And it is a wise nation which knows when to cease growing. No national civilization long endures unless its educational methods and religious ideals inspire a high type of intelligent patriotism and national devotion. Without this sort of intelligent patriotism and cultural solidarity, all nations tend to disintegrate as a result of provincial jealousies and local self-interests. Liberty is suicidal when divorced from material justice, intellectual fairness, social forbearance, moral duty, and spiritual values. At such a time the great test of the wisdom of world leadership will present itself.
Modern society is in reverse.
And if such adequate substitutes are not provided, then you may be sure that war will long continue. The great weakness in Roman civilization, and a factor in the ultimate collapse of the empire, was the supposed liberal and advanced provision for the emancipation of the boy at twenty-one and the unconditional release of the girl so that she was at liberty to marry a man of her own choosing or to go abroad in the land to become immoral. The harm to society consisted not in these reforms themselves but rather in the sudden and extensive manner of their adoption. The collapse of Rome indicates what may be expected when a state undergoes too rapid extension associated with internal degeneration. No society has progressed very far when it permits idleness or tolerates poverty.