r the moment when one of them may fall upon another and
destroy it. The competitive struggle between the capitalists of several
countries, together with their jealousy of one another, assume upon the
international field the character of a struggle between the capitalists
of one country against those of another, and, backed by the political
blindness of the large masses, it conjures into existence a contest of
military armaments such as the world has never seen before. This contest
has brought forth armies of magnitudes that never were known; it
produced implements of murder and destruction for land and naval warfare
of such perfection as is possible only in an age of such advanced
technique as ours. The contest drives these antagonisms to a head, it
incites a development of means of destruction that finally destroy
themselves. The support of the armies and navies demand sacrifices that
yearly become larger, and that finally ruin the richest nation. Germany,
for instance, had, according to the imperial budget of 1894-95, a
regular army and navy outlay of nearly 700 million marks--inclusive of
pensions and of interest on the national debt, which amounts in round
figures to two milliards, incurred mainly for purposes of war. Under
these war expenses, the appropriations for educational and other
purposes of culture suffer severely; the most pressing needs in this
direction are neglected; and that side of the State, devoted to
so-called external defence, acquires a preponderance that undermines the
original purpose of the State itself. The increasing armies absorb the
healthiest and most vigorous portion of the nation; for their
improvement all mental and physical forces are enlisted in a way as if
education in mass-murder were the highest mission of our times.
Furthermore, implements of war as of murder are continuously improved:
they have attained--in point of swiftness, range and power--a perfection
that renders them fearful to friend and foe. If some day this tremendous
apparatus is set in operation--when the hostile forces of Europe will
take the field with twelve or fourteen million men--the fact will appear
that it has become uncontrollable. There is no general who could command
such masses; there is no field vast enough to collect and set them up;
no administrative apparatus that could nourish them for any length of
time. If battles are delivered, hospitals would be lacking to shelter
the wounded: the interment of the