{"id":36904,"date":"2026-03-22T03:35:27","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T19:35:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dingo.news\/voice\/?p=36904"},"modified":"2026-04-07T19:21:47","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T11:21:47","slug":"war-is-a-racket-major-general-smedley-butler-usmc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dingo.news\/voice\/war-is-a-racket-major-general-smedley-butler-usmc\/","title":{"rendered":"War Is A Racket | Major General Smedley Butler USMC"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

Gangster for capitalism<\/span><\/h2>\n

\u201cI spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. <\/span><\/p>\n

In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. <\/span><\/p>\n

I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914.<\/span><\/p>\n

I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in.<\/span><\/p>\n

I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street.<\/span><\/p>\n

I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912.<\/span><\/p>\n

I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916<\/span><\/p>\n

I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903.<\/span><\/p>\n

In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested.<\/span><\/p>\n

Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2015 Smedley D. Butler, War Is a Racket <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/h2>\n


\nWAR is a racket. It always has been<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small “inside” group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.<\/span>In the World War a mere handful garnered the profits of the conflict. At least 21,000 new <\/span>millionaires and billionaires were made in the United States during the World War. That many <\/span>admitted their huge blood gains in their income tax returns. How many other war millionaires <\/span>falsified their tax returns no one knows.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

How many of these war millionaires shouldered a rifle? How many of them dug a trench? How many of them knew what it meant to go hungry in a rat-infested dug-out?<\/span> How many of them spent sleepless, frightened nights, ducking shells and shrapnel and machine gun bullets?<\/span> How many of them parried a bayonet thrust of an enemy? How many of them were wounded or killed in battle?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Out of war nations acquire additional territory, if they are victorious. They just take it. This newly <\/span>acquired territory promptly is exploited by the few — the selfsame few who wrung dollars out of <\/span>blood in the war. The general public shoulders the bill.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n


\nAnd what is this bill?
\n<\/span>
\nThis bill renders a horrible accounting. Newly placed gravestones. Mangled bodies. Shattered <\/span>minds. Broken hearts and homes. Economic instability. Depression and all its attendant miseries. <\/span>Back-breaking taxation for generations and generations.
\n<\/span>
\nFor a great many years, as a soldier, I had a suspicion that war was a racket; not until I retired to <\/span>civil life did I fully realize it. Now that I see the international war clouds gathering, as they are <\/span>today, I must face it and speak out.
\n<\/span>
\nAgain they are choosing sides. France and Russia met and agreed to stand side by side. Italy and <\/span>Austria hurried to make a similar agreement. Poland and Germany cast sheep’s eyes at each other, <\/span>forgetting for the nonce [one unique occasion], their dispute over the Polish Corridor.
\n<\/span>
\nThe assassination of King Alexander of Jugoslavia [Yugoslavia] complicated matters. Jugoslavia <\/span>and Hungary, long bitter enemies, were almost at each other’s throats. Italy was ready to jump in. <\/span>But France was waiting. So was Czechoslovakia. All of them are looking ahead to war. Not the <\/span>people — not those who fight and pay and die — only those who foment wars and remain safely at <\/span>home to profit.
\n<\/span>
\nThere are 40,000,000 men under arms in the world today, and our statesmen and diplomats have the <\/span>temerity to say that war is not in the making.
\n<\/span>
\nHell’s bells! Are these 40,000,000 men being trained to be dancers?
\n<\/span>
\nNot in Italy, to be sure. Premier Mussolini knows what they are being trained for. He, at least, is <\/span>frank enough to speak out. Only the other day, Il Duce in “International Conciliation<\/a><\/span>,” the <\/span>publication of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said: <\/span>“And above all, Fascism, the more it considers and observes the future and the development of <\/span>humanity quite apart from political considerations of the moment, believes neither in the <\/span>possibility nor the utility of perpetual peace. . . . War alone brings up to its highest tension all <\/span>human energy and puts the stamp of nobility upon the people who have the courage to meet it.”<\/span><\/span> <\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
\n

“Pacifism is the harmful doctrine of cowards, and permanent peace is neither possible nor desirable”, <\/span><\/strong><\/em>declares Premier Benito Mussolini of Italy in an exposition of fascism written for International Conciliation, monthly organ of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Undoubtedly Mussolini means exactly what he says. His well-trained army, his great fleet of <\/span>planes, and even his navy are ready for war — anxious for it, apparently. His recent stand at the side <\/span>of Hungary in the latter’s dispute with Jugoslavia showed that. And the hurried mobilization of his <\/span>troops on the Austrian border after the assassination of Dollfuss<\/a><\/span> showed it too. There are others in <\/span>Europe too whose sabre rattling presages war, sooner or later.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

 <\/div>\n
\u201cIn a 1931 speech, Butler recounted a story about Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini, how he had run over a child with his car, and said, as he moved on, \u201cIt was only one life. What is one life in the affairs of the State\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

\nHerr Hitler, with his rearming Germany and his constant demands for more and more arms, is an <\/span>equal if not greater menace to peace. France only recently increased the term of military service for <\/span>its youth from a year to eighteen months<\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
\n
<\/span>Yes, all over, nations are camping in their arms. The mad dogs of<\/span> Europe are on the loose. In the <\/span>Orient the maneuvering is more adroit. Back in 1904, when<\/span> Russia and Japan fought, we kicked out <\/span>our old friends the Russians and backed Japan. Then<\/span> our very generous international bankers were <\/span>financing Japan. Now the trend is to poison<\/span> us against the Japanese. What does the “open door” <\/span>policy to China mean to us?<\/span> Our trade with China is about $90,000,000 a year. Or the Philippine <\/span>Islands? We have spent<\/span> about $600,000,000 in the Philippines in thirty-five years and we (our <\/span>bankers<\/span> and<\/span> industrialists<\/span> and<\/span> speculators)<\/span> have<\/span> private<\/span> investments<\/span> there<\/span> of<\/span> less<\/span> than <\/span>$200,000,000.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

Then, to save that China trade of about $90,000,000, or to protect<\/span> these private investments of less <\/span>than $200,000,000 in the Philippines, we would be all<\/span> stirred up to hate Japan and go to war – a <\/span>war that might well cost us tens of<\/span> billions of dollars, hundreds of thousands of lives of Americans, <\/span>and many more hundreds<\/span> of thousands of physically maimed and mentally unbalanced men.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

Of course, for this loss, there would be a compensating profit —<\/span> fortunes would be made. Millions <\/span>and billions of dollars would be piled up. By a few.<\/span> Munitions makers. <\/span>Bankers. Ship builders. Manufacturers. Meat packers. Speculators. They would fare well<\/span><\/div>\n

Yes, they are getting ready for another war. Why shouldn’t they? It<\/span> pays high dividends.
\n<\/span>
But what does it profit the men who are killed? What does it profit<\/span> their mothers and sisters, their <\/span>wives and their sweethearts? What does it profit their<\/span> children?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

What does it profit anyone except the very few to whom war means huge<\/span> profits?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

Yes, and what does it profit the nation?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n


Take our own case. Until 1898 we didn’t own a bit of territory outside<\/span> the mainland of North <\/span>America. At that time our national debt was a little more than<\/span> $1,000,000,000. Then we became <\/span>“internationally minded.” We forgot, or shunted<\/span> aside, the advice of the Father of our country. We <\/span>forgot George Washington’s warning<\/span> about “entangling alliances.” We went to war. We acquired <\/span>outside territory.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

At the end of the World War period, as a direct result of our fiddling in <\/span>international<\/span> affairs, our national debt had jumped to over $25,000,000,000. Our total favorable <\/span>trade<\/span> balance during the twenty-five-year period was about $24,000,000,000. Therefore, on a<\/span> purely <\/span>bookkeeping basis, we ran a little behind year for year, and that foreign trade<\/span> might well have been <\/span>ours without the wars.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n


It would have been far cheaper (not to say safer) for the average<\/span> American who pays the bills to <\/span>stay out of foreign entanglements. For a very few this<\/span> racket, like bootlegging and other underworld <\/span>rackets, brings fancy profits, but the cost<\/span> of operations is always transferred to the people — who do <\/span>not profit.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n


CHAPTER TWO<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

<\/span>Who Makes The Profits?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n


The<\/span> World<\/span> War,<\/span> rather<\/span> our<\/span> brief<\/span> participation<\/span> in<\/span> it,<\/span> has<\/span> cost<\/span> the<\/span> United<\/span> States<\/span> some <\/span>$52,000,000,000. Figure it out. That means $400 to every American man,<\/span> woman, and child. And <\/span>we haven’t paid the debt yet. We are paying it, our children will<\/span> pay it, and our children’s children <\/span>probably still will be paying the cost of that war.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
<\/span>The normal profits of a business concern in the United States are six,<\/span> eight, ten, and sometimes <\/span>twelve percent. But war-time profits — ah! that is another<\/span> matter — twenty, sixty, one hundred, three <\/span>hundred, and even eighteen hundred per<\/span> cent — the sky is the limit. All that traffic will bear. Uncle <\/span>Sam has the money.<\/span> Let’s get it.
\n<\/span>
Of course, it isn’t put that crudely in war time. It is dressed into<\/span> speeches about patriotism, love of <\/span>country, and “we must all put our shoulders to the<\/span> wheel,” but the profits jump and leap and <\/span>skyrocket — and are safely pocketed.<\/span> Let’s just take a few examples:
\n<\/span>
Take our friends the du Ponts<\/span><\/a>, the powder people — didn’t one of<\/span> them testify before a Senate <\/span>committee recently that their powder won the war? Or saved<\/span> the world for democracy? Or <\/span>something? How did they do in the war? They were a patriotic<\/span> corporation.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Well, the average <\/span>earnings of the du Ponts for the period 1910 to 1914 were<\/span> $6,000,000 a year. It wasn’t much, but the <\/span><\/span><\/span>du Ponts managed to get along on it. Now let’s<\/span> look at their average yearly profit during the war <\/span><\/span><\/span>years, 1914 to 1918. Fifty-eight<\/span> million dollars a year profit we find! Nearly ten times that of <\/span><\/span><\/span>normal times, and the<\/span> profits of normal times were pretty good. An increase in profits of more than <\/span><\/span><\/span>950 per<\/span> cent.<\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n
Take one of our little steel companies that patriotically shunted aside<\/span> the making of rails and girders <\/span>and<\/span> bridges<\/span> to<\/span> manufacture<\/span> war<\/span> materials.<\/span> Well,<\/span> their<\/span> 1910-1914<\/span> yearly<\/span> earnings<\/span> averaged <\/span>$6,000,000. Then came the war. And, like loyal<\/span> citizens, Bethlehem Steel<\/span><\/a> promptly turned to <\/span>munitions making. Did their profits jump<\/span> — or did they let Uncle Sam in for a bargain? Well, their <\/span>1914-1918 average was<\/span> $49,000,000 a year!
\n<\/span>
Or, let’s take United States Steel<\/a><\/span>. The normal earnings during the<\/span> five-year period prior to the war <\/span>were $105,000,000 a year. Not bad. Then along came the<\/span> war and up went the profits. The average <\/span>yearly profit for the period 1914-1918 was<\/span> $240,000,000. Not bad.
\n<\/span>
There you have some of the steel and powder earnings. Let’s look at<\/span> something else. A little copper, <\/span>perhaps. That always does well in war times.
\n<\/span>
Anaconda<\/span><\/a><\/span>,<\/span> for<\/span> instance.<\/span> Average<\/span> yearly<\/span> earnings<\/span> during<\/span> the<\/span> pre-war<\/span> years<\/span> 1910-1914<\/span> of <\/span>$10,000,000. During the war years 1914-1918 profits leaped to<\/span> $34,000,000 per year.<\/span>

\nOr Utah Copper<\/a><\/span>. Average of $5,000,000 per year during the 1910-1914<\/span> period. Jumped to an <\/span>average of $21,000,000 yearly profits for the war period.<\/span><\/span><\/span>

\nLet’s group these five, with three smaller companies. The total yearly<\/span> average profits of the pre-war <\/span>period 1910-1914 were $137,480,000. Then along came the<\/span> war. The average yearly profits for this <\/span>group skyrocketed to $408,300,000.<\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n
A little increase in profits of approximately 200 per cent.<\/span><\/span><\/span>Does war pay? It paid them. But they aren’t the only ones. There are<\/span> still others. Let’s take leather.<\/span><\/span><\/span>For the three-year period before the war the total profits of Central<\/a><\/span><\/span> Leather Company<\/span> were <\/span>$3,500,000. That was approximately $1,167,000 a year. Well, in 1916<\/span> Central Leather returned a <\/span>profit of $15,000,000, a small increase of 1,100 per cent.<\/span> That’s all. <\/span><\/span><\/span>The General Chemical <\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span>Company<\/span> averaged a profit for the three years before the<\/span> war of a little over $800,000 a year. Came <\/span>the war, and the profits jumped to $12,000,000.<\/span> a leap of 1,400 per cent.
\n<\/span>
International Nickel Company<\/a><\/span> — and you can’t have a war without<\/span> nickel — showed an increase in <\/span>profits from a mere average of $4,000,000 a year to<\/span> $73,000,000 yearly. Not bad? An increase of <\/span>more than 1,700 per cent.<\/span><\/span><\/span>American Sugar Refining Company<\/span><\/a> averaged $2,000,000 a year for the<\/span> three years before the war. <\/span><\/span><\/span>In 1916 a profit of $6,000,000 was recorded.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

Listen to Senate Document No. 259. The Sixty-Fifth Congress, reporting<\/span> on corporate earnings and <\/span>government revenues. Considering the profits of 122 meat<\/span> packers, 153 cotton manufacturers, 299 <\/span>garment makers, 49 steel plants, and 340 coal<\/span> producers during the war. Profits under 25 per cent <\/span>were exceptional. For instance the<\/span> coal companies made between 100 per cent and 7,856 per cent <\/span>on their capital stock during<\/span> the war. The Chicago packers doubled and tripled their earnings.
\n<\/span>
And let us not forget the bankers who financed the great war. If anyone<\/span> had the cream of the profits <\/span>it was the bankers. Being partnerships rather than<\/span> incorporated organizations, they do not have to <\/span>report to stockholders. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>And their profits w<\/span>ere as secret as they were immense. How the bankers <\/span>made their millions and their<\/span> billions I do not know, because those little secrets never become <\/span>public — even<\/span> before a Senate investigatory body.<\/span><\/span><\/span> But here’s how some of the other patriotic industrialists and<\/span> speculators chiseled their way into war <\/span>profits.
\n<\/span>
Take the shoe people. They like war. It brings business with abnormal<\/span> profits. They made huge <\/span>profits on sales abroad to our allies. Perhaps, like the munitions<\/span> manufacturers and armament <\/span>makers, they also sold to the enemy. For a dollar is a dollar<\/span> whether it comes from Germany or <\/span>from France. But they did well by Uncle Sam too. For<\/span> instance, they sold Uncle Sam 35,000,000 <\/span>pairs of hobnailed service shoes. There were<\/span> 4,000,000 soldiers. Eight pairs, and more, to a soldier.
\n<\/span>
My regiment during the war had<\/span> only one pair to a soldier. Some of these shoes probably are still in <\/span>existence. They were<\/span> good shoes. But when the war was over Uncle Sam has a matter of <\/span>25,000,000 pairs left<\/span> over. Bought — and paid for. Profits recorded and pocketed. <\/span>There was still lots of leather left. So the leather people sold your<\/span> Uncle Sam hundreds of thousands <\/span>of McClellan saddles<\/a><\/span> for the cavalry. But there wasn’t any<\/span> American cavalry overseas!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
Somebody <\/span>had to get rid of this leather, however. Somebody had<\/span> to make a profit in it — so we had a lot of <\/span>McClellan saddles<\/a><\/span>. And we probably have<\/span> those yet.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
\"\"<\/span>

\nAlso somebody had a lot of mosquito netting. They sold your Uncle Sam<\/span> 20,000,000 mosquito nets <\/span>for the use of the soldiers overseas. I suppose the boys were<\/span> expected to put it over them as they <\/span>tried to sleep in muddy trenches — one hand<\/span> scratching cooties on their backs and the other making <\/span>passes at scurrying rats. Well, not<\/span> one of these mosquito nets ever got to France!
\n<\/span>
Anyhow, these thoughtful manufacturers wanted to make sure that no<\/span> soldier would be without his <\/span>mosquito net, so 40,000,000 additional yards of mosquito<\/span> netting were sold to Uncle Sam.<\/span>

\nThere were pretty good profits in mosquito netting in those days, even<\/span> if there were no mosquitoes <\/span>in France. I suppose, if the war had lasted just a little<\/span> longer, the enterprising mosquito netting <\/span>manufacturers would have sold your Uncle Sam a<\/span> couple of consignments of mosquitoes to plant in <\/span>France so that more mosquito netting<\/span> would be in order.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

Airplane and engine manufacturers felt they, too, should get their just<\/span> profits out of this war. Why <\/span>not? Everybody else was getting theirs. So $1,000,000,000<\/span> — count them if you live long enough — <\/span>was spent by Uncle Sam in building<\/span> airplane engines that never left the ground! Not one plane, or <\/span>motor, out of the billion<\/span> dollars worth ordered, ever got into a battle in France. Just the same the <\/span>manufacturers<\/span> made their little profit of 30, 100, or perhaps 300 per cent.
\n<\/span>
Undershirts for soldiers cost 14\u00a2 [cents] to make and uncle Sam paid<\/span> 30\u00a2 to 40\u00a2 each for them — a <\/span>nice little profit for the undershirt manufacturer.<\/span> And the stocking manufacturer and the uniform <\/span>manufacturers and the cap manufacturers and<\/span> the steel helmet manufacturers — all got theirs.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
 <\/div>\n
Why, when the war was over some 4,000,000 sets of equipment —<\/span> knapsacks and the things that go <\/span>to fill them — crammed warehouses on this side. Now<\/span> they are being scrapped because the <\/span>regulations have changed the contents. But the<\/span> manufacturers collected their wartime profits on <\/span>them — and they will do it all over<\/span> again the next time.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

There were lots of brilliant ideas for profit making during the war.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

One very versatile patriot sold Uncle Sam twelve dozen 48-inch<\/span> wrenches. Oh, they were very nice <\/span>wrenches. The only trouble was that there was only one<\/span> nut ever made that was large enough for <\/span>these wrenches. That is the one that holds the<\/span> turbines at Niagara Falls. Well, after Uncle Sam had <\/span>bought them and the manufacturer had<\/span> pocketed the profit, the wrenches were put on freight cars <\/span>and shunted all around the<\/span> United States in an effort to find a use for them. When the Armistice was <\/span>signed it was<\/span> indeed a sad blow to the wrench manufacturer. He was just about to make some nuts <\/span>to fit<\/span> the wrenches. Then he planned to sell these, too, to your Uncle Sam.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

Still another had the brilliant idea that colonels shouldn’t ride in<\/span> automobiles, nor should they even <\/span>ride on horseback. One has probably seen a picture of<\/span> Andy Jackson riding in a buckboard. Well,<\/span>some 6,000 buckboards were sold to Uncle Sam for<\/span> the use of colonels! Not one of them was used. <\/span>But the buckboard manufacturer got his war<\/span> profit.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

The shipbuilders felt they should come in on some of it, too. They<\/span> built a lot of ships that made a lot <\/span>of profit. More than $3,000,000,000 worth. Some of<\/span> the ships were all right. But $635,000,000 <\/span>worth of them were made of wood and wouldn’t<\/span> float! The seams opened up — and they sank. We <\/span>paid for them, though. And somebody<\/span> pocketed the profits.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

It has been estimated by statisticians and economists and researchers<\/span> that the war cost your Uncle <\/span>Sam $52,000,000,000. Of this sum, $39,000,000,000 was<\/span> expended in the actual war itself. This <\/span>expenditure yielded $16,000,000,000 in profits.<\/span> That is how the 21,000 billionaires and millionaires <\/span>got that way. This $16,000,000,000<\/span> profits is not to be sneezed at. It is quite a tidy sum. And it went <\/span>to a very few.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

The Senate (Nye) committee<\/a><\/span> probe of the munitions industry and its<\/span> wartime profits, despite its <\/span>sensational disclosures, hardly has scratched the surface.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

Even so, it has had some effect. The State Department has been studying<\/span> “for some time” methods <\/span>of keeping out of war. The War Department suddenly<\/span> decides it has a wonderful plan to spring. The <\/span>Administration names a committee —<\/span> with the War and Navy Departments ably represented under <\/span>the chairmanship of a Wall Street<\/span> speculator — to limit profits in war time. To what extent isn’t <\/span>suggested. Hmmm.<\/span> Possibly the profits of 300 and 600 and 1,600 per cent of those who turned <\/span>blood into gold<\/span> in the World War would be limited to some smaller figure.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

Apparently, however, the plan does not call for any limitation of<\/span> losses — that is, the losses of those <\/span>who fight the war. As far as I have been able<\/span> to ascertain there is nothing in the scheme to limit a <\/span>soldier to the loss of but one eye,<\/span> or one arm, or to limit his wounds to one or two or three. Or to <\/span>limit the loss of life.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

There is nothing in this scheme, apparently, that says not more than 12<\/span> per cent of a regiment shall <\/span>be wounded in battle, or that not more than 7 per cent in a<\/span> division shall be killed. <\/span>Of course, the committee cannot be bothered with such trifling matters.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
“The so-called Senate Munitions Committee came into being because of widespread reports that manufacturers of armaments had unduly influenced the American decision to enter the war in 1917. These weapons suppliers had reaped enormous profits at the cost of more than 53,000 American battle deaths”<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n
\n
 <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
 <\/div>\n
CHAPTER THREE
\n<\/span><\/strong>
Who Pays The Bills?<\/strong>
\n<\/span>
Who provides the profits — these nice little profits of 20, 100,<\/span> 300, 1,500 and 1,800 per cent? We all <\/span>pay them — in taxation. We paid the bankers<\/span> their profits when we bought Liberty Bonds at $100.00 <\/span>and sold them back at $84 or $86 to<\/span> the bankers. These bankers collected $100 plus. It was a simple <\/span>manipulation. The bankers<\/span> control the security marts. It was easy for them to depress the price of <\/span>these bonds. Then<\/span> all of us — the people — got frightened and sold the bonds at $84 or $86. The <\/span>bankers bought them. Then these same bankers stimulated a boom and government bonds went<\/span> to <\/span>par — and above. Then the bankers collected their profits.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

But the soldier pays the biggest part of the bill.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

If you don’t believe this, visit the American cemeteries on the<\/span> battlefields abroad. Or visit any of the <\/span>veteran’s hospitals in the United States. On a<\/span> tour of the country, in the midst of which I am at the <\/span>time of this writing, I have<\/span> visited eighteen government hospitals for veterans. In them are a total of <\/span>about 50,000<\/span> destroyed men — men who were the pick of the nation eighteen years ago. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
The very <\/span>able<\/span> chief surgeon at the government hospital; at Milwaukee, where there are 3,800 of the<\/span> living <\/span>dead, told me that mortality among veterans is three times as great as among those<\/span> who stayed at <\/span>home.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

Boys with a normal viewpoint were taken out of the fields and offices<\/span> and factories and classrooms <\/span>and put into the ranks. There they were remolded; they were<\/span> made over; they were made to “about <\/em><\/span>face”<\/em>; to regard murder as the order of the<\/span> day. They were put shoulder to shoulder and, through <\/span>mass psychology, they were entirely<\/span> changed. We used them for a couple of years and trained them <\/span>to think nothing at all of<\/span> killing or of being killed.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

Then, suddenly, we discharged them and told them to make another<\/span> “about face” !<\/em> This time they <\/span>had to do their own readjustment, sans [without]<\/span> mass psychology, sans officers’ aid and advice and <\/span>sans nation-wide propaganda. We didn’t<\/span> need them any more. So we scattered them about without <\/span>any “three-minute” or<\/span> “Liberty Loan” speeches or parades. Many, too many, of these fine young <\/span>boys are<\/span> eventually destroyed, mentally, because they could not make that final “about<\/span> face” alone.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
 <\/div>\n
In the government hospital in Marion, Indiana, 1,800 of these boys are<\/span> in pens! Five hundred of <\/span>them in a barracks with steel bars and wires all around outside<\/span> the buildings and on the porches. <\/span>These already have been mentally destroyed. These boys<\/span> don’t even look like human beings. Oh, <\/span>the looks on their faces! Physically, they are in<\/span> good shape; mentally, they are gone.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

There are thousands and thousands of these cases, and more and more are<\/span> coming in all the time. <\/span>The tremendous excitement of the war, the sudden cutting off of<\/span> that excitement — the young boys <\/span>couldn’t stand it.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

That’s a part of the bill. So much for the dead — they have paid<\/span> their part of the war profits. So <\/span>much for the mentally and physically wounded — they<\/span> are paying now their share of the war profits. <\/span>But the others paid, too — they paid<\/span> with heartbreaks when they tore themselves away from their <\/span>firesides and their families to<\/span> don the uniform of Uncle Sam — on which a profit had been made.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

They paid another<\/span> part in the training camps where they were regimented and drilled while others <\/span>took their<\/span> jobs and their places in the lives of their communities. The paid for it in the trenches <\/span>where they shot and were shot; where they were hungry for days at a time; where they slept<\/span> in the <\/span>mud and the cold and in the rain — with the moans and shrieks of the dying for<\/span> a horrible lullaby. <\/span>But don’t forget — the soldier paid part of the dollars and cents<\/span> bill too.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
 <\/div>\n
<\/span>Up to and including the Spanish-American War, we had a prize system,<\/span> and soldiers and sailors <\/span>fought for money. During the Civil War they were paid bonuses, in<\/span> many instances, before they <\/span>went into service. The government, or states, paid as high as<\/span> $1,200 for an enlistment. In the <\/span>Spanish-American War they gave prize money. When we<\/span> captured any vessels, the soldiers all got <\/span>their share — at least, they were supposed<\/span> to. Then it was found that we could reduce the cost of <\/span>wars by taking all the prize money<\/span> and keeping it, but conscripting [drafting] the soldier anyway. <\/span>Then soldiers couldn’t<\/span> bargain for their labor, Everyone else could bargain, but the soldier couldn’t.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

Napoleon once said, <\/span>“All men are enamored of decorations . . . they positively hunger for<\/span> them.” <\/span><\/em>So by developing the Napoleonic system — the medal business —<\/span> the government learned it could <\/span>get soldiers for less money, because the boys liked to be<\/span> decorated. Until the Civil War there were <\/span>no medals. Then the Congressional Medal of Honor<\/span> was handed out. It made enlistments easier.
\n<\/span>
After the Civil War no new medals were issued<\/span> until the Spanish-American War. <\/span>In the World War, we used propaganda to make the boys accept<\/span> conscription. They were made to <\/span>feel ashamed if they didn’t join the army.
\n<\/span>
So vicious was this war propaganda that even God was brought into it.<\/span> With few exceptions our <\/span>clergymen joined in the clamor to kill, kill, kill. To kill the<\/span> Germans. God is on our side . . . it is His <\/span>will that the Germans be killed.<\/span>
<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\nAnd in Germany, the good pastors called upon the Germans to kill the<\/span> allies . . . to please the same <\/span>God. That was a part of the general propaganda, built up to<\/span> make people war conscious and murder <\/span>conscious.
\n<\/span>
Beautiful ideals were painted for our boys who were sent out to die.<\/span> This was the “war to end all <\/em><\/span>wars.”<\/em> This was the “war to make the world<\/em><\/span> safe for democracy.”<\/em> No one mentioned to them, as <\/span>they marched away, that their going<\/span> and their dying would mean huge war profits. No one told <\/span>these American soldiers that they<\/span> might be shot down by bullets made by their own brothers here. <\/span>No one told them that the<\/span> ships on which they were going to cross might be torpedoed by <\/span>submarines built with United<\/span> States patents. They were just told it was to be a “glorious adventure.” <\/em><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
Thus, having stuffed patriotism down their throats, it was decided to<\/span> make them help pay for the <\/span>war, too. So, we gave them the large salary of $30 a month. <\/span>All they had to do for this munificent sum was to leave their dear ones<\/span> behind, give up their jobs, lie <\/span>in swampy trenches, eat canned willy (when they could get<\/span> it) and kill and kill and kill . . . and be <\/span>killed.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

But wait! <\/span>Half of that wage (just a little more than a riveter in a shipyard or a<\/span> laborer in a munitions factory <\/span>safe at home made in a day) was promptly taken from him to<\/span> support his dependents, so that they <\/span>would not become a charge upon his community. Then we<\/span> made him pay what amounted to <\/span>accident insurance — something the employer pays for in<\/span> an enlightened state — and that cost him <\/span>$6 a month. He had less than $9 a month<\/span> left.<\/span>

\nThen, the most crowning insolence of all — he was virtually<\/span> blackjacked into paying for his own <\/span>ammunition, clothing, and food by being made to buy<\/span> Liberty Bonds. Most soldiers got no money <\/span>at all on pay days.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
We made them buy Liberty Bonds at $100 and then we bought them back<\/span> — when they came back <\/span>from<\/span> the<\/span> war<\/span> and<\/span> couldn’t<\/span> find<\/span> work<\/span> —<\/span> at<\/span> $84<\/span> and<\/span> $86.<\/span> And<\/span> the<\/span> soldiers<\/span> bought<\/span> about <\/span>$2,000,000,000 worth of these bonds!
\n<\/span>
<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
\u201cThe state takes away our responsibility but cannot ease our grief, we have to carry it alone and it reaches deep within our dreams.\u201d <\/strong><\/em>– J linger<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
 <\/div>\n

\nYes, the soldier pays the greater part of the bill. His family pays<\/span> too. They pay it in the same heart- <\/span>break that he does. As he suffers, they suffer. At<\/span> nights, as he lay in the trenches and watched <\/span>shrapnel burst about him, they lay home in<\/span> their beds and tossed sleeplessly — his father, his <\/span>mother, his wife, his sisters,<\/span> his brothers, his sons, and his daughters. <\/span>When he returned home minus an eye, or minus a leg or with his mind<\/span> broken, they suffered too — <\/span>as much as and even sometimes more than he. Yes, and<\/span> they, too, contributed their dollars to the <\/span>profits of the munitions makers and bankers<\/span> and shipbuilders and the manufacturers and the <\/span>speculators made. They, too, bought Liberty<\/span> Bonds and contributed to the profit of the bankers after <\/span>the Armistice in the hocus-pocus<\/span> of manipulated Liberty Bond prices. <\/span>And even now the families of the wounded men and of the mentally broken<\/span> and those who never <\/span>were able to readjust themselves are still suffering and still paying.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n

CHAPTER FOUR<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

How To Smash This Racket!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n

WELL, it’s a racket, all right.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

A few profit — and the many pay. But there is a way to stop it.<\/span> You can’t end it by disarmament <\/span>conferences. You can’t eliminate it by peace parleys at<\/span> Geneva. Well-meaning but impractical <\/span>groups can’t wipe it out by resolutions. It can be<\/span> smashed effectively only by taking the profit out of <\/span>war.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

The only way to smash this racket is to conscript capital and industry<\/span> and labor before the nations <\/span>manhood can be conscripted. One month before the Government<\/span> can conscript the young men of <\/span>the nation — it must conscript capital and industry<\/span> and labor. Let the officers and the directors and <\/span>the high-powered executives of our<\/span> armament factories and our munitions makers and our <\/span>shipbuilders and our airplane builders<\/span> and the manufacturers of all the other things that provide <\/span>profit in war time as well as<\/span> the bankers and the speculators, be conscripted — to get $30 a month, <\/span>the same wage<\/span> as the lads in the trenches get.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

Let the workers in these plants get the same wages — all the<\/span> workers, all presidents, all executives, <\/span>all directors, all managers, all bankers — yes, and all generals and all admirals and all officers and <\/span>all<\/span> politicians and all government office holders — everyone in the nation be restricted<\/span> to a total <\/span>monthly income not to exceed that paid to the soldier in the trenches!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

Let all these kings and tycoons and masters of business and all those<\/span> workers in industry and all our <\/span>senators and governors and majors pay half of their<\/span> monthly $30 wage to their families and pay war <\/span>risk insurance and buy Liberty Bonds.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

Why shouldn’t they?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

They aren’t running any risk of being killed or of having their bodies<\/span> mangled or their minds <\/span>shattered. They aren’t sleeping in muddy trenches. They aren’t<\/span> hungry. The soldiers are!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

Give capital and industry and labor thirty days to think it over and<\/span> you will find, by that time, there <\/span><\/span><\/span>will be no war. That will smash the war racket —<\/span> that and nothing else.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

Maybe I am a little too optimistic. Capital still has some say. So<\/span> capital won’t permit the taking of <\/span>the profit out of war until the people — those who<\/span> do the suffering and still pay the price — make up <\/span>their minds that those they elect<\/span> to office shall do their bidding, and not that of the profiteers.
\n<\/span>
Another step necessary in this fight to smash the war racket is the<\/span> limited plebiscite to determine <\/span>whether a war should be declared. A plebiscite not of all<\/span> the voters but merely of those who would <\/span>be called upon to do the fighting and dying.<\/span> There wouldn’t be very much sense in having a 76- <\/span>year-old president of a munitions factory<\/span> or the flat-footed head of an international banking firm or <\/span>the cross-eyed manager of a<\/span> uniform manufacturing plant — all of whom see visions of tremendous <\/span>profits in the<\/span> event of war — voting on whether the nation should go to war or not. They never <\/span>would<\/span> be called upon to shoulder arms — to sleep in a trench and to be shot. Only those who<\/span> would <\/span>be called upon to risk their lives for their country should have the privilege of<\/span> voting to determine <\/span>whether the nation should go to war.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

There is ample precedent for restricting the voting to those affected.<\/span> Many of our states have <\/span>restrictions on those permitted to vote. In most, it is necessary<\/span> to be able to read and write before <\/span>you may vote. In some, you must own property. It would<\/span> be a simple matter each year for the men <\/span>coming of military age to register in their<\/span> communities as they did in the draft during the World <\/span>War and be examined physically.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
Those who could pass and who would therefore be called upon to <\/span>bear arms in the event of<\/span> war would be eligible to vote in a limited plebiscite. They should be the <\/span>ones to have the<\/span> power to decide — and not a Congress few of whose members are within the age <\/span>limit<\/span> and fewer still of whom are in physical condition to bear arms. Only those who must suffer <\/span>should have the right to vote.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

A third step in this business of smashing the war racket is to make<\/span> certain that our military forces <\/span>are truly forces for defense only.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

At each session of Congress the question of further naval<\/span> appropriations comes up. The swivel-<\/span>chair admirals of Washington (and there are always a<\/span> lot of them) are very adroit lobbyists. And <\/span>they are smart. They don’t shout that “We<\/span> need a lot of battleships to war on this nation or that <\/span>nation.” Oh no. First of all,<\/span> they let it be known that America is menaced by a great naval power. <\/span>Almost any day, these<\/span> admirals will tell you, the great fleet of this supposed enemy will strike <\/span>suddenly and<\/span> annihilate 125,000,000 people. Just like that. Then they begin to cry for a larger navy. <\/span>For what? To fight the enemy? Oh my, no. Oh, no. For defense purposes only.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

Then, incidentally, they announce maneuvers in the Pacific. For<\/span> defense. Uh, huh. <\/span>The Pacific is a great big ocean. We have a tremendous coastline on the<\/span> Pacific. Will the maneuvers <\/span>be off the coast, two or three hundred miles? Oh, no. The<\/span> maneuvers will be two thousand, yes, <\/span>perhaps even thirty-five hundred miles, off the<\/span> coast.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

The Japanese, a proud people, of course will be pleased beyond<\/span> expression to see the united States <\/span>fleet so close to Nippon’s shores. Even as pleased as<\/span> would be the residents of California were they <\/span>to dimly discern through the morning mist,<\/span> the Japanese fleet playing at war games off Los <\/span>Angeles.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

The ships of our navy, it can be seen, should be specifically limited,<\/span> by law, to within 200 miles of <\/span>our coastline. Had that been the law in 1898 the Maine<\/span> would never have gone to Havana Harbor. <\/span>She never would have been blown up. There would<\/span> have been no war with Spain with its attendant <\/span>loss of life. Two hundred miles is ample,<\/span> in the opinion of experts, for defense purposes. Our nation <\/span>cannot start an offensive war<\/span> if its ships can’t go further than 200 miles from the coastline. Planes <\/span>might be permitted<\/span> to go as far as 500 miles from the coast for purposes of reconnaissance. And the <\/span><\/span>army<\/span> should never leave the territorial limits of our nation.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

To summarize: Three steps must be taken to smash the war racket.
\n<\/span>
1. We must take the profit out of war.
\n<\/span>
2. We must permit the youth of the land who would bear arms to decide<\/span> whether or not there <\/span>should be war.
\n<\/span>
3. We must limit our military forces to home defense purposes.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
\n

\"\"Inscription on an American soldier’s Zippo lighter (Vietnam 71-72)<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
 <\/div>\n

CHAPTER FIVE<\/strong>
\n<\/span>
To Hell With War!<\/strong>
\n<\/span>
I am not a fool as to believe that war is a thing of the past. I know<\/span> the people do not want war, but <\/span>there is no use in saying we cannot be pushed into another<\/span> war.
\n<\/span>
Looking back, Woodrow Wilson was re-elected president in 1916 on a<\/span> platform that he had “kept <\/span>us out of war” and on the implied promise that he<\/span> would “keep us out of war.” Yet, five months <\/span>later he asked Congress to declare<\/span> war on Germany.
\n<\/span>
In that five-month interval the people had not been asked whether they<\/span> had changed their minds.<\/span>
\n
The 4,000,000 young men who put on uniforms and marched or sailed<\/span> away were not asked <\/span>whether they wanted to go forth to suffer and die.
\n<\/span>
Then what caused our government to change its mind so suddenly?
\n<\/span>
Money.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

An allied commission, it may be recalled, came over shortly before the<\/span> war declaration and called <\/span>on the President. The President summoned a group of advisers.<\/span> The head of the commission spoke.<\/span>

\nStripped of its diplomatic language, this is what he<\/span> told the President and his group: <\/span>“There is no use kidding ourselves any longer. The cause of the<\/span> allies is lost. We now owe you <\/span>(American bankers, American munitions makers, American<\/span> manufacturers, American speculators, <\/span>American exporters) five or six billion dollars. <\/span>If we lose (and without the help of the United States we must lose) we,<\/span> England, France and Italy, <\/span>cannot pay back this money . . . and Germany won’t.
\n<\/span>
So …”
\n<\/span>
Had secrecy been outlawed as far as war negotiations were concerned,<\/span> and had the press been <\/span>invited to be present at that conference, or had radio been<\/span> available to broadcast the proceedings, <\/span>America never would have entered the World War.<\/span> But this conference, like all war discussions, <\/span>was shrouded in utmost secrecy. When our<\/span> boys were sent off to war they were told it was a “war to <\/span>make the world safe for<\/span> democracy” and a “war to end all wars.” <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
Well, eighteen years after, the world has less of democracy than it had<\/span> then. Besides, what business <\/span>is it of ours whether Russia or Germany or England or France<\/span> or Italy or Austria live under <\/span>democracies or monarchies? Whether they are Fascists or<\/span> Communists? Our problem is to preserve <\/span>our own democracy.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
And very little, if anything, has been accomplished to assure us that<\/span> the World War was really the <\/span><\/span>war to end all wars.
\n<\/span>
Yes, we have had disarmament conferences and limitations of arms<\/span> conferences. They don’t mean a <\/span><\/span>thing. One has just failed; the results of another have<\/span> been nullified. We send our professional <\/span><\/span>soldiers and our sailors and our politicians and<\/span> our diplomats to these conferences. And what <\/span><\/span>happens?
\n<\/span>
The professional soldiers and sailors don’t want to disarm. No admiral<\/span> wants to be without a ship. <\/span><\/span>No general wants to be without a command. Both mean men<\/span> without jobs. They are not for <\/span><\/span>disarmament. They cannot be for limitations of arms. And at<\/span> all these conferences, lurking in the <\/span><\/span>background but all-powerful, just the same, are the<\/span> sinister agents of those who profit by war. They <\/span><\/span>see to it that these conferences do not<\/span> disarm or seriously limit armaments.
\n<\/span><\/span>
The chief aim of any power at any of these conferences has not been to<\/span> achieve disarmament to <\/span><\/span>prevent war but rather to get more armament for itself and less for<\/span> any potential foe.<\/span><\/span>
<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
There is only one way to disarm with any semblance of practicability.<\/span> That is for all nations to get <\/span><\/span>together and scrap every ship, every gun, every rifle,<\/span> every tank, every war plane. Even this, if it <\/span><\/span>were possible, would not be enough.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

The next war, according to experts, will be fought not with<\/span> battleships, not by artillery, not with <\/span><\/span>rifles and not with machine guns. It will be<\/span> fought with deadly chemicals and gases.<\/span><\/span>

\nSecretly each nation is studying and perfecting newer and ghastlier<\/span> means of annihilating its foes <\/span><\/span>wholesale. Yes, ships will continue to be built, for the<\/span> shipbuilders must make their profits. And <\/span><\/span>guns still will be manufactured and powder and<\/span> rifles will be made, for the munitions makers must <\/span><\/span>make their huge profits. And the<\/span> soldiers, of course, must wear uniforms, for the manufacturer must <\/span><\/span>make their war profits<\/span> too.
\n<\/span><\/span>
But victory or defeat will be determined by the skill and ingenuity of<\/span> our scientists.
\n<\/span><\/span>
If we put them to work making poison gas and more and more fiendish<\/span> mechanical and explosive <\/span><\/span>instruments of destruction, they will have no time for the<\/span> constructive job of building greater <\/span><\/span>prosperity for all peoples. By putting them to this<\/span> useful job, we can all make more money out of <\/span><\/span>peace than we can out of war — even the<\/span> munitions makers.
\n<\/span><\/span>
So…I say,
\n<\/span>
TO HELL WITH WAR!<\/span><\/strong><\/span>
<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Smedley Darlington Butler (1881-1940) was a U.S. marine who served in numerous conflicts, including the Philippine-American War, the Boxer Rebellion, and World War I. He received two Medals of Honor, the Marine Corps Brevet Medal, and numerous other awards for his distinguished service. After retiring in 1931, Butler became a vocal critic of war and U.S. foreign policy, famously declaring that “war is a racket.” He spent his later years as an anti-war activist, advocating against militarism and imperialism until his death.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Smedley Butler died in 1940, but his presence is still very much alive. The Boston, Massachusetts chapter of Veterans for Peace<\/a> is named the Smedley D. Butler Brigade, and he is featured in the documentary<\/span> The Corporation (2003)<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

– Obviously, links were added by Editor – so too some of the quotes.<\/span><\/p>\n


\nRelated<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Smedley Butler and the 1930s Plot to Overthrow the President<\/a><\/blockquote>