oroughly to grasp the significance of the dialectic and
to apply it in a satisfactory and effective fashion. Still, there is
no question that this understanding of the socialist movement, as a
movement, is absolutely required of all who can be considered as
taking an intelligent and useful attitude with regard to social and
political questions.

The possession of this key gave the two founders of the modern
socialist movement such a comprehension of the tendencies of modern
civilization as enabled them to make those economic and political
predictions which have been so completely fulfilled.

There is little need to call attention to the fact that much of
Engels' argument is now antiquated in face of the growth of science
and the almost incredible development of mechanical invention and the
material progress consequent upon it. It could not have been
otherwise. The wonders of Engels' day are the commonplaces of our
existence. The machines, which he considered so wonderful and so
change-compelling have already been "scrapped" for new machines of
greater power and capacity for production. The remark that the
battleship had in his time arrived at a point where it was as
expensive as it was unfit for fighting sounds almost ridiculous in
face of the tremendous development of the engines of naval warfare
since he wrote, and the invention and use of the submarine. Still it
must be remembered that there has been no really great test of ships
of war since Engels' day and that the expense of modern navies is
worrying the governments to distraction. Only a few weeks ago Lord
Charles Beresford refused to accept the command of the Channel
Squadron unless provided with an equipment the expense of which seemed
almost intolerable to Great Britain, wealthy as that country is and
dependent as she is on the maintenance of the sea power. Great armies
are still on the increase and the expense of their support combined
with the unsatisfactoriness of their performances is by no means
reassuring to those who have the responsibility for national military
organization. The Boer War proved the unreliability of the armed
forces of one power, at all events, and the performances of great
masses of trained men in the Russo-Japanese conflict have not inspired
any very great respect for the effectiveness of these colossal and
expensive fighting machines. Together with the breakdown of armies and
navies, as a material fact, there has grown up a strong