The first move towards war--the first gun fired--means annihilation
for one of you or both! We hold the power to do this!'"

Gwent drew his cigar from his lips.

"Annihilation!" he murmured--"Annihilation? For one or both!"

"Just so--absolute annihilation!" and Seaton smiled with a pleasant
air of triumph--"A holocaust of microbes! The United States must let
the whole world know of their ability to do this (without giving
away my discovery). They must say to the nations 'We will have no
more wars. If innocent people are to be killed, they can be killed
quite as easily in one way as another, and our way will cost
nothing--neither ships nor ammunition nor guns.' And, of course, the
disputants will be given time to decide their own fate for
themselves."

Sam Gwent, holding his cigar between his fingers and looking
meditatively at its glowing end, smiled shrewdly.

"All very well!"--he said--"But you forget money interests. Money
interests always start a war--it isn't nations that do it, it's
'companies.' Your stuff won't annihilate companies all over the
globe. Governments are not likely to damage their own financial
moves. Suppose the United States government agreed to your
proposition and took the sole possession and proprietorship of your
discovery, and gave you their written, signed and sealed pledge to
use it, it doesn't at all follow that they would not break that
pledge at the first opportunity. In these days governments break
promises as easily as eggshells. And there would be ample excuse for