Kay stared at him in frank amazement.

"Then you mean that we entered the late war purely as a protective
measure?"

"That's why I enlisted. As an American citizen, I was unutterably
weary of having our hand crowded and our elbow joggled. I saw very
clearly that, unless we interfered, Germany was going to dominate the
world, which would make it very uncomfortable and expensive for us. I
repeat that for the protection of our comfort and our bank-roll we
declared war, and anybody who tells you otherwise isn't doing his own
thinking, he isn't honest with himself, and he's the sort of citizen
who is letting the country go to the dogs because he refuses to take an
intelligent interest in its affairs."

"What a perfectly amazing speech from an ex-soldier!" Kay protested.

He smiled his sad, prescient smile.

"Soldiers deal with events, not theories. They learn to call a spade a
spade, Miss Parker. I repeat: It wasn't a war to make the world safe
for democracy. That phrase was just a slogan in a business
campaign--the selling of stock in a military enterprise to apathetic
Americans. We had to fight or be overrun; when we realized that, we
fought. Are not the present antics of the Supreme Council in Paris
sufficient proof that saving democracy was just another shibboleth? Is
not a ghastly war to be followed by a ghastly peace? The press-agents
and orators popularized the war with the unthinking and the hesitant,
which is proof enough to me that we lack national unity and a definite
national policy. We're a lot of sublimated jackasses, sacrificing our