human
Why, said Potter, presently,
gpt
I don't know.
human
I'm afraid that's the way with most of us--we don't know. We're thinking about ourselves and our businesses and about making money and passing the time. We have grown unconscious of the country just as we are unconscious of the air we breathe. That's hardly a state of mind to carry us into war, is it?
gpt
No,
human
Because war requires love of country, said the major.
gpt
Not the love of country that orators talk about on July Fourth, but the kind of love that is willing to prove itself. War, Mr. Waite, means sacrifices such as we do not even dream of. It means that love of country must take place over everything else. Not a stingy loyalty, but a real _love_--the sort that gives life and everything one possesses to the country. Mr. Waite, if we should go to war to-morrow and your country should come to you and say, 'I want your life. I want everything you possess in the world--wealth, comfort, place. I need _everything_ to win this war,' what would you say? Would you give willingly and gladly? I mean what I say literally.
human
Could you?
gpt
I think I could, said Craig.
human
I think my country means all that to me.
gpt
Why?
human
That you will have to find out for yourself. I can't teach you patriotism, love of country, in half an hour, nor in a course of twenty lessons. I couldn't teach you to love a woman. Each man must find those things for himself.
gpt
I suppose so,
human
We've heard a great deal about military preparedness lately, said the major, presently.
gpt
It's in my mind that we need another sort of preparedness even more. There _is_ such an emotion as patriotism, Mr. Waite, but it seems to be dormant in this people. A couple of generations of ease and prosperity and peace have lulled it to sleep. We have grown careless of our country, as we sometimes grow careless of our parents. But I believe patriotism is here--more than we need universal military training, more than we need artillery and ammunition and war-ships, we need its awakening. We can never have one sort of preparedness without the other.
human
I had never thought about it,
gpt
Will you think about it, Mr. Waite? And when you have thought about it, see if you don't find it demanding something of you.... Do you know that an army without aeroplanes is like a blind man in a duel with a man who sees? Think about that. I sha'n't tell you how many 'planes we have, nor how many trained aviators. It would shock you.
human
I know something about that.
gpt
But have you realized that if events force us into this war we shall need, not hundreds of 'planes, but thousands--possibly twenty-five thousand?
human
Really?
gpt
That many will be absolutely necessary, and the best and fastest 'planes that can be had. Where will we get twenty-five thousand of them?
human
God knows,
gpt
Mr. Waite, the War Department is not sleeping. Will it surprise you to know that I came to Detroit solely to have this talk with you?
human
With me?
gpt
We know all about you, and about every other amateur aviator in the country. _All_ about you,
human
I'm surprised you found it worth your while to come, then,
gpt
For instance, said the major,
human
The manner of it, said the major, quietly,
gpt
General opinion seems to hold the opposite view.
human
What do you want of me?
gpt
What would you do if war came?
human
Enlist, I suppose. As an aviator, if I could. I've been thinking of going to France, anyhow.
gpt
That's adventure, said the major.
human
And as for enlisting, would you be most valuable there or here--helping to produce those twenty-five thousand 'planes? Think that over.
gpt
Do you believe we shall be in it?
human
I don't know, said the major.
gpt
But I do know that the man who goes ahead as if he were sure we shall will be doing the thing he should do. You, for instance, might think aeroplanes, plan aeroplanes, dream aeroplanes--fighting-'planes.... Shall we play around now?