Pacifism has ringed the nose of the American people and is leading them, blind and unknowing, to the slaughter. War is inevitable. It matters not that, if this country could be roused, it might be saved. When it is impossible to vitalize the impulse necessary to the accomplishment of a thing, that thing is impossible. So, I say, war is inevitable and imminent. The American people could not now be roused sufficiently to avert the impending calamity even by a call that would rift the sky and shake down the stars from heaven! Fate has decreed that our pride shall be humbled, and that we shall be bowed to the dirt. We must first put on sackcloth, ashed in the embers of our burning homes. Perhaps, when we build anew on the fire-blackened desolation, our mood may be receptive of the knowledge that we must shield our homes with blood and brawn and iron. HUDSON MAXIM. Maxim Park, Landing P.O., New Jersey. March, 1915. CONTENTS PREFACE v OUR GREAT OBSESSION xiii I DANGEROUS PREACHMENTS 1 II CAN LAW BE SUBSTITUTED FOR WAR? 22 III OUR INCONSISTENT MONROE DOCTRINE 56 IV MODERN METHODS AND MACHINERY OF WAR 68 V THE NEEDS OF OUR ARMY (With Letter from General Leonard Wood) 113 VI THE NEEDS OF OUR NAVY 141 VII LANGUAGE OF THE BIG GUNS 181 VIII AËRIAL WARFARE 203 IX OUR ARMAMENTS NOT A BURDEN 222 X EGO-FANATIC GOOD INTENTIONS AND THEIR RELATION TO NATIONAL DEFENSE 235 XI A DANGEROUS CRIMINAL CLASS? 247 XII THE GOOD AND EVIL OF PEACE AND OF WAR 265 WHAT SHALL THE END BE? 306 INDEX 309 ILLUSTRATIONS