WAR IS CONFLICT OF MORALES

This war more than any preceding conflict is a war between the morales of the opposing forces. The side is going to win which has the greatest unity of purpose. But in order to realize the necessary unity of spirit in the war we have got to get rid of some of the obstacles which hinder the full apportionment of our common fighting strength and herd instinct. These obstacles are essentially three.

The first is an insufficient belief in the reality of the enemy. We have been slow to realize just what sort of thing we must contend with.

In the second place, there are traces of the enemy spirit which we have left in ourselves. Profiteering, for example, is the chief representative among us of the German idea,--the very thing we are fighting against. There is probably less profiteering in America in this war than in any other we have ever fought, and more fine examples of sacrifice of personal interest on the part of large business. What we have chiefly got to do is to clear out the last remnant of the old evil. This can best be done by treating a few conspicuous examples as traitors are treated.

The third obstacle is an inadequate belief in the reality of the state. Our theory of government has made it easy for us to forget that such a thing as the state exists. Many people in this country as in Europe have been surprised by their own feelings of patriotism. We have looked on these feelings with some suspicion. What we want to do is to bolster them up with adequate reasons. We must attempt to make vivid what the state means to its citizens.