Babies Bred for WarBy Mary Field(In “Everyman.”)
By Mary Field
(In “Everyman.”)
Said Prince Bismarck with a shrug of his shoulder to a comment on the great number of men killedin one of the Franco-Prussian battles, “Oh, well, we will have another crop in twenty years!”
It is crops of men that governments depend upon. At the outbreak of the war the military nations of Europe took immediate steps to provide for the next crop of soldiers. Before the ranks mobilized the seed of warriors was sown. In Germany all soldiers were urged to marry before leaving for the front. In many churches hundreds of couples were married simultaneously that no time might be lost. One of the Emperor’s own sons set the example which thousands of marriageable men immediately followed. In some villages “holy matrimony” was recognized as the equivalent of an engagement. Everywhere throughout the fatherland distinctions between legitimate and illegitimate have become indistinct. An illegitimate son receives the support of the government. To bear children for the fatherland is of greater virtue than that they shall be born of wedlock, for thrones are greater than altars and exigencies greater than ceremonies.