IT DOESN'T PAY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 172, 20 January 1914, Page 4

IT DOESN'T PAY.

Kecent events in France ami Germany aliow that the people of those countries arc growing very tired iiiiilor the Imrden of armaments and of the haughty contempt of tlie military for the more civilians who provide the money for tliem to play with. The French Ministry was censured and unsealed over the expedients which it had proposed to cover its military expenditure by means of a privileged loan. In the Keichstag (which spent the best part of the year over similar financial problems due to a 'similar cause), the passions of the House were stirred by a series of exhibi-l-ious of military insolence and brutality, perpetrated by a Herman regiment in Alsace. These incidents meant two things. They meant in the first place that the povermnent of Alsace is still, after throe-aml-forty years, a perennial military conquest, and in the minds of the army and the ruling caste even the second generations of the annexed population must still be held down by anus. They meant, in the second ]>!aee, that the German military idea ol the functions amf importance of an army is still so inflated that the ''honor" ot' the soldier is held to take precedence over the safely and self-respect of the. I citizen and the sanctity of the civil law. ;The Cerimyu Minister, after a crushing vote, of censure, namely, by 2j)3 voles to M, would Imvo gone the same way of (he French if tlermany were ruled by responsible Ministers. "Xeither country," as one London paper puts if, '"can (juite shako off the damnable inheritance

of 1870. lint both are weary of it.'' Tims we have the most runuvrkublt* event of (.lie I'Ycnch and German nations deciding, almost simultaneously, that the continual infliction of military rule and the intolerable burden of armaments arc n curse rather limn a lilcssinjj. London newspaper opinion on these significant happenings is interesting. Says the Observer: "Whether Heir von Beth-mann-Hotlweg resigns or not another step has been taken in the slow progress of Germany towards full constitutional freedom and responsible Government. Nothing can avert that result. The longer all definite concession is refused the more the whole massive, system will lie exposed to some sudden and decisive shock that would rank as one of the startling political events in modern Europe. Again, though the splendid army of Germany is entirely national in the ranks, it is ofiicered by an exclusive caste which often seems to play the part of military conquerors towards the civilian population of its own country. . Before another generation is out public opinion in the Fatherland will make an end of Hint stale of things as well as of the semi-despotic character of the executive Government. Nov is it' likely that the change will be effected without a formidable and stubborn struggle between the existing regime in Germany and the rising forces." "Public opinion is beginning to be a real force in Germany at last,'" says tti* Kvening News, "for it is pubUs opinion that set the Zabern garrison manoeuvring'in unpleasant weather, and that has indicated that there must be no more government hy sabre in times of peace. The Kaiser is wise indeed to I have accepted his cue from a peopra who !" were in no humor for trilling." "Germany," says the Westminster Gazette, "is plunged into a crisis arising out of the exorbitant claims of her Army to override the rights of her civilian population. The enormous majority in the llcichstag, 211;! votes to 51, which took the umisHi'l step of censuring (lie Chancellor for his explanation of the Zabern affair proves that there is a pentup stream of feeling on this subject throughout the country which is likely in the future to lead to a much more critical attitude towards the Army and its demands on the nation." ''This vote," says the Daily Graphic, ''has the i double merit of administering a welldeserved rebuke to the apostles of insolence and force and of sending to I the sorely-tried people of Alsace an olive branch in the form of an assurance of the real sentiment of the German ! people, who are tiled of the, long-drawn I failure of their statesmen in the Reiehsiand on which the events at Zabern Shave shed so fierce and searching a light." The. de facto value of the vote lies in this," says the JSerlin correspondent of the Westminster Gazette. ''lt impresses the public; it impresses the Kmperor; it registers the Chancellor's failure." .Says the Nation: "Statesmen everywhere are restrained by thinking oi the incalculable dangers which would attend the actual use of their enormous armaments, lint if the solution is not to be by violence and eonllict, can it be by reason and good-will 1 If we cannot yet put it so high as that, it may be by the hard practical experience which teaches (hat the nations are actually weakening themselves, whether for war oi peace, by an expenditure which impairs their capacity for internal prepress, drains their reserves, and ultimately promises no material advantage, even if war is successfully waged- Practical statesmen are learning every day that there is a limit to this kind of effort and expenditure which cannot be passed without weakening a country for war as well as for peace. Money given to one service will at this point be substracted from another, or it will be got at the cost of peace services on which the health, strength and contentment of the people depend. It is to the appreciation of this fact hy soldiers and sailors as well as statesmen that wo rr.nst look for improvement.''