Page:Counter-currents, Agnes Repplier, 1916.djvu/119

Women and War she asserts, are the "natural custodians of the human race"; they have for years "sought to find entrance into the councils of the human commonwealth, in order that they might there represent the supreme issue of race-preservation and development"; now at last their hands must be free "to build up a surer and safer structure of humanity."

"To-day it is for men to stand down, and for the women whom they have belittled to take the seat of judgment. No picture, however overdrawn, of woman's ignorance, error, or folly could exceed in fantastic yet tragic horror the spectacle which male governments are furnishing history to-day. The foundation of the structure of civilization which they have erected in Europe has proved rotten. The edifice, seemingly so secure, has collapsed. The failure of male statecraft in Europe is complete."

This is a bitter indictment, and one not to be lightly disregarded. But its terms 103