Post-Wwi

"We have in our unregenerate youth learned the practicality and the cynicism that is safe only in unregenerate old age. We have BEEN forced to become realists overnight, instead of idealists, as was our birthright... We have seen hideous peculation, greed, anger, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness, unmasked and rampant and unashamed. We have been forced to live in an atmosphere of 'tomorrow we die,' and so, naturally, we drank and were merry.

​We have seen the rottenness and shortcomings of all governments, even the best and most stable. we have seen entire social systems overthrown, and our own called in question. In short, we have seen the inherent beastliness of the human race revealed in an infernal apocalypse... We may be fire, but it was they who made us play with gunpowder. And now they are surprised that a great many of us, because they have taken away our apple-cheeked ideals, are seriously considering whether or no their game be worth our candle."