Chapter I: Front Matter

(Illustrating the Wage-Earner’s “Freedom of Contract.”)

WAR—WHAT FOR?

BY

GEORGE R. KIRKPATRICK

“The cannon’s prey has begun to think, and, thinking twice, loses its admiration for being made a target.”—_Victor Hugo._

“A nod from a lord is a breakfast—for a fool.”—_Proverb._

“The poor souls for whom this hungry war opens its vast jaws.”—_William Shakespeare._

First Edition, August, 1910.
Second Edition, October, 1910.
Third Edition, December, 1910.
Fourth Edition, April, 1911.
Fifth Edition, Thirtieth Thousand, May, 1911.

PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR,

WEST LA FAYETTE, OHIO

COPYRIGHTED, 1910,
BY
GEORGE R. KIRKPATRICK.

All rights reserved,
including that of translation into foreign languages

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT ON PAGE 350.

WAR—WHAT FOR?

SINGLE COPY, $1.20

Liberal discounts in clubs of 3, 10 and 25 or more.

By the same author:

THINK—OR SURRENDER

About 100 pages of elementary economics, politics and organization—for the propaganda of Socialism. (Nearly ready.)

This book is dedicated to the victims of the civil war in industry; that is, to my brothers and sisters of the working class, the class who furnish the blood and tears and cripples and corpses in all wars—yet win no victories for their own class.

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CONTENTS.

PAGE

Preface 5

Ready 9

An Insult from the Commander-in-Chief 10

Chapter One: A Confidential Word with the Man of the
Working Class 11

Chapter Two: What Is War? 21

Chapter Three: The Situation—Also the Explanation 29

Chapter Four: The Cost of War—(1) In Blood, (2) In Cash 47

Chapter Five: Hell 77

Chapter Six: Tricked to the Trenches—Then Snubbed 107

Chapter Seven: For Father and the Boys 159

Chapter Eight: For Mother and the Boys—and Girls 207

Chapter Nine: The Cross, the Cannon, and the Cash
Register 244

Chapter Ten: Now What Shall We Do About It? 273

Chapter Eleven: A Short Lesson in the History of the
Working Class 317

Chapter Twelve: Suggestions—and What to Read 338

Illustrations:

Industrial Despotism, Craftily Called Freedom Frontispiece

Leading Citizens—“We Want Wars” 31

Leading Citizens—“We Declare Wars” 33

Citizens Who Are Led—“We Fight the Wars” 35

Hired Hands Facing p. 46

Worn-Out Boxing Gloves of the Ruling Class 51

The History of Ignorance and Meekness 53

The War Is the Class War 169

The Beneficiaries of Hell, Flirting with Heaven Facing p. 206

The Noble Rôle of Cossacks and Militiamen Facing p. 207

Preparing Boy-Scout Hired Hands Facing p. 220

Four Victims of Cheap Patriotism 241

In My Name! After Nineteen Hundred Years! 245