who rendered essential services, but from among those who had given specimens of similar talents in their respective professions. Those who from indolence or dissipation had been of little service to the community in time of peace, were found equally unserviceable in war. A few young men were exceptions to this rule. Some of those who had indulged in youthful follies broke off from their vicious courses and on the pressing call of their country became useful servants of the public; but the great bulk of those who were the active instruments of carrying on the revolution were self-made, industrious men. These who by their own exertions had established or laid a foundation for establishing personal independence, were most generally trusted and most successfully employed in establishing that of their country. In these times of action, classical education was found of less service than good natural parts, guided by common sense and sound judgment. "Several names could be mentioned of individuals who without the knowledge of any other language than their mother tongue, wrote not only accurately but elegantly, on public business. It seemed as if the war not only required but created talents." s 8 Ramsay, "History of the American Revolution," Vol. II, pp. 600-602, quoted by Callender in his "Economic History of the United States." СНАР. XIV СНАР. All Conflict Involves Antagonistic Effort IT CHAPTER XV ANTAGONISTIC EFFORT T has been shown that conflict is stimulating and that in some forms it is virtually equivalent to cooperation. Nevertheless, there is in conflict as distinguished from wholesome competition an element which is altogether bad and deplorable. This may be called Antagonistic Effort, i.e., equal efforts expended in opposite directions, so that A is neutralized by B and B is neutralized by A. It is illustrated in the "tug of war" which often exhausts the rival teams before a decision is reached; in the futile straining of locked wrestlers neither of whom can overcome the other until both are nearly spent; in the interchange of blows by which well-matched pugilists may pound each other into pulp; in the advertising campaigns of competitors which exactly offset each the other but leave them both nearer the poor house; in the alternate price-cutting of two rival producers which pushes them closer and closer to insolvency; in the lawsuits and appeals with which litigious men wear themselves out and in the retaliatory tariffs by which two nations beat each other's commerce to its knees. Equal Antagonistic Efforts Are Resultless Nothing Is Decided Side Puts Effort the Other Cannot Match CONFLICTS OF ATTRITION So long as the antagonistic efforts are in balance, nothing is accomplished. All exertions which are promptly met and neutralized by counter-exertions are wasted, for they decide nothing. It is only the margin of superiority that counts. Hence the pe 66 It is culiar ruinousness of opposition which assumes this form. exhibited in a railroad war when rates are slashed far below the cost of service and both competitors slide slowly toward bankruptcy. The railroad with the longer purse will win; but it may never recoup itself for its losses by higher rates, for the beaten road, though bankrupt, does not cease to be a competitor. It is seen in the costly electioneering campaigns of rival political candidates. The total outlay of time and money may be absurdly out of proportion to the salary of the office they are seeking. Neither would make the canvass could he have foreseen how he would become involved. Yet they plunge deeper and deeper into expense because each realizes that all he has already expended is quite thrown away unless he wins the race. Each is hoping to win by a spurt at the finish, so they go on and on, winded but afraid to quit. СНАР. The XV Blindness of the Pug nacious Him an in Nego tiation The greater the amount of effort which must be put forth before the telling margin appears, the more costly is the conflict and the greater is the incentive to seek a means of avoiding it. The Gives expenditure of strength and resources in antagonistic efforts may Advantage leave both contestants ruined, the victor being no better off than the vanquished. The more clearly they foresee this possibility, the more they will rather compromise than pay the price of fighting to the bitter end. But if one opponent realizes what a struggle is likely to let him in for he will be at a disadvantage in negotiating with one who is blind to the cost of conflict. The former will have to make most of the concessions if the disastrous conflict is to be avoided. In dealing with the clear-sighted, the blindness of the pugnacious may be a trump card. MOST CONFLICTS COST MORE THAN WAS EXPECTED Rarely the Drain Confict Lead to Will As we review the pitiful squandering of human life, strength Opponents and resources not only in the wars of nations but also in the Foresee struggles between labor and capital, in commercial" wars," in political contests, in lawsuits and in private quarrels, it becomes apparent that the impulses of anger, jealousy and greed should not bear all the blame. Even the cool and calculating enter into a disastrous conflict thinking it will be decided by a sudden thrust or a clever stroke and failing to foresee the long drain on energy which they must endure before a victory can be won. Convinced of superiority, one fails to compute the sacrifices which may lie between superiority and triumph. It is the besetting fallacy of militarists to picture war to their people as a sharp, brief struggle between prepared forces terminating in the victory of the force which is braver, more intelligent or better led. They refuse to recognize how normal it is that war should become an expenditure of antagonistic efforts which wears down the belligerents till both are prostrate. CHAP. Conflict Will Be Exhausting in the De gree that All Kinds of Power Are Convertible into Fighting Power Each Opponent Dreams a Quick Decision by a out ' Blow THE CONVERTIBILITY OF RESOURCES In general, the more nearly matched are two combatants, the more prolonged and exhausting their conflict is likely to be. Again, the struggle will be prolonged in proportion as their strength is convertible into the particular kind of effort essential to a decision. If citizens can readily be trained into soldiers the conflict does not end when one belligerent has used up his original army but continues until one belligerent approaches the end of his man power or, at least, of his morale. In case the ban on the use of women on the battlefield is broken down, the final outcome of the conflict will be the same but it will be delayed and the prostration of the belligerents will be more complete when it arrives. If the factories are capable of being speedily converted into munition plants, the war is not decided by original stocks of munitions but becomes a matter of comparative coal, iron, copper, food production, woman power, child power, etc., and may go on until the complete economic collapse of one belligerent. FORCING A QUICK DECISION Lest conflict lapse into a process of competitive annihilation opponents strive to force a quick decision. The "winded" puof Forcing gilist studies how he may deliver a "knock-out" blow. By a secretly planned advertising campaign the business man seeks to bankrupt his competitor before he has time to prepare a counterstroke. The railway company tries to administer a coup de grace to a parallel line by cutting fares 80 per cent. at a stroke. Regardless of expense, the litigant puts his cause into the hands of the leader of the bar. The aggressor state plans by surprise attack, by speedier mobilization, by having ready the larger number of trained soldiers or aviators, by accumulating in advance the greater stock of guns, aircraft, or submarines, or by springing some new and, at first, irresistible weapon- forty-two centimeter howitzers, or Zeppelins, or poison gas, or tanks to win the war before its enemy converts his potential strength into actual strength. Since the conversion of resources into telling effort calls for time, a protracted conflict becomes inevitably one of "attrition" and tends toward the utter prostration or impoverishment of both parties. As a rule, it is only the short decisive conflict that does not cost the victor more than victory is worth. to Obtain a Speedy Leads to Victory tive Prepared ness Which Is a Vari ant Form of Antago fort When resources can be converted only slowly into weapons and Eagerness the combatant wins who gets a broad "running start" over the other, fear begets competitive preparedness, which is only another form of antagonistic effort. It is, to be sure, less violent than Competi actual conflict but it may be nearly as exhausting. In the Caucasus the safety tower of each farmstead evidently absorbed more labor than the habitation itself. In Afghanistan the time wasted in standing guard in the sentry tower that overlooks each field nistic Ef exceeds the time spent in tilling the field. In Albania the male, being occupied in protecting his family, is parasitic on the female who alone produces anything. Just as in war each people is duped into believing that this levy of troops, this big gun armament, this "victory" loan will win a decision, forgetting that until the breaking strain arrives its every prodigious exertion is counterbalanced by a corresponding supreme exertion by the enemy, so in peace time they are victimized by the "preparedness" fallacy. They do not notice that their every sacrifice in the way of more ironclads, more guns, or more soldiers becomes the basis of an appeal by the preparedness party in each rival state to insure its safety by more ironclads, more guns, and more soldiers. And such sacrifices made by other peoples "for security" become in turn the basis of appeals at home for even greater sacrifices "for security." So the munition makers' game goes merrily on until armament-capping becomes well-nigh as ruinous as war itself. When a people realizes that the major part of what it produces goes into the bottomless pit of competitive preparation and finds such "security" is economically nearly as exhausting as war, it is tempted to attack its rival, in the hope of destroying it and thereby ending an intolerable situation. THE AVOIDANCE OF ANTAGONISTIC EFFORT Antagonis tic Ef fort Has No Re Antagonistic effort is, then, the utterly evil element in conflict. It is a pit into which heedless man is precipitated by his aggressive and self-assertive instincts. It is the lurking devil which all deeming glorifiers of war and struggle overlook. It is the Adversary baf- Feature fling, betraying and tormenting a too-pugnacious and too-sanguine race. It devastates society as its counterpart, hatred, devastates the soul. Small wonder, then, that the supreme concern of all |