The World in Chains

The World in Chains, subtitled Some Aspects of War and Trade, is by John Mavrogordato. A note says there may be some exaggeration in this book and that the writer firmly believes England and her Allies entered this War with the noblest intentions. The text calls the tribe or clan the first clear stage in this progress, the smallest organised community. Tribe against tribe is the formula of this order of civilisation, the text says.

The text says the average citizen of England or Germany would never think of encouraging a fight between two sides of a street, and asks why he does not recognise with equal directness the futility and immorality of a fight between two sides of a continent. The text cites words made to the Kölnische Zeitung by Captain Walter Brum, adjutant to the Governor-General of Belgium, saying the principle according to which the whole community must be punished for the fault of a single individual is justified by the theory of terrorisation.