THE SPIRIT OF MILITARISM. 235 



were sufficient to develop a similar one at home for the sake of 

 defense. A structure for defense, however, is also available for 

 the purpose of offense, and reasons for extending the empire never 

 being scarce, England entered upon an era of aggressive warfare 

 in various parts of the world. This, what Mr. Spencer calls a 

 revival of the predatory spirit, was naturally accompanied by a 

 return toward the militant type in the institutions generally 

 that is to say, " the extension of centralized administration and of 

 compulsory regulation." 



If Mr. Spencer were now to rewrite the Principles of Sociol- 

 ogy, there can be no doubt that he would find in the United States 

 an illustration scarcely less striking. Most of what he tells us of 

 the changes in England is a matter of history here. That the 

 immediate result of the late war of rebellion was a tendency of 

 the military officialism to take the place of civil officialism no one 

 will deny ; and though it may, perhaps, not be said that we have 

 military heads of all the various departments, still, the disposi- 

 tion to fill all administrative offices with military chieftains, so 

 strong immediately after the war, was in the same line the 

 result being " a style of administration which asserts authority 

 more and regards individual claims less." At the same time, the 

 revival of the predatory spirit in regard to external affairs has 

 been clearly discernible here too ; for although the sin of aggres- 

 sive warfare on weaker or barbarous nations can not be laid at 

 the door of our Government, the constant cry for coast defenses 

 and for the strengthening and increasing of army and navy are 

 clear indications of the same spirit. But what chiefly must strike 

 us as familiar facts are these : The spirit of sanitary dictation and 

 the usurpation of exclusive privileges by certain professions 

 (prominent among them the medical) ; poor-law, and we may 

 add tramp-law, administration in various parts of the Union; 

 the demand for municipal distribution of water, gas, and coal, as 

 well as for governmental ownership of railroads and telegraphs; 

 the ever-increasing influence of "a coercive philanthropy" in- 

 voking state power to improve people's conduct, etc. ; in short, the 

 strong impetus imparted to the socialistic tendency of modern 

 times is nothing but that same military spirit clamoring for the 

 right of the state, or the commonwealth if you please, to regulate 

 the private affairs of the citizen in every department of life. 



That this tendency is a real one, with roots deep down in the 

 economic conditions of the masses, it would be useless to deny. 

 Whether it as such is a healthful one, to be hailed with delight 

 and encouraged, is another question a question that does not 

 come within the scope of this article ; but as far as it is animated 

 with the spirit of militarism it may well cause us alarm and mis- 

 givings. What shall we say, for example, of the movement, now 



