The State is the rule of the bad, raised to the highest pitch. We shall always find "that the scheming of the possessors of authority--nay, their unconscious effort--is directed toward weakening the victims of their authority as much as possible; for, the weaker the victim is, the more easily can he be held down."[1004] "To-day there is only one sphere of human activity left that has not been conquered by the authority of government: the sphere of the family, of housekeeping, private life, labor. And even this sphere, thanks to the fighting of the Communists and Socialists, the governments are already beginning to invade, so that soon, if the reformers have their way, work and rest, housing, clothing, and food, will likewise be fixed and regulated by the governments."[1005] "The most fearful band of robbers is not so horrible as a State organization. Every robber chief is at any rate limited by the fact that the men who make up his band retain at least a part of human liberty, and can refuse to commit acts which are repugnant to their consciences."[1006] But in the State there is no such limit; "no crime is so horrible that it will not be committed by the officials and the army at the will of him--Boulanger, Pugatcheff, Napoleon--who accidentally stands at the head."[1007] 2. The rule in the State is based on physical force. Every government has for its prop the fact that there are in the State armed men who are ready to execute the government's will by physical force, a class "educated to kill those whose killing the authorities command."[1008] Such men are the police[1009] and especially the army.[1010] The army is nothing else than a collectivity of "disciplined murderers",[1011] its training is "instruction in murdering",[1012] its victories are "deeds of murder."[1013] "The army has always formed the basis of power, and does to this day. The power is always in the hands of those who command the army, and, from the Roman Caesars to the Russian and German emperors, all possessors of power have always cared first and foremost for their armies."[1014] In the first place, the army upholds the government's rule against external assaults. It protects it against having the rule taken from it by another government.[1015] War is nothing but a contest of two or more governments for the rule over their subjects. It is "impossible to establish international peace in a rational way, by treaty or arbitration, so long as the insensate and pernicious subjection of nations to governments continues to exist."[1016] In consequence of this importance of armies "every State is compelled to increase its army to face the others, and this increase has the effect of a contagion, as Montesquieu observed a hundred and fifty years since."[1017]