ABSTRACT

War is a large scale demonstration of the nature of government as mechanism and its relation to the flow of energy. The main reason why government is identified with power is that the authorization and conduct of war is reserved to the political agency; but if this impression is examined as a proposition in physics, it will be found to be the reverse of the truth. Government is repressive structure and expropriative mechanism, by which in peacetime the energy of the citizens is backed up from the fighting channel, to be released, not originated or created, when war is begun. The head of power lies back of the dam. It is not in the army but in the nation, for it consists of surplus production, in both personnel and materials. An army in being is withdrawn from production, and can function only on a continuous supply from the civil life of the nation. It is an end-appliance. Hence nations and empires of long duration are always those of a civilian character, and always seem to be unready for war.