“But what about Russia? How's revival possible without security?”
The officer laughed carelessly. “I catch your meaning; you've heard this latest about Bolshevism's downfall. In our part of the world we pay no heed to rumors; they're inventions of political opportunists or of gamblers in the international exchange. Even if this latest is true, it's the best thing that could have happened.”
Hindwood twisted in his seat that he might lose nothing of his companion's expression. “The best thing in the long run—that's granted. But meanwhile, because of the breakdown in organization, over a hundred million Russians are likely to die.”
Again the officer laughed, stretching his long legs. “The fittest will survive. One has to die somehow. The last war was fought because the world was too crowded. Famine's nature's cure for overpopulation.”
The remark sounded singularly ill-timed, coming from a man whose country was also starving. Hindwood frowned. “A heartless cure and, thank goodness, not the only one.”
“Not more heartless than civilized society's, which encourages armed nations to strangle each other with every filthy invention of science. When you forbid Nature to correct matters in her own way, sooner or later you find yourself with a war on your hands. The matter's very simple: so many mouths to fill and so many rations. When the mouths are in excess of the rations, some one has to go short. The people who are selected to go short can either drop in their tracks or fight. If they fight and win, the result's the same—some one else has to go without. The adjustment's automatic.”
“The thought of death,” Hindwood suggested quietly, “especially of other people's death, doesn't seem to trouble you.”
“That's natural. Killing and dying are my trade.”
Brutal as was the point of view, after Santa's sentimental fallacies, there was something honest and direct about these bald assertions.
Hindwood spoke again. “What applies to Russia, applies equally to Hungary. My errand at the Palace is to offer sufficient food to keep your country alive. According to your theory, I'm interfering with Nature's laws. I'm doing something economically immoral. I ought to leave you to your fate.”