NATURE'S PRUNING-HOOKS
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
Sra,—It is, I suppose, universally admitted that the League of Nations, Disarmament Conferences, and the like, are based upon a general belief that war is one of the worst evils that afflict mankind, and yet we are constantly told by people whose opinions must command respect if they do not compel assent, that such a belief is by no means consonant with the facts.
The late Lord Kitchener, some years before the Great War, said that war was of great value for the development of character and manliness in the individual, and also as " an influence to preserve mankind from degeneracy " ; other persons have suggested that "-amputations " and "blood-letting," may be occasionally desirable for the nation's health, and quite recently a very distinguished anthropologist has told us that " War is Nature's pruning-hook, with which she •keeps her human orchard healthy." Arguments from analogy are proverbially unsafe, even when the analogy is close, and it should not be forgotten that Nature, in bygone days, used other very sharp tools, such as famine and pesti- lence, whose edge has been completely blunted in modern times, and no one thinks that the " orchard " is any the worse. Preventive medicine has, to a great extent, superseded " amputation " and " blood-letting " ; so perhaps in spite of this conflict of opinion, the pacifist need not abandon
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