III
Man is a gregarious animal, and it is a fundamental law of his being
that when a group of his fellows are doing a certain thing, and
doing it with energy and fervour, anyone who does not do it, who
does not share the mood of energy and fervour shall be the object of
ridicule and anger, shall feel within his own heart confusion and
distress. This is true, even if the group is doing nothing more
worthwhile than making itself drunk. How much more shall it be when
it is engaged in making the world safe for democracy!
The only way the man can save himself is by holding before his mind
the belief that he is right, and that some day this will be
recognized; in other words, by appealing to some other group of men,
who in some future time will applaud him. If he is sure of this
future applause, he can manage to stand the jeers for the moment.
But how when he begins to doubt--when his mind is haunted by the
possibility that the men of the future may agree with those of the
present, who are learning to march in unison, and to poke bayonets
into the bodies of Huns!
One of the things which brought this destructive doubt to Jimmie's
soul was the sight of Emil Forster, learning to march and to poke.
Emil had been one of his heroes, Emil knew a hundred times as much
as he--and Emil was going to the war! The squad marched away to the
City hall across the square, and deposited its rifles in a room in
the basement, and then Emil came out, and Jimmie went up to him. The
young carpet-designer of course was delighted to meet his old
friend, and asked him to go to lunch. As they walked along the
street together Jimmie asked what it meant, and Emil answered: "It
means that I have made up my mind."
"You're going to fight the German people?"
"Strange as you'll think it, I'm going to fight them for their own
good. Bebel wrote in his memoirs that the way to get democratic
progress in autocratic countries is through military defeat; and it
seems up to America to provide this defeat for Germany."
"But--you were preaching just the opposite!"
"I know; it makes me feel foolish sometimes. But things have
changed, and there's no sense in shutting your eyes to facts."
Jimmie waited.
"Russia, more especially," continued Emil, answering the unspoken
question. "What's the use of getting Socialism, if you're just
throwing yourself down for a military machine to run over you?
You're playing the fool, that's all--and you have to see it. What
hope is there for Russia now?"
"There's the German Socialists."
"Well, they just didn't have the power, that's all. What's more, we
have to face the fact that a lot of them aren't really
revolutionists--they're politicians, and haven't dared to stand out
against the crowd. Anyhow, whatever the reason is, they didn't save
their own country, and they didn't save Russia. They certainly can't
expect us to give them a third chance--it costs too much."
"But then," argued Jimmie, "ain't we doin' just what we blame them
for doin'--turnin' patriots, supportin' a capitalist government?"
"When you're supporting a government," replied Emil, "it make's a
lot of difference what use its making of your support. We all know
the faults of our government, but we know too that the people can
change it when enough of them get ready, and that makes a real
difference. I've come to realize that if we give the Kaiser a
beating, the German people will kick him out, and then we can talk
sense to them."
