Page:Karl Liebknecht - Militarism (1917).djvu/205

 Rh the argument that the increase of military burdens, that Archimedean screw, can produce in a country a disposition not to let a favorable moment of military superiority pass unused, or to bring about a military decision which is thought to be necessary in any case, before any further unfavorable movement in the relative military strength has taken place. Such a disposition, as is known, was not without influence in France during the latest Morocco conflict, but it is always more decisive for the moment at which the war breaks out than for the outbreak itself. But the standing army produces, as does indeed on a much smaller scale also the militia, a modern caste of warriors, a caste of persons who have been trained for war from infancy, as it were, a privileged caste of conquistadores that seeks adventure and promotion in war. To these must be added the groups that feather their particular nests during a war—the manufacturers of and traders in arms, munitions, warships, horses, material for equipment and clothing, provisions and means of transportation, in short, the army contractors, who exist of course