Up to now no organized group of citizens has dared stand up against the professional patriots who, like the Praetorian Guard of the Roman Empire, levy their successive tributes on the public treasury. It appears as if the Veterans of Future Wars in attempting this feat may strangely enough find themselves bearing the cross in one of the most formidable crusades of our times.

In the beginning as harmless a bit of Gilbertian whimsy as was ever conceived by Princeton minds, the movement has suddenly turned serious, to the surprise of every one including its founders. With the promise of Representative Maverick to introduce their bill into Congress and the humorless protest of the Gold Star Mothers, childish things have been put aside, and the Veterans of Future Wars become full-fledged lobbyists in their own right.

Mrs. Roosevelt, with more candour than tact, in her recent press conference put her finger right on the ultimate function of such an organization. In expressing the hope that the movement would bring down to earth many false notions concerning patriotism and loyalties, the first lady has expressed the increasingly ardent wish of many Americans. If the self-righteous Legionnaires and the Daughters of the American Revolution, or, as S. N. Behrman has called them, "the women with the affiliated bodies," cannot be persuaded to desert the high seats they have arrogated to themselves, as a last resort they must be laughed out of the arena.

Commander Van Zandt of the Veterans of Foreign Wars has been the most conspicuous victim of the attack of the new movement, but the commander obligingly stuck his neck out right in the path of the arrows. Having branded the Veterans of Future Wars as yellow, Mr. Van Zandt was accused of being the "tool of Moscow" in his unpatriotic efforts to discredit America's future soldiers. Professional patriots belong to the lowest intellectual group in the country, and it should not be hard to beat them with equal success in future encounters.

The significance of the organization lies in its possible effect upon public opinion. If the Veterans of Future Wars can set in motion the latent forces that will smash the twin idols of patriotism and privilege too long worshipped in this country, their service will have been a real one. The college students of today form the electorate of tomorrow, and what they hope to accomplish now by ridicule may be done later with stronger weapons.