The Dominion. TUESDAY, MAY 20, 1913. FINANCIAL ASPECTS OF WAR.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1754, 20 May 1913, Page 6

The Dominion. TUESDAY, MAY 20, 1913. FINANCIAL ASPECTS OF WAR.

A cablegram which we publish in another column to the effect that £32,000,000 will be required in order to carry out the recent proposals for increasing the. strength of the French army,.recalls the saying that there arc three requisites for waging war—the first is money, the second is money, and the third is money. This may not be an absolute literal fact, for men are just as important as money; but the statement rightly emphasises the tremendous part which finance imist play both in actual war and in all warlike preparations and precautions. The cablegram also tells us that the French Army Bill does not_ mention how the money is to be raised, but no doubt the Government have thought this matter out, and announcements regarding the financial aspects of the proposal will be made in duo course. Great armies cannot be maintained for nothing, and fresh sources of revenue will have to bo found to meet the increased expenditure. With her great neighbour, Germany, armed to the teeth, and resolved upon still further military and naval expansion, France has no option but to improve liev means of attack and defence. It is a matter of life and death, and great sacrifices must be expected when a nation's very existence is at stake. It may be true, as M. Anatolb France has said,.that this addition of a year to the conscription comes ".just when France is moving forward with new energy, both in science and industry: it will be a grave blow to all our higher life.

One cannot help sympathising to a certain extent with this point of view; but it would be a still graver blow if France's national life was wiped out altogether. _ The greater a people is the more it has to defend. This is the price of prosperity, and a spirited nation like the French is not likely to risk disaster owing to a craven fear of being great. A French Minister recently declared: "We will not contemplate the possibility of a defeated and dismembered France, a spectacle so grievous that we would prefer to have perished with those who had defended her rather than to be witnesses of it." The only way to guard against such a calamity is to have an army ready for every contingency and strong enough to meet any probable foe.

Germany is certainly feeling the financial strain caused by the army increase quite as severely as France. The recent German Army Bill is the sixth measure during the past seven years authorising; large increases in the army or navy. The army is now to bo raised to the enormous total of 860,000 men in time of peace. "The cost of the measure," says the Mail, "will be •stupendous. There must be an initial outlay of from 50 to GO millions, if the forecasts are correct, with a permanent chargo of 10 to 15 millions, and £42,000,000 which the Army at present requires. In the present year Germany will vote for her Army no less than 102 millions. If we add her naval expenditure and various items of indirect expenditure, her outlay on armaments will be nearly 130 millions, against ours of 70 millions. These colossal armaments explain the extraordinary efforts for which Franco is preparing with such energy." It is reported that 30,000 more men are to be added to the Austrian army, and that Kussia is considering a proposal to add three corps to her land forces. According to the Temps, France and Russia will shortly have between them a peace strength of 2,500,000 ' men, and when this figure is reached the dangers to peace will be removed. The following figures compare the peace strength of the German, French, and Austrian armies as it stood in 1911, and as it will stand when the new schemes are carried ont, says the Mail : —

Under new AddiIn 1911. Scheme, tion. German Army ... G2G.000 800,000 234,000 French Army ...... 503,001) 700,000 137,000 Austrian Army ... 390,000 471,000 75,000 It is interesting 'to notice that grounds on which a paper like the Kolnisehe Zeitiuir/ justifies the proposals in the new Army Bill. This newspaper states that

the German Government will have no difficulty in proving tho necessity for tho new Army Bill if it only points clearly and distinctly and without any reserve to the quarter from which danger threatens —namely, to France. "Wo do not underestimate the consequences of tho occurrences in the Balkans," tho "Kolnischo Zciitung" states, "but when sacrifices are demanded, as they are now, it is necessary to show clearly whence the nearest danger threatens." And that, it adds, is from France. Never, it declares, have relations with Germany's western neighbour been so strained as to-day; never has the revenge idea manifested itself there so undisguisedly, and the fact that the Russian nllianco and English friendship nre required only for the purpose of reconquering Alsace-Lorraine. In whatever corner of the world the fire may break out, adds the Rhenish organ, "it is quite certain that we shall have to cross swords with tile French, and when that will take place nobody can know."

In connection with the above reference to Alsace-Lorraine, it is interesting to note that a cablegram which we publish in another column states that the Government of Al-sace-Lorraine has applied to the German Federal Council lor powers to sccure the suppression of proFrench associations, and exclude from the province French newspapers and books. Such exhibitions .of hostility and suspicion, taken in conjunction with the everincreasing armaments, may at any time create a situation which peaceful diplomacy may find itself unable to control, and if Franco and Germany went to war it is very doubtful if any of the great European Powers could remain neutral. Britain would almost certainly be involved. It is true that Mr. Asquith recently stated in. Parliament that "there arc no unpublished agreements which will restrict or hamper the freedom of the Government or of Parliament to decide whether or not Britain shall participate in a war" between European Powers; but there arc other aspects of the position which have to be considered. Commenting on Mr. Asquith's statement, the Spectator remarks that all the world knows that Britain has ho formal alliance with France, and therefore is not likely to have any kind of treaty, secret or otherwise, in regard to military aid. "What Mr. Asquith did not say," the Spectator proceeds, "was much more important than what he did say. He did not say, as no doubt some of his followers would have liked him to say, that in case of war between France and Germany we should not go to the assistance of France and offer her military as well as naval aid. . . . France may feel quite certain that we shall stand by her if she is attacked, and stand by her to our last man and to our last shilling, and with every resource at our command, even if there is no treaty. The absence of a formal obligation makes no difference whatever. Common interests arc stronger tics than those of parchment." When we look at the development of the international situation in Europe from this point of view, we begin to realise how closely we are affected. As a part of the British Empire it is impossible for us in New Zealand to play the role of disinterested spectators.