Towards the Goal | Page 2

and folly; those who have
professed it have served the devil to the full extent which their limited

powers permitted.
There were in England--just as there are now in America--even worse
foes to national honour and efficiency. Greed and selfishness, among
capitalists and among labour leaders, had to be grappled with. The
sordid baseness which saw in the war only a chance for additional
money profits to the employer was almost matched by the fierce
selfishness which refused to consider a strike from any but the
standpoint of the strikers.
But the chief obstacle to be encountered in rousing England was sheer
short-sightedness. A considerable time elapsed before it was possible to
make the people understand that this was a people's war, that it was a
matter of vital personal concern to the people as a whole, and to all
individuals as individuals. In America we are now encountering much
the same difficulties, due to much the same causes.
In England the most essential thing to be done was to wake the people
to their need, and to guide them in meeting the need. The next most
essential was to show to them, and to the peoples in friendly lands,
whether allied or neutral, how the task was done; and this both as a
reason for just pride in what had been achieved and as an inspiration to
further effort.
Mrs. Ward's books--her former book and her present one--accomplish
both purposes. Every American who reads the present volume must feel
a hearty and profound respect for the patriotism, energy, and efficiency
shown by the British people when they became awake to the nature of
the crisis; and furthermore, every American must feel stirred with the
desire to see his country now emulate Britain's achievement.
In this volume Mrs. Ward draws a wonderful picture of the English in
the full tide of their successful effort. From the beginning England's
naval effort and her money effort have been extraordinary. By the time
Mrs. Ward's first book was written, the work of industrial preparedness
was in full blast; but it could yet not be said that England's army in the
field was the equal of the huge, carefully prepared, thoroughly
coordinated military machines of those against whom and beside whom

it fought. Now, the English army is itself as fine and as highly efficient
a military machine as the wisdom of man can devise; now, the valour
and hardihood of the individual soldier are being utilised to the full
under a vast and perfected system which enables those in control of the
great engine to use every unit in such fashion as to aid in driving the
mass forward to victory.
Even the Napoleonic contest was child's play compared to this. Never
has Great Britain been put to such a test. Never since the spacious days
of Elizabeth has she been in such danger. Never, in any crisis, has she
risen to so lofty a height of self-sacrifice and achievement. In the giant
struggle against Napoleon, England's own safety was secured by the
demoralisation of the French fleet. But in this contest the German naval
authorities have at their disposal a fleet of extraordinary efficiency, and
have devised for use on an extended scale the most formidable and
destructive of all instruments of marine warfare. In previous coalitions
England has partially financed her continental allies; in this case the
expenditures have been on an unheard-of scale, and in consequence
England's industrial strength, in men and money, in business and
mercantile and agricultural ability, has been drawn on as never before.
As in the days of Marlborough and Wellington, so now, England has
sent her troops to the continent; but whereas formerly her expeditionary
forces, although of excellent quality, were numerically too small to be
of primary importance, at present her army is already, by size as well as
by excellence, a factor of prime importance, in the military situation;
and its relative as well as absolute importance is steadily growing.
And to her report of the present stage of Great Britain's effort in the war,
Mrs. Ward has added some letters describing from her own personal
experience the ruin wrought by the Germans in towns like Senlis and
Gerbéviller, and in the hundreds of villages in Northern, Central, and
Eastern France that now lie wrecked and desolate. And she has told in
detail, and from the evidence of eye-witnesses, some of the piteous
incidents of German cruelty to the civilian population, which are
already burnt into the conscience of Europe, and should never be
forgotten till reparation has been made.

Mrs. Ward's book is thus of high value as a study of contemporary
history. It is of at least as high value as an inspiration to constructive
patriotism.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
SAGAMORE HILLS,
_May 1st_, 1917.