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the federal system will be itself slowly liquidated. But this has notoccurred yet. However, even were it otherwise, the spending governmentmust sooner or later encounter stubborn resistance to spendingof borrowed money because of the burden which this policy imposeson taxpayers. I am not concerned with the merits of the taxpayer'slament; merely with the fact that it inevitably develops and withthe further fact that in the end the taxpayer is a very powerfulperson. The rise in public debt creates a growing interest chargewhich must be met by taxes. When this war ends, that interestcharge alone will be greater by nearly 200 per cent than the wholecost of government before 1929.These two stubborn forces—the lack of federal projects for spending,with the resistance of the states to spending on local projectsthat will complicate their already perilous fiscal position, and theresistance of the conservative groups to rising expenditure and debt—will always force a government like ours to find a project forspending which meets these two conditions: It must be a strictlyfederal project and it must be one upon which the conservative andtaxpaying elements will be willing to see money spent. The one greatfederal project which meets these requirements is the army and navyfor national defense. And this, of course, is quite inadequate unlessit is carried on upon a scale which gives it all the characteristics ofmilitarism. I do not propose to examine the psychological basis forthis devotion of the conservative elements to military might. Theinquiry is interesting, but here we are concerned with the fact and itis a fact. It is a fact that military outlays, at least within limits,generally can be counted on to command the support of those elementswhich are generally most vigorous in the opposition to publicspending. At the same time those elements among the workers whoare generally opposed to militarism are weakened in this resistanceby the beneficial effect which war preparation has upon employment.Thus militarism is the one great glamorous public-works projectupon which a variety of elements in the community can be broughtinto agreement.This economic phase of the institution, however, is not alwaysstressed, being smothered under the patriotic gases pumped out inits defense. Nevertheless, this economic aspect is never absent from207