THE PSYCHOLOGY OF WAR 157 



the paralysis of a great and intricate system of world commerce and 

 industrial international relations, the colossal destruction of wealth, 

 the irreparable damage to progress and civilization, the impoverished 

 physical heredity of a whole people, the affront to moral ideals slowly 

 and painfully achieved, the untold burden of pain and woe and human 

 suffering in desolated homes far from the field of battle, all combine to 

 make war repulsive and repugnant to modern sense. It no longer cul- 

 tivates manly virtues but for the most part only machination and 

 mechanical ingenuity. 



It is probable that all the benefits which a warring nation hopes to 

 gain by victory are in modern times illusory, or at least they are so far 

 illusory that they are almost if not wholly confined to the circum- 

 stances of some hypothetical future war. For instance, a great nation 

 demands the control of some celebrated strait or narrows, so that it may 

 have an outlet for its vast exports — an open way to the sea, although 

 in time of peace that nation already has the enjoyment of the freest use 

 of that strait. In other words, were it not for some hypothetical future 

 war, that nation has already the open way to the sea which it demands. 

 Another great nation desires a place in the sun, the freedom of the seas, 

 or a fair share of colonies in distant lands, the colonies being desired for 

 purposes of trade and colonization of its emigrants. But in time of 

 peace this same nation extends its trade by leaps and bounds to every 

 corner of the earth freely and has the utmost freedom of the seas, and 

 sends its emigrants in great numbers to prosperous North and South 

 America. It is only in time of war that the opportunities for trade of 

 that country are limited or that it would profit by having its emigrants 

 under political control. Colonies again in distant parts of the earth 

 may be desired for coaling stations but it is only in time of war that 

 the ships of a nation can not coal freely anywhere. 



Still another country desires to retain or regain disputed territory, 

 although in time of peace probably no citizen or group of citizens in its 

 own or in the coveted territory would have its opportunities in any 

 way enlarged or its condition benefited by mere political transference. 

 The acquisition of territory is, again, a common excuse for war, but 

 it has never been shown that, under our modern conditions, the citizens 

 of larger states are any happier or wiser or wealthier than the citizens 

 of smaller states. Thus we have the vicious circle; war exists because 

 of war. 



War being thus outgrown and wholly irrational and having no longer 

 any possible purpose except to perpetuate itself, and being opposed to 

 the spirit of the age and discouraged by the powerful peace movements 

 of the day and directly adverse to the all-controlling and all-absorbing 

 industrial and commercial interests of the world, it would seem that 

 it must soon disappear from the face of the earth. But strangely 



