230 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



Not long since another penetrating analysis of the German 

 ideals was published by a Swiss, Professor Millioud of Lausanne.^ 

 He is of opinion that the dominant caste which has impressed the 

 mind of the people and has moulded the character of modern Germany 

 is composed not only of the aristocratic Junker but also of the pluto- 

 cratic industrialist; indeed, that militarism has been put at the service 

 of capitalistic ambition and together they have created the German 

 imperialism which aims at the conquest of the world. The war 

 spirit invaded and controlled the commercial domain and neglected 

 no means to accomplish its purpose — the banking system, co-ordina- 

 tion of wealth, concentration of capital, bounties, dumping. "Unlike 

 other countries Germany was organised with a view to dominate, 

 to seize raw material, to produce and to sell — all the industrial, 

 commercial and financial organisation so interwoven is calculated 

 for the conquest of the foreign market." Naumann takes virtually 

 the same view. "A careful investigation into the causes of the great 

 war will reveal, when English and German antagonism is examined, 

 the fundamental difference between the two distinct basal forms of 

 capitalistic humanity — the German being disciplined, normal . . . 

 impersonal capitalism." These writers also agree that under this 

 influence a ruthless warlike spirit has taken hold upon the people 

 at large and they have organised industry with an imperial purpose. 

 The doctrine of "Statism" is regnant, the "Kulturstaat" being the 

 product of the view that "a state not built up around a skeleton of 

 militarism does not exist." It is a fact of the first importance that all 

 sections of the people, even the socialists, have accepted this idea. 

 The State demands the obedience of each individual and whatever 

 it enjoins becomes his duty. Public morality is little more than the 

 obligations of the individual to the State which regulates his conduct 

 and assures the progress of civilisation. "The German people live, 

 breathe and move in a 'Statism' not only political and social but 

 pedagogic, moral, religious. It has become their second nature." 



Militarism is thus both a method and a spirit, an organisation 

 and a view of life. It is really an aggressive temper directing a highly 

 compacted organism, the creation of a strong people who, as Biilow 

 says, learn from childhood "the main outlines of their country's 

 history as a history of war, the history of the gains achieved by vic- 

 torious campaigns and of the stern and bitter consequences of lost 

 battles. Therein lies the difference between the history of Prussia 

 and that of all modern States." But this is the real source of its danger 

 to the world. Behind it is hidden the conviction that the modern 



^La Caste dominante allemande. Sa formation, son rôle. Par Maurice Millioud, 

 Lausanne, 1915. 



