Page 2262 - war-and-peace

is just what is called power. This relation consists in the fol-
lowing:
For common action people always unite in certain com-
binations, in which regardless of the difference of the aims
set for the common action, the relation between those tak-
ing part in it is always the same.
Men uniting in these combinations always assume such
relations toward one another that the larger number take
a more direct share, and the smaller number a less direct
share, in the collective action for which they have com-
bined.
Of all the combinations in which men unite for collec-
tive action one of the most striking and definite examples
is an army.
Every army is composed of lower grades of the servicethe
rank and fileof whom there are always the greatest number;
of the next higher military rankcorporals and noncommis-
sioned officers of whom there are fewer, and of still-higher
officers of whom there are still fewer, and so on to the highest
military command which is concentrated in one person.
A military organization may be quite correctly com-
pared to a cone, of which the base with the largest diameter
consists of the rank and file; the next higher and smaller
section of the cone consists of the next higher grades of the
army, and so on to the apex, the point of which will repre-
sent the commander in chief.
The soldiers, of whom there are the most, form the lower
section of the cone and its base. The soldier himself does
the stabbing, hacking, burning, and pillaging, and always

2262 War and Peace