It may, however, be said—­in view of our present industrial conditions, and the low standard of physical health and vitality prevailing among the young folk of our large towns—­that physical drill and scout training, including ambulance and other work, and qualification in some useful trade, might very well be made a part of our general educational system, for rich and poor alike, say, between the ages of sixteen and eighteen.  Such a training would to each individual boy be immensely valuable, and by providing some rudimentary understanding of military, affairs and the duties of public service and citizenship, would enable him to choose how he could be helpful to the nation—­provided always he were not forced to make his choice in a direction distasteful or repugnant to him.  In any good cause, as in a war of defence against a foreign enemy, it is obvious enough, as I have said, that there would be plenty of native enthusiasm forthcoming without legal or official pressure.  However, I have enlarged a little on the subject of Conscription in a later chapter, and will say no more here.

But the burning and pressing question is:  Why should we—­we, the “enlightened and civilized” nations of Europe—­get involved in these senseless wars at all?  And surely this war will, of all wars, force an answer to the question.  Here, for the last twenty years, have these so-called Great Powers been standing round, all professing that their one desire is peace, and all meanwhile arming to the teeth; each accusing the others of militant intentions, and all lamenting that “war is inevitable.”  Here they have been forming their Ententes and Alliances, carrying on their diplomatic cabals and intrigues, studying the map and adjusting the Balance of Power—­all, of course, with the best intentions—­and lo! with the present result!  What nonsense!  What humbug!  What an utter bankruptcy of so-called diplomacy!  When will the peoples themselves arise and put a stop to this fooling—­the people who give their lives and pay the cost of it all?  If the present-day, diplomats and Foreign Ministers have sincerely striven for peace, then their utter incapacity and futility have been proved to the hilt, and they must be swept away.  If they have not sincerely striven for peace, but only pretended to so strive, then also they must be swept away, for deceit in such a matter is unpardonable.

And no doubt the latter alternative is the true one.  There has been a pretence of the Governments all round—­a pretence of deep concern for humanity and the welfare of the mass-peoples committed to their charge; but the real moving power beneath has been class-interest—­the interest of the great commercial class in each nation, with its acolyte and attendant, the military or aristocratic.  It is this class, with its greeds and vanities and suspicions and jealousies, which is the cause of strife; the working-masses of the various nations have no desire to quarrel with each other.  Nay, they are animated by a very different spirit.