Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: PART II.—THE POLITICS OF WAR. CHAPTER I. THE DANGER TO REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT —IRRESPONSIBILITY OF PRIVATE CONTROL —A WAY OUT. IT is a ceaseless wonder to the man who thinks of the great movements of the time that while statesmen are deploring the increase of armaments and professing their desire for peace, the preparations for a possible war go on at a rate unprecedented in the world's history, and that, while the fashion of building navies has spread to the smallest states claiming the dignity of a nation, the hugest efforts are being made by the nations highest in the scale of civilization, who are diverting from the pursuits of peace the best brains, the highest mechanical skill, and the ablest organizing talent within their borders, at the cost of an ever- increasing ratio of taxation. "Modern European politics might be described as the science of misunderstanding: every statesman disclaims emphatically, and probably quite sincerely, any intention whatsoever of aggressive action upon his neighbors—and every statesman in Europe has for twenty years been feverishly preparing to resist the attacks of his neighbors, who as emphatically have disclaimed any intention of making any such attack. This matter of misinterpretation is due to the absence of anything resembling a science of international polity based upon the facts of the modern world." Leaving aside the moral causes, we will find an important political cause in a defect in the British scheme of government, and until that fault is remedied there is not likely to be any halt in the process of naval expansion short of a war or internal revolt against excessive taxation. We have seen that, by the operation of economic laws, the construction of armaments has grown into a series of special industries depending on... --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.