MR LLOYD GEORGE.

Hokitika Guardian, 8 January 1923, Page 4

MR LLOYD GEORGE.

A FURTHER ARTICLE. AUSTRALIAN AN& N.Z. CABLK ASSOCIATION. The Billowing and all of Ah’ Lloyd , George articles, are copyright by United Press in America and all coun- t tries, copyright in Australasia by the Australian Press Copyright in Britain by the Daily Chronicle. (Reproduction in full or part prolii- ! hi ted). LONDON, Jan 4. ! -Mr Lloyd George’s next article deals. . with the origin of the war. lie writes j Marshal Foch once told me that he ! considered the German army of 191 I to have been the finest that the world ever saw. in numbers, in training, ami , in equipment. .Much lia.s been written j ami spoken a,s to the origin of the great war. and to who and what [ was responsible for so overwhelming a. j cataclysm. No one ever believed that | it was the assassination of the Royal j Archduke of Austria. Some said that it was the working out of a pan-Ger-man fear of the grow ing Russian power; but the great French .Marshal’s dictum is the real explanation. Unless due weight is given to this understanding fact. the diplomatic muddle of July 1914 becomes unintelligible. Were it not that the German army was more prefect nml inorci potent than * ither the French or Russian army-—were it not thutj every German officer was convinced that- the German military machine was superior to ail ii.s rivals, there would have been no war, whatever the emperors, diplomatists and statsmen said, thought, or intended. All nations have ambitions, lint they are not tempted to impose them upon their neighbours if the hazard i s too obviously great, but a sense of overpowering force is a constant incitement to ruthlessncss, greed, and ambitious patriotism. The inure that one examines, in tin, growing calm, the event of July 1014. the more oiui is impressed with the shrinking ol the nominal rulers of the attacking empires as they approached the abyss, and impressed also with the relentless driving onward of the military organisation. behind these terror-stricken dummies. Navies are essentially defensive weapons. No capital in the world can he captured bv navies alone. No country can be annexed or invaded by a fleet—but armies are grabbing machines. A transcendent army has always led to aggression. No country can resist the lure of an easy triumph paraded before its eyes for two genei'at ions. The inference is an obvious one. To ensure pence on eartl . the nations must disarm the striking forces. Without disarmament, pacts, treaties, and covenants are unavailing. They are the paper currency of diplomacy.

A statist icnl survey of European armies 10-day is calculated to cause alarm. Europe ha- not learned the bason of the war. It lia.s rather drawn a wrong inference Irom that* calamity. There are inure men under arms in Europe to-day than in 1913-11. with m ne of the justification, which could lie pleaded then, when Germany and Austria created armaments because tin ir frontier-, were open lo attack by two great military powers, who had engaged to pool their .sources in the event of war. I'Vaneo and Russia had rai-sml lingo armies, because Germany posse-s----ell tin* most formidable army in the world; but since the war, these mutual excuses, did not exist.

The two greal military empires of Geiilral Europe have disappeared. I heir equipment ha- been reduced to modest proportions. In spite of this. Ei'am-e has still 73(1.000 men under arms, with irr.inoi nverve of two to three millane; more. St he is sii'etigtheuiue; and developing the air force as ii she I eared. or romonipb'trd. an imnmdinL invasion. Among her 1152 air machines to-day, are to he found bombers of a died met ivenos-x undreamt of in 191!. Should human lolly drift once more into war. these preparations are full of evil omen as to the eharneirr of tin* conflict. AYhnfc is ir all fori* Where is the enemy ? Whore, is the menace which demands such a gigantic military development ' Not one of Era nee’s in ighbours has a force reaching one-fourth of her formidable army. Germany no longer affords a decent pretext. M*r young men are no longer permitted to train. Tier military efpiipment is destroyed. Her arsenals and her workshops arc closely inspected by Allied officer- against clandestine preparation. The only other formidable army is Russia, ft is difficult to gather reliable facts about, her. The mists that are raising from that unhealthy political and economical swamp, obscure and distort all vision. The latest figures given, by the Russians is 800,000 on paper. That indicates an army as formidnlde as France's but the events of the past few years show elearly that Russia is powerful only for defence. . Her army is valueless for invasion. She * has neither the transport nor nobility, nor the artillery that would make her army redoubtable in attack. Her arm v. therefore, doe- not afford a. justification for keeping up the European armaments on the present inflat- , eil scale.

Tht fact is that Europe lias been thoroughly frightened by its recent experieneeß, and like all frightened things, does not readily listen to reason. but is apt to resort to expedients aggravating the. evils which terrified it. Alilirarism lias reduced it to its present plight, and. to save itself Irom a similar disaster in the future, has become militarist than ever. Meanwhile, no country in Europe pays its way except Britain, with her reduced army and navy. I ranee in m .,,nv ways tlm richest country in

Europe, displays a gaping and growing rent in her national finance, which has to he patched up with paper. H»r deficit grows in spite of fhe tact that a large part of htu - army is quartered on Germany, to the detriment of the reparations. That German contribution conceals much of the cost ol the huge army. The economic recovery of Europe is seriously, retarded by the cost of the-* now military. The old continent is, with both hands, throwing to the Too-s of war the bread that should feed k-Tchildreii. One of those dogs will, m arrogant savagery, turn and rend those children.