y, dominated the rest of the
empire through the organization of its government. The following
paragraphs present what seem to be the chief reasons why Germany, and
especially Prussia, wanted war.

WAR AS A PROFITABLE BUSINESS.--According to those German writers there
are two results from a successful war. First, the victors take more or
less territory from the vanquished; second, the victors may demand a
large sum of money, called an indemnity, from the defeated people, who
thus have to pay their conquerors for having taken the trouble to defeat
them.

In both of these instances the result is advantageous to the winner of
the war, and particularly to the governing class of that nation. Through
the taxes from the new territory more money flows into the national
treasury, and a great many new officials must be appointed. These, of
course, for many years are appointed by the rulers of the victorious
nation. Besides this not only do we find new markets opened up for the
manufacturers and merchants, but the conquered territory frequently
contains great stores of raw materials. In both cases the goods can now
pass to and fro without the drawbacks of possible embargoes or import
taxes which interfere with the freedom of trade. This is well
illustrated by the results of the seizure of part of Lorraine by Germany
from France in 1870. Lorraine contains great stores of coal and iron
ore. These Germany wanted. So that part of Lorraine was demanded which
would give to Germany rich mines of coal and iron. Some other ore
deposits, which could not be easily utilized, she left to France. Not
long afterwards a new process for making iron was discovered which made
the French deposits more valuable than those Germany had taken.
Undoubtedly one of the reasons for the present war was that Germany
wished to increase her national wealth by seizing the iron mines that
had become so valuable.

Many times before 1870 the Prussians had made large gains, in the way of
increased territory and prestige, by means of war. It was the boast of
many Prussian kings that each one of them had added to the lands over
which he ruled. In almost every instance this increase was due to a
successful war, enabling the king of Prussia to seize territory which
did not belong to him.

The indemnity which may be collected from a conquered nation is also a
source of profit to the conqueror. The money is deposited by the
government in banks, which thus have large su