"Conant Endorses Embargo Repeal." "Borab Says Repeal Means War." "Seymour Says Allies Must Win." The writhing head-lines pound meaninglessly at the Vagabond's head as he tries to understand and to make up his own mind. Join the Allies and save democracy from the totalitarians? Stay out under all circumstances? Go into the business with measures short of war? Not just idle questions, for perhaps they are even matters of life and death to the Vagabond.

It is hard for him to decide intelligently when the experts disagree. When doctors fall out, who shall decide the patient's fate? Senator Borah seems to argue just as convincingly as the President. Hearing both sides over again only seems to confuse him. Yet for his own peace of mind, he must come upon some positive opinion.

Perhaps he would grow in understanding if he attacked the problem from an entirely different angle. Instead of attempting to solve issues already confused by misleading propaganda, why not study the nature of war itself? What conditions are necessary to cause this phenomenon which makes men kill their own kind? Perhaps it only requires a single man to bring about such a catastrophe; perhaps factors over which humans have no control are involved. The answer to this question alone should go far toward helping him decide between intervention and isolation.

More important still is a cold analysis of the consequences of war in the light of historical evidence. What is the effect of an armed conflict upon a nation's birth rate, its mortality rate, its political organization, its ethics and culture? Democracy may be worth saving no matter what the aftermath. But perhaps the very effects of a war may destroy all the conditions necessary to its existence.

And last of all, can any lasting peace result from this war, no matter who the victor may be? May the world expect another conflict twenty years after the end of the present struggle? An analysis of historical trends indicating fluctuations between periods of war and peace may solve the riddle.

Undoubtedly with an answer to these questions, the Vagabond will be better equipped to decide present issues. And that is why he is going to Emerson 211 at nine o'clock tomorrow morning to hear Professor Sorokin lecture on the "Sociology of War."