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Show COST OF PEACE IN EUROPE. The question of a general disarmament of the great Powers of Europe has been receiving considerable attention of late, mainly in consequence of the rumor that before his recent attack of illness Prince Bismarck expressed himself as strongly in favor of the scheme. It is never safe to put much trust in the declarations unofficially ascribed to great statesmen and diplomats, and it will be well to wait for more satisfactory evidence before accepting as true the views attributed to the Prime Minister of Germany. But it needs no official assurance to convince thinking men that the people of Europe are growing exceedingly weary of the burden imposed upon them by the colossal armaments maintained for the purpose of preserving peace. Some idea of the amount of taxation made necessary by the present system of keeping the peace may be gathered from an examination of the numerical strength and annual cost of the standing armies of the principal European nations. Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Holland, Norway, Portugal, Rumania, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey have 3,400,000 men enrolled in their regular armies, at an annual cost of $550,000,000, adding the cost of their navies, the total annual cost of living in a state of armed peace is about $780,000,000. This is a vast amount, but it covers only a portion of the actual cost. The 3,400,000 men under arms are withdrawn from the ranks of the producers during the best years of their lives to live in idleness that is near akin to vice. In the walks of peaceful industry they would be contributors to the general welfare through the works of their hands and brains; in the army they are a charge upon the community during their time in service, and by forgetting the arts of industry, become less fit to make their own way in after life. It is claimed by the apologists of this system that the discipline undergone in the army has good effect on the men, making them more careful and methodical in their habits as workers and more loyal and law abiding as citizens. This is an assertion equally hard to prove or disprove. If it be true, the question still remains whether the vaunted discipline does not cost more than it is worth. Does it pay to maintain 3,400,000 men in idleness, at an annual cost of nearly $800,000,000 for the doubtful benefit of army discipline? If this were the only consideration the armies of Europe would be disbanded in a week; indeed, they never would have been formed at all. The preservation of peace is the object sought to be achieved by this vast array of military force. Each nation acts upon the theory that unless it keeps a certain percentage of its able bodied male citizens, strutting around in peculiar clothes, with guns in their hands, lands will be devastated and its people ??? Can't Read ??? loving neighbors. If the peace were actually preserved in Europe there would be less justification for the growing opposition to the costly and oppressive system of armament now in vogue there. But experience has shown that the end aimed at has not been accomplished by the means employed. Since the Crimean War five great conflicts have taken place between nations that for years had been armed to the teeth for the express purpose of maintaining peace with each other. In 1859 the struggle between Italy and Austria took place, with France as the helper of the former. In 1864 an Austro-Prussian army invaded Denmark, and after a brief war took possession of Schleswig-Holstein. The Austro-Prussian war followed in 1866, and the Franco-German war in 1870.The long threatened struggle between Russia and Turkey left a bloody stain on the peace of Europe in 1878. In this list we have not included the wars waged between contending factions in Spain or by English troops in Asia and Africa. Neither have we laid any stress upon the wars threatened at various times between neighboring nations armed for the preservation of peace. The outlook is now far from bright, so far as the preservation of peace is concerned. The gun-makers of Europe are suspiciously busy; the highest inventive talent of each nation is engaging in devising engines of destruction; torpedoes are more thought of than looms, and Krupp guns than seeders or reaping machines. England has a costly and uncertain war with Afghanistan on hand; Russia is said to be fortifying her western and southwestern boundaries against Germany. France looks forward to the time when the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine may be won back from their German captors. The duration of domestic quiet in Russia, Spain, Italy and Germany is constantly threatened by revolutionists who find ready sympathy among the tax-ridden, underpaid, underfed masses upon whose shoulders a large share of the burden of maintaining the costly peace armies and navies rest. The disaffected citizens of the United States who complain because their condition is not so pleasant as that of their wealthier neighbors would do well to consider the ills suffered by the less fortunate laboring classes of Europe and thank God they live in a land where peace is, maintained without the aid of military power, and where all willing men have an equal chance to improve their fortunes. - St. (Saint) Louis Globe Democrat. |