DEMOCRACY IN WAR

Alexis de Tocqueville, that famous French traveler, historian, and philosopher, in his "Democracy in America," has the following to say regarding the probable result when democracy goes to war:

"I am therefore of the opinion that, when a democratic people engages in a war after a long peace, it incurs much more risk of defeat than any other nation; hat it ought not easily to be cast down by such an army are increased by the duration of the war. When a war has at length, by its long continuance, roused the whole community from their peaceful occupations and ruined their minor undertakings, the

its reverses, for the chances of success for

same passions which made them attach so much importance to the maintenance of peace will be turned to arms. War, after it has destroyed all modes of speculation, becomes itself the great and sole speculation, to which all the ardent and ambitious desires which equality engenders are exclusively directed. Hence it is that the selfsame democratic nations which are 80 reluctant to engage in hostilities sometimes perform prodigious achievements when once they have taken the field..

"Thus, while the interests and tastes of the members of a democratic community divert them from war, their habits of mind fit them for carrying on war well; they soon make good soldiers, when they are aroused from their business and their enjoyments.

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"If peace is peculiarly hurtful to democratic armies, war secures them advantages which no other armies ever possess, and these advantages, however little felt at first, cannot fail in the end to give them the victory. An aristocratic nation, which in a contest with a democratic people does not succeed in ruining the latter at the outset of the war, always runs a great risk of being conquered by it."

Now de Tocqueville was a close observer of the tendencies in men and governments; he perhaps saw more of the latent possibilities in democracy than most other men of his time. He saw that free peoples were filled with almost boundless energy and enthusiasm. He saw, furthermore, that this same spirit of energy and enthusiasm which in times of peace spent itself in the pursuit of commerce and the accumulation of wealth would when turned to the prosecution of a long war acquire in time an almost irresistible momentum. Democracy in its present struggle with autocracy has not yet reached, perhaps, the momentum stage, but it is certainly approaching it. The Prussian host did not ruin its democratic opponents in the summer and fall of 1914, and that gave democracy its chance.

De Tocqueville quaintly remarks in the preface to his volume that men will seldom accept the truth at the hands of their enemies. The Potsdam gang, accordingly, would probably not accept at its face value the philosophy of war as quoted above. But to us it rings true, for history has proved it. Anyhow, it would seem as if all those faint-hearted ones who to-day take alarm at the present seeming success of the German arms might find splendid encouragement in the words of this old philosopher-historian, who saw with the vision of a seer and wrote with the quill of a prophet. H. J. FENTON. United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland.

This is the Most Complete

Single Map of the Western Front

It is 28x36 inches in size, but folds into a convenient cover 52x71⁄2 inches in size, just right to be carried conveniently in the pocket for frequent consultation. It is printed on excellent paper, and can be had mounted on cloth if desired at slight extra cost. Most existing maps of the Western Front are valueless because they are not indexed, or because they do not contain the smaller places. Neither objection applies to this new map, just published, so complete that it enables one to read the newspapers understandingly.

This photograph is not the map itself, but is only a miniature reproduction made to show the vast number of cities, towns, villages and hamlets which appear on this new map. The State of Illinois contains about the same number of square miles as shown on this map, and in Illinois there are less than 1,700 places of 100 or more inhabitants. On this new map in a territory as said above, about the same size as Illinois, there are shown more than 7,000 places. This fact alone serves to give some idea of the completeness of this wonderful new map.

The Map

includes practically every village, town and hamlet in the territory shown.

In addition to this vast number of places, it gives all woods, fortresses, fortified towns, naval arsenals, forts, redoubts, batteries, aircraft depots, wireless stations and railways.

The forests and woods are indicated in green, giving the map an attractive appearance, and adding a strategical feature of importance.

The scale of the map is 10 miles to the incb. It extends west to Ashford, England; north to Antwerp, Belgium; east to Frankfort, Germany, and south to Orleans, France.

It shows for comparison the battle line of 1914, when the Germans were almost at the gates of Paris. The ground regained by the Allies, therefore, may be plainly seen.

It is without exception the most satisfactory map of the Western Front which has been engraved. It has been prepared especially to throw light on movements as they occur. It may be examined with ease, for the type is bold and clean cut.

The Index

An index of towns and villages accompanying a map of this kind has been proven an absolute

necessity. The smaller towns are the ones usually mentioned in the news dispatches. They are not to be found on ordinary maps, and the locations of most of them were and still are, utterly unknown to the general public, but unless their locations are known their strategical importance cannot be grasped. Nothing is more unsatisfactory than searching all over a map for a small place that may or may not appear upon it. However, this loss of time and patience is now at an end, for the Index which accompanies this map makes it vastly more useful and valuable. The index contains over 7,000 names. An idea of the importance of this statement may be gained from the fact that 90 per cent of the war maps available to-day contain less than 500 names. This index is bound in with the map and enables one to locate instantly any one of the 7,000 places mentioned.

NELSON DOUBLEDAY Dept. 11 Oyster Bay, N. Y. Please send me the Large Scale War Map of the Western Front on approval. If it suits me, within five days I will send you $1.00. Otherwise I will return it.

NELSON DOUBLEDAY Dept. 11 Oyster Bay, N. Y.