154 The Special Sociological Errors 



of the British people? It is clear that if they had 

 been well-nourished, they would have been strong 

 and vigorous, able to resist disease, instead of an 

 easy prey to epidemics. It is misery which 

 degrades the human race and enfeebles it. It is 

 precisely this "fear of being defeated" which is the 

 cause of misery and of the degeneration of the race. 



Russia is another example of the effects of the 

 "fear of being defeated." The fear of the arma- 

 ments of Germany and Austria has compelled the 

 Russians to maintain an immense standing army. 

 This has required an immense revenue, and to 

 produce the revenue, the traffic in vodka was 

 extended until it tmdermined the physical and 

 mental productiveness of the race by more than 

 thirty per cent., according to the estimates 

 of the Russian government officials. Education, 

 social reform, even in a country in which eighty- 

 five per cent, of the people cannot read or write, 

 had to be neglected because of the "fear of being 

 defeated," which Renan praises so highly, but 

 which is in reality the cause of the abasement of 

 the human species. 



Many other illustrations could be given, but 

 they may all be summed up in a number. It is 

 well known that the Great Powers can devote 

 only one-third of their national revenue to the 

 productive works of progress and civilization. 

 The other two-thirds are swallowed up in the 

 extraordinary expenditures caused by this "fear 

 of being defeated." Education must be neglected, 



