant or permanent state of man. There are many processes making for understanding among the nations. Unfortunately, they are slow and difficult, as the