The truth is that self-sacrifice sums up all that is best in the military spirit. Now opportunities for self-sacrifice abound in every career: in many occupations-seafaring, mining, engineering, railway work-the risk to life and limb is far greater, because more continuous, than the soldier has to face: no one need go far to seek the means of developing character, which ever depends more upon will than circumstance; in fact, the exclusive attribution by apologists for war1 to the military career of the means and occasion for acquiring and displaying " military" virtues is but a relic of ancient tradition, dating from the ages of violence, when every man wore weapons and had to be ready to use them. War, then, is in no sense necessary for the preservation of noble and strenuous qualities in the race. God has provided many other means for their development. Man's battle with the forces of nature, whether for purposes of science or commerce or sport, the periodical calamities in the physical order-earthquakes, fire, shipwreck, pestilence-with which God's providence chastens us, the toil by which sustenance must be commonly won, and daily trials of life in community form ample, occasion for their exercise, inclined to fix their minds exclusively on the undoubted advantages of the military profession in developing the robuster qualities of mind and body. Hence we have considered it well to emphasize here (somewhat unduly as some may think) the other side of the picture. But even were the profession of arms all that is claimed for it in this respect we should still have to ask whether its benefits were not bought at too high a price. It must be remembered, too, that we are referring primarily to those who make arms their profession and not to those who nobly spring to their country's aid in the hour of peril.

1 "There are certain manly and adventurous qualities which war alone can develop." Theodore Roosevelt.

and God's revelation in Christianity gives them their inner inspiration. Those who work amongst the poor bear witness to the frequent heroism of their daily lives. But in deprecating war as a school for virtue we suppose amongst men a practical Christianity. Because Christianity puts in the forefront of its ideal, love, humility, and patience, it does not follow that these virtues can be acquired without others. Rather they call for the practice of discipline, fortitude, selfsacrifice in a much higher degree than does the facing of external hardships and dangers. They are the crown of a strenuous and lengthy campaign. 'Better is he that mastereth his spirit than the stormer of cities." 1

58. Other Alleged Benefits of War. There are other benefits claimed for war which can be more shortly discussed. It is said to have promoted the material welfare of mankind by stimulating invention and scientific research. What a triumph of mechanical ingenuity is a modern battleship! Yet there are equally wonderful exhibitions of human genius in many more productive achievements, power-looms, printing presses, engineering works. The advantage gained by defensive armour of great strength has no doubt brought about improvement in the production of steel. Yet these and a few other similar benefits are dearly purchased by the waste of resources caused by war. The conquest of nature, the spirit of curiosity and enterprise, and mere commercial competition, as we see in the case of the United States, give ample incentive to the perfection of mechanical arts.

More tenable perhaps is the assertion that art 1 Prov. xvi, 32..

and literature owe much to war. Ruskin goes so far as to say that All the pure and noble arts of peace are founded on war, 1 although he does not satisfactorily make good that claim. It is an induction formed from his reading of historyhistory which never for long together has had to record the effects of peace; he thought that nothing but war could bring, as war seemed to have brought, the faculties of man to their fullness, and thus produce great art. But because artists of great merit have flourished in ages when warfare was rife, that coincidence in period is not sufficient evidence: one must first exclude the possibility of other causes at work. We may grant that war has stimulated art in various ways. Artists have found inspiration in battle-scenes, craftsmen have wonderfully ornamented martial weapons, the poignant contrasts of the battlefield and the lofty aspirations of patriotism have been the themes of many great poems; but it is quite arbitrary to say that because men of genius. have so utilized this particular aspect of human history, art and literature would not have reached such perfection had war never occurred. The powers of mind that seize upon and express the spiritual aspects of warfare-and these alone make great literature-could equally have transcended and idealized all other varieties of human experience. And even were it not so, can we say that battle-pictures and battle-poems are worth their cost?

59. War Benefits Industry. The militarist school further plead that war is good for industry, relying upon such facts as the enormous increase of Germany's commercial activity after 1 Crown of Wild Olive: On War.

1871, and the benefit the United States drew from the war with Spain. But these facts are probably due to a large combination of causes. The a priori argument, that a process which involves much unproductive expenditure and much destruction of existing goods cannot be for the industrial welfare of the country as a whole, is not easily to be overthrown. Particular industries may and do thrive, as the building trade thrives after an earthquake, or a provision dealer's at the beginning of a famine, but it stands to reason that the colossal waste of national resources caused by war—the withdrawal from production of hosts of the able-bodied, whom the country has to pay and support, the conversion of various substances into engines of destruction,1 the consumption of war material itself, the actual devastation suffered from hostile invasion, the widespread interruption to trade-represents a colossal loss of material resources which years of peaceful industry will be needed to replace. The National Debt reminds us that we are still paying for the Napoleonic wars, and who can say how far into the future the crippling effects of the present worldwide conflict will extend? A few trades in each country, and perhaps one or two small neutral countries, may profit somewhat in the long run, but the prosperity of the world in general is permanently diminished by the waste of war.

60. War Expenditure an Insurance. Still there are risks in every business which must be insured against, and which form a permanent tax upon profits; may not war preparations and occasional

1 The expenditure on the Assouan dam which has multiplied the resources of Egypt tenfold represents the cost of a Dreadnought, which, however useful, is not productive at all, although in present circumstances it preserves wealth.

war be regarded as the price each nation pays for its security? The analogy is not really correct, for the purpose of insurance is not to prevent, but to compensate for possible loss, whereas armaments are intended either to prevent war or to bring it quickly to an end when it has begun. But granting that war expenditure is a tax paid to ensure peace, it is notorious that it generally fails in this its proper object. The utmost competitive armaments can do is to postpone through a period of tension and alarm the struggle which they have rendered finally inevitable. Once again, that no nation dare to put a stop to this competition, so foolish when considered as a whole, so prudent in the case of each, is due to the fact that Christian principles have not yet ousted the Darwinian in international relations. The war expenditure of the world in peace time (between £400,000,000 and £500,000,000) is part of the price it pays for its rejection of practical Christianity. Once public opinion ceases to be enslaved by the old militarist tradition, it may perhaps realize that happiness, peace and prosperity, wherever they exist, are not to be found in armed, but in friendly rivalry. Competitive arming is provocative of war. Armaments are made to be used and ultimately are used. To be powerful enough to protect one's possessions is the duty of every State: to aim at being so powerful that one's power is a menace to every other State is to sin against the common interest. But the misery is that, as things are, any one single State by openly aiming at domination can force all the rest to keep pace with it in self-defence. Excessive power is rightly taken as the expression of unlawful ambition. It is clear that the one