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Show TKe Cost of War as an J& J& Influence For Peace It Will Require the Wages of 15,000,000 Men to Meet the Dally Expenses of the Japanese-Russian Conflict --- War a Yet Dearer Lux- ury For Europe. :: :: :: :: By JAMES CREELMAN. .AIOJ4. R. GLADSTONE once, In n K1T fc uutlRc- speech cited by O o Mr. Morley as a text to the t K chapter of his biography WIT dealing with tho Crimean war mado the following Impressive statement: "Tho expenses of a war are the mor-nl mor-nl check which It has pleased tho Almighty Al-mighty to Impose upon tho ambition and lust of conquest that aro Inherent lu so many nations. There is pomp and circumstance, there is glory and excite-incut excite-incut about war, which notwithstanding notwithstand-ing the miseries it entnlls, Invests It with charms In tho eyes of the community, commu-nity, and tends to blinds men to those evils to a fearful and dangerous degree. de-gree. The necessity of meeting from year to year tho expenditure which It entails Is n salutary nnd wholcsomo check, making them feel what they nro nbout, and making them measure the cost of the beucllt upon which they inny calculate." Tho conflict between Itussla and Japan Jap-an must soon demonstrate tho soundness sound-ness of Mr. Gladstone's view of tho Increasing In-creasing cost of war as an Influence for peace. Thero can be no doubt In tho minds of thoso familiar with the subject that tho comparatively small expenso attending at-tending the war of 1S94, in which Jap-nn Jap-nn not only vanquished China but won her footing In tho family of nations, had much to do with the light-hearted enthusiasm In Japan for a war against Itussla which preceded the night attack at-tack on Port Arthur. The military glory won by the Japaucso In that short and one-sided war, not to speak of tho enormous money Indemnity and tho cession of tho rich Island of Formosa, For-mosa, wero stupendous rewards tor such a trifling outlay of money and sacrifice of blood. For ten years, therefore, Japanese policy has been more or less blind to tho financial devastation Involved in modern war on a large scale. With less than G0.000 men she drovo tho Chinese from Korea, Invaded Manchuria, Man-churia, captured I'ort Arthur and Wei-Ilal-Wel, smashed tho Chlneso navy and compelled the oldest and most populous empire In tho world to sue for peace all within seven months. As a business Investment from a Pagan point of view the war with China was a. paying business Investment for Japan. But the present 'war In Asia is n different thing, Itussla must send her reinforcements moro than COOO miles by rail. Japan must carry all her troops across tho seas. Hundreds of thousands of men must bo put In the Held on each side. All this nsldc from tho cost of maintaining and operating warships. It is estimated that Japan's available avail-able army at tho present tlmo aggregates aggre-gates about 400,000 soldiers. The cost of landing this forco on the Korean or Mauchurlnn coast nt tho rate of, say, $10 per man, exclusive of horses, ur-tillery ur-tillery and supplies, would bo $1,000-000. $1,000-000. Mr. Itoche, formerly minister of commerco of France, believes that tho cost of maintaining the Japauese forces will not bo greater than $1.'J5 n day for each man, including clothing, equipment, food, transportation nud munitions. He estimates tho cost of wnr to Japan, Including tho navy, at about 51.000,000 a day. If this bo a fair valuntlon of Japan's lighting expenses, ex-penses, it will take the entlro earnings earn-ings of moro than 8,000,000 Japauese tollers to support the war, at tho aver-ago aver-ago wago rate of twelvo cents a day. This out of n total population of about 45,000,000. In other words, moro than one-third of tho male population of Japan can barely earn tho dally cost of tliu struggle. Nor Is tho loss to Jap-uneso Jap-uneso commerco Included In the estimate. esti-mate. In tho Turko-Ilusslan war It cost Itussla about sixteen cents a day to support each soldier In tho field. But that was lu a densely populated, fertile fer-tile country, with comparatively Inexpensive Inex-pensive transportation. It Is different In Manchula. All supplies sup-plies must bo drawn from a great dls-taucc. dls-taucc. Clothing, transportation and food aro denr. Besides, before tho litis-siau litis-siau troops can tako the field asido from the 150,000 said to bo In Manchuria Man-churia now they must be carried moro than COOO miles by rail. Putting tho naked costof transportation at ono cent per mile for each boldlcr, tho cost of currying 100,000 troops excluding artillery, ar-tillery, horses and supplies would bo nt least $5,000,000. Mr. Itoche believes that when Russia Rus-sia has got over tho first expense of her war with Japan her army and navy will cost her from $1,500,000 to $1,750,000 n day so long as sho has to fight only In tho Far East. Assuming tho larger figure to bo correct, It will take tho wages of 7,000,000 Itusslan laborers to meet tho expenses of tho war. All this relates to tho war of Russia Rus-sia with Japan In Asia. Rut if the con. filet should spread to Europe, if tho great powers should tako tho field ngalnst each other, tho estimated cost of tho strugglo under modern conditions condi-tions Is staggering. Official figures show that in 1871 It cost Frnnco moro than $2,0o0,000 a day to keep nn army of (500,000 men la the field against the Germans. Kut to-day France claims to be nblo to mobilize within forty -eight hours about 11,000,000 men and (.00,000 horses and mules. Germnny can put L',350.-000 L',350.-000 men in the Held, Austria 1.300.000 and Itnly l.'JOO.OOO. Schaffc, tho Austrian Aus-trian economist declared In 180(1 that n war Involving tho European Continental Conti-nental powers would cost Franco $3,-100,000 $3,-100,000 n day, Russia $o,000,000 n day, Germany $5,000,000 n day and Austria $0,000,000 a day. ' Accodlng to Mr. Rocho a conflict between be-tween tho European powers to-doy would cost for tho first two months, Including the initial outlay, tho im-menso im-menso sum of $400,000,000, and If 3,-000,000 3,-000,000 soldiers should tako tho field tho dally cost would amount to $0,-000,000 $0,-000,000 a day. With these estimates In sight, even though they are niero approximations, it Is not hard to understand why the statesmen of Europe nro straining their wits nnd their energies to confine con-fine tho present war to Asia. If It takes tho wages of 15,000,000 men to pay tho dally cost of tho war botween Japan and Russia n war confined within a radius of 1C00 miles what would n general conflict mean to tho overtaxed population of Eu-ropo? |
