also, but in smaller numbers, in countries having a militia. Both the groups who have a specific interest in war, in the making of war, viz., the officers who love adventure and the army contractors whose interest is quite independent of the success of the war, are composed of people of consequence. They are related to the highest functionaries of the state, they have great influence with the men with whom rests the formal decision about war and peace. They let no opportunity go by without trying to convert that influence (which in most cases they have acquired only through the exploitation of militarism) into gleaming gold, sacrificing hecatombs of proletarians on the altar of their profit. In the role of colonial enthusiasts they push the "beloved fatherland" into dangerous, costly adventures which prove exceedingly profitable for themselves, only to save that same fatherland afterwards at other people's expense in the role of naval enthusiasts in a manner which brings to them again exceedingly great profits.
The fight against the standing armies and the
