The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1915. GIGANTIC FIGURES

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2387, 17 February 1915, Page 4

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1915. GIGANTIC FIGURES

A SUMMARY of two important Ministerial statements in the House of Commons regarding the war will be found in our cable columns this morning. Tho Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mil. Lloyd George) deals with the financial aspect -of the struggle, and the First' Lord of the Admiralty (Me. Winston Churchill) explains the position from the naval point of view. Both" statements are satisfactory and encouraging. We are given some idea of the" enormous resources at the disposal of Britain and her Allies, and also an impressive insight into the meaning of sea power. It is quite unnecessary' to pile adjective on adjective in order to make people realise the'colossal cost of war. Mr. Lloyd George tells us that by the end of the year the cost to the . Allies alone will bo £2,000,000,000. When wr> enter the region of thousands of millions the keenest imagination gets out of its depth . One is reminded of those astounding astronomical calculations which fill the mind with a vague sense of the immeasurable and inconceivable, without leaving any adequate mental picture of the distances involved. The vastness bewilders us. So it is with the Chancellor's startling figures. As soon as the average man gets over his feeling of wonder, he begins to ask, "Who is sufficient for these things?" Who can bear the tremendous strain for the longest period and with the least inconvenience? Are Britain and her .Allies in a better position to stand this supreme financial and economic test than the enemy? Fortunately for the world, the Allies have every reason for facing, the future with unwavering confidence. The Chanellor was able to assure the nation that Britain could finance the war for five years out of the proceeds of her investments abroad; France could go on for. about two and a half years with something to spare-; and Britain a,nd France were giving financial assistance to Russia, which was a borrowing country* though prodigiously rich in reeources.

In.waging a great war a country holds a tremendous advantage if it is able to go on producing wealth, and to maintain its import and export trade. In this way, as a writer in the Bound Table points out, it will be enabled to keep up its national income and find the resources from which to carry on the struggle without exhaustion and with its credit unimpaired. Britain stands in this fortunate position. The investments abroad, to which Mr. Lloyd George makes special reference, are a very potent factor. Britain has invested an enormous amount of capital in almost every part of the world. Germany has also invested a great deal, but probably not more than a quarter of the _ amount invested by Britain. ' "Germany, therefore," says the writer referred to, "has to produce nearly all her surplus wealth by actually working for it; England, on the other hand, iB more in the position, of a rich man whoso balance at 'the bank accumulates comfortably by tho payment of dividends on his investments." It is estimated that England receives nearly £200,000,000 annually in this way. Her investments abroad probably reach the [great total of between £3,500,000,000 and £4,000,000,000. During tho last few years these investments havo been increasing at the rate of between £150,000,000 and £200,000,000 annually. France comes next. She is very rich, _ and has been rapidly accumulating wealth. Germany and the United States follow a long.way behind. Still, Germany has vast resources. She is a great creditor nation, though in this respcct she falls far short of Britain. As an importing nation, sllc is nearly on a_ level with Britain; but —and this is a matter of vital importance—she does not command the sea.

Some idea of what sea power has meant in tho present war may he gathered from the spccch of Mk. Wikbtos OmTßcmitt.,. The command of -tba sea* he atates, has mbkrJ.

Britain "to carry, on_ routes throughout the world, a million of men without accident or loss_ of life." This is a magnificent achievement, but it is only a fraction of what the Navy done. Our naval supremacy has made it possible for the trade of the Empire to go on, its industries to be kept going, and its population employed; while the overseas commerce of our enemies has been swept out of existence. _ It is no wonder that such a situation should bo driving Germany to desperation. , The pressure is daily increasing, and she finds that effective retaliation is beyond her power. With reckless rage she is now threatening to blockade the British coasts with submarines, and is furious because the world sees through her impudent "bluff." If slie likes to adopt this' "system of open_ piracy and murder," Britain will hit baek, and hit hard, The paralysing foroe of the Navy will be intensified. Mb. Churchill indicates plainly that Britain bas not vet used her sea power to the fullest extent. The enemy's foodstuffs from overseas have not so far been completely stopped, but the restrictions on German trade will now be increased. At tho outset Germany did not reckon on a long war. She hoped to subdue her enemies in a few tremendous smashing blows; but her plains have been frustrated, and now she is endeavouring to readjust her resources to meet the new situation. The Germans know well that Britain is in a much better position to face a long struggle than Germany is. One of the Kaiser's military experts, in the course of conversation with Sir Thomas Barclay, ' the well-known authority on _ International Law, frankly admitted that Germany "cannot afford a long war like England." He said England can keep her factories going and be prosperous in spite of war, whereas for Germany it means industrial paralysis. England can pay for war out of the profits of the business it brings, but 'while the conflict lasts Germany will have no business from which to derive profits. The experience of the past six months fully bears out these views so forcibly expressed by the German strategist.