THE WONDERFUL CENTURY. 29 



properly used, should bring peace aud plenty to all, but which when 

 seized upon by the spirit of militarism directly lead to enmity 

 among nations and to the misery of the people. 



The first steps in this military development were the adoption 

 of a new rifle by the Prussian army in 1840, the application of 

 steam to ships of war in 1840, and the use of armor for battle ships 

 in 1859. The remainder of the century has witnessed a mad race 

 between the nations to increase the death-dealing power of their 

 weapons and to add to the number and efficiency of their armies, 

 while all the resources of modern science have been utilized in 

 order to add to the destructive poAver of cannon and both the de- 

 fensive and the offensive power of ships. The inability of indus- 

 trious laboring men to gain any due share of the benefits of our 

 progress in scientific knowledge is due, beyond everything else, to 

 the expense of withdrawing great armies of men in the prime of 

 life from productive labor, joined to the burden of feeding and 

 clothing them and of keeping weapons and ammunition, ships, and 

 fortifications in a state of readiness, of continually renewing stores 

 of all kinds, of pensions, and of all the laboring men who must, be- 

 sides making good the destruction caused by war, be withdrawn 

 from productive labor and be supported by others that they may 

 support the army. 



And what a horrible mockery is this wdien view^ed in the light 

 of either Christianity or advancing civilization! All the nations 

 armed to the teeth and watching stealthily for some occasion to 

 use their vast armaments for their own aggrandizement and for 

 the injury, of their neighbors are Christian nations, but their Chris- 

 tian governments do not exist for the good of the governed, still 

 less for the good of humanity or civilization, but for the aggran- 

 dizement and greed and lust of the ruling classes. 



The devastation caused by the tyrants and conquerors of the 

 middle ages and of antiquity has been reproduced in our times by 

 the rush to obtain wealth. Even the lust of conquest, in order 

 to obtain slaves and tribute and great estates, by means of which 

 the ruling classes could live in boundless luxury, so characteristic 

 of the earlier civilization, is reproduced in our time. 



Witness the recent conduct of the nations of Europe toward 

 Crete and Greece, upholding the most terrible despotism in the 

 world because each hopes for a favorable opportunity to obtain 

 some advantage, leading ultimately to the largest share of the spoil. 



Witness the struggles in Africa and Asia, where millions of 

 foreign people may be enslaved and bled for the benefit of their 

 new rulers. 



The whole w^orld, says Wallace, is but a gambling table. Just 



