She now reaps in the advancement of her culture what she sowed on the battlefield, and proves once again the immeasurable importance, in its social and educational aspects, of military efficiency.

Our own country, by employing its military powers, has attained a degree of culture which it never could have reached by the methods of peaceful development.
When we regard the change in the nature of military efficiency, we find ourselves on ground where the social duty of maintaining the physical and moral power of the nation to defend itself comes into direct contact with the political duty of preparing for warfare itself.
A great variety of procedure is possible, and actually exists, in regard to the immediate preparations for war.

This is primarily expressed in the choice of the military system, but it is manifested in various other ways.

We see the individual States--according to their geographical position, their relations to other States and the military strength of their neighbours, according to their historic claims and their greater or less importance in the political system of the world--making their military preparations with more or less energy, earnestness, and expenditure.

When we consider the complex movements of the life of civilized nations, the variety of its aims and the multiplicity of its emotions, we must agree that the growth or decrease of armaments is everywhere affected by these considerations.