Note 301 — Chapter XXXI · THE UNITED STATES AND THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

It is said that the Thirty Years’ War reduced the population in some sections of the warring states to one-half or one-third of what it had been when the struggle began. The losses of all the countries engaged in the World War have been estimated to be almost ten millions, more than the entire population of Canada from ocean to ocean. Millions more died from famine and under-nourishment at home. Is it not strange that nations should work for years with might and main to increase the size and prosperity of their populations, then turn around and undo a large part of what they have been able to accomplish? In peace nations labor to alleviate each others’ distress; in war they labor to cause it. Patiently through the decades men of science wrestle with the problem of relieving pain and suffering; then, in an instant, all their skill is devoted to killing, maiming, and suffocating men by the million! There is no wisdom like the wisdom of man, and no folly like it either.