Page:"The next war"; an appeal to common sense (IA thenextwarappeal01irwi).pdf/157

of troops may be moved without confusion. They must learn to use weapons, from the trench-grenade and the rifle to the aeroplane and the tank. Most of this training, from the point of view of ordinary, peace-time industry, is wasted. One of the chief economic losses in military training is the time and energy it takes from the most teachable years of best young men. It will be “war by machinery” in future; and those told off for the higher functions of war—such as tanks, aeroplanes and gas—will get, it is true, a certain training in mechanics and chemistry. But in just as much as these devices differ from the devices of peace, in just so much will the training be wasted, socially and economically.