of Freedom_

France and Germany are hazardously in agreement in regard to English
and American liberal idealism. They think it moonshine and the League
of Nations a failure, and that Freedom has been tried and found wanting.

We are at school with Christ and have made our clay sparrows. Wilson's
birds fly--ours won't. France is an obstinate clay sparrow who sits
perched on the wall. And what shall we say of the other clay sparrows?
Do they look like flying? The peoples won't take the freedom and the
light that is offered them. We sing to them and tempt them, but they
do not respond.

Germany, however, does not believe in "free countries," and she is
edified by the failure of freedom.

"Your gods fail you," said a Bavarian to us at dinner. "You'll have to
try our gods after all."

"But it is not so. The little nations are all using their Freedom,"
some one rejoined.

"Abusing it," said the German.

"That is only their high spirits, the natural first excesses of people
who have got free."

"Russia?" queried the Teuton. "Poland? Roumania?" and he smiled
indulgently. "Human nature shows up badly when you give it a chance,"
said he. "You cannot trust individuals yet, and you cannot trust
nations. For example: you are all lined up waiting to receive tickets
for the theatre or a train. Some have a sense for order and keep their
turn, but others edge past them and get to the ticket window first.
And then the orderly individuals are forced to do the same or lose
their temper. Now, to meet human nature we have invented a grill, and
if you go to our State theatre in Munich you will see this iron control
which allows a large crowd to assemble but makes it impossible to go
out of your turn."

"An emblem of German civilization," I thought, "but it has its use."

"We are all going back to preventatives," said another. "After all it
is the foundation of Mosaic law--the prevention of evil. America has
adopted the idea. Prohibition is not freedom. It is taking the bottle
away and not giving you a chance. It is the same with other human
sins. The best way to reduce the numbers of murders is to reduce the
number of weapons and exact a heavy gun licence. The best way to stop
robbery is to use more steel locks. Make it difficult to commit crime
and then crime won't be committed. But beware of Freedom."

The conversation was side-tracked on to the subject of the "dryness of
America." But it provided an i