Reverse Selection of Militarism 141 



This is the process that is called "improving the 

 race," "keeping the moral fibre of the nation from 

 rotting" and "preserving the virile qualities" of 

 the nation. 



Darwin has called attention to the manner 

 in which this reverse selection is produced by 

 militarism even in times of peace: 



In every country in which a large standing army 

 is kept up, the finest young men are taken by con- 

 scription or are enlisted. They are thus exposed to 

 early death during war, are often tempted into vice, 

 and are prevented from marrying during the prime 

 of life. On the other hand, the shorter and feebler 

 men, with poor constitutions, are left at home, and 

 consequently have a much better chance of marrying 

 and propagating their kind.^ 



On account of the curious social myopia which 

 characterizes the philosophy of force, and prevents 

 its advocates from seeing anything except the 

 cataclysmic biological facts, the militarists fail to 

 note that the real process of selection does not 

 take place by a process of selective homicide 

 between men, but by economic processes. In so 

 far as they have equal opportunity* those individ- 



' Darwin, The Descent of Man, chap, v., p. 151. 



' Darwin has noted the evil eflfects of the inheritance of wealth 

 upon the process of selection, and says that " primogeniture with 

 entailed estates is a more direct evil," since "most eldest sons, 

 though they may be weak in body or mind, marry, while the 

 younger sons, however superior in these respects, do not generally 

 marry." — The Descent of Man, p. 151. 



